Dual slowly pushed herself up from the stone, wiping the blood from her nose as her hands trembled. She began to slowly walk toward Idle, her feet dragging weakly against the floor.
"I didn't mean to leave him," Dual finally spoke, her voice cracking as she stared at the floorboards. She shook her head, her breath hitching in her throat. "I was scared. I've never seen him lifeless like that. I've never seen him injured."
Saint glared at her, his expression entirely devoid of sympathy. "Shut up. You know he never puts thought into anything, and for you to leave him there dying shows me everything I need to know about you, Dual. You are a fraud."
"You don't have to yell at me," Dual countered, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks as she clutched her arms. "I know leaving him was wrong, but I was scared."
"Silence!" Apex yelled, his voice coiling with a sudden, sharp resonance that vibrated through the stone vaults. "I have to focus."
The room fell into a tense quiet. Aliv looked away from Dual, her eyes tracking the dark smoke still drifting from the crater in Idle's chest.
"Can I speak?" Aliv asked softly.
Apex didn't look back. "Go ahead."
Aliv stepped closer to the stone slab, her brows furrowing as she examined the open wound. "His healing is the best among us. Why isn't he healing, Apex?"
Apex turned his covered face toward her, his tone dropping into a freezing, sarcastic edge. "Aren't you miss know it all? Shouldn't you know why he isn't healing, Aliv?"
"You spoke to ask me a question," Apex whispered, the absolute quiet of the cavern amplifying his words. "When you have all the answers."
Aliv swallowed hard, her eyes looking down at Idle's unmoving chest before shifting back to her oldest brother.
"He needs a boost, but you're the only one that can give him that."
Saint leaned back against his pillar, the dark frost around his knuckles humming softly in the quiet. "He knows. He just hasn't done it."
Apex slowly moved, shifting his weight as he sat down on a stone block near the slab. He let his chin rest back into his palm, his posture slipping into a completely detached coldness.
"A boost?" Apex asked, his voice flat and entirely unbothered. "He isn't dead. If he wants to live, he'll heal himself. I'm not doing anything."
Dual stopped walking beside the slab and turned sharply to look at Apex, her eyes wide with a desperate, growing anger.
"Heal him," Dual demanded, her voice rising in defiance. "If you never sent him out there he wouldn't be in this situation."
Apex tilted his chin up out of his palm, his blindfolded gaze locking onto her with a suffocating, terrifying stillness.
"I've heard enough from you," Apex said, his tone dead and absolute. "Get out of my sight before you and him switch places."
Dual bit her lip, her shoulders shaking violently as she backed away from the stone slab. She turned on her bare feet and fled, vanishing down the dark western archway.
The moment her essence fully cleared the perimeter of the cavern, the dead silence returned. Apex sat still for a few seconds, his face directed toward the exit. Then, he slowly stood up.
He walked back over to the rock slab and placed his open palm directly over the charred hole in Idle's chest.
A sudden surge of pure, fundamental gravity energy compressed inside his hand. The anchor flared. The black smoke trailing from the wound vanished, overridden by a heavy golden ring of Yan that locked onto Idle's fractured sternum.
Within heartbeats, the dead cell tissues began to rapidly stitch themselves back together, closing the hole and restoring the flat divine aura.
On the back of his right hand, the dark tattoo of the number four remained static against his flesh.
Apex pulled his hand back, his posture locking back into a cold, unyielding rigidity. He did not look at his sleeping brother as he turned his covered face toward Aliv.
"Aliv," Apex commanded, his voice echoing off the high stone vaults with absolute finality. "Track every single person with Speedhardt blood in their veins."
Miles away from the cold sanctuary of the subterranean base, an open wasteland lay dark under the night sky.
The crackle of a campfire was the only sound breaking the unnatural silence of the ruined estate.
The savory scent of roasting hare meat filled the chilly night air, forming a sharp contrast to the bitter odor of burnt wood and gray ash.
Thorne sat on a collapsed stone pillar, using his hunting knife to slide a hot piece of meat onto a clean piece of bark.
He handed it over to Mira, who caught it eagerly. Her small face lit up under the dancing orange flames.
"Finally," Mira muttered, blowing on the meat before taking a huge, desperate bite. "Real food. If I had to eat another piece of hard bread, I think my jaw would've fallen off."
Leiya sat a few feet away, her fingers still tracing the edges of Leona's faded map by the firelight. She took a slow, measured bite from her own portion, but her mind was clearly miles away, still calculating the grueling week long march ahead of them.
Jaeger remained a silent silhouette near the edge of the rubble, his arms crossed. True to his word, he didn't touch the food.
A short distance from the warmth of the fire, Kota sat alone against a jagged block of masonry. His fingers were pressed tightly against his collarbone, rubbing the fresh, burning ache beneath his shirt.
Solari's brand felt like a fresh scar. It was a faint, agonizing mark of a number four, seared directly into his skin. His breath hitched as a sharp, vibrating echo suddenly tore through his skull.
The voice inside him was still reeling. A chaotic, ancient presence flared violently against his spatial awareness, her words echoing in his mind like a localized explosion.
To think that arrogant, treacherous wretch dared to touch what is mine, the voice boomed, sending a wave of dizzying nausea through Kota's body.
A lesser god. A betrayer. Branded by her parasitic lineage, I'll tear her to absolute shreds.
Kota gritted his teeth, his jaw tightening so hard the bone throbbed. He pressed his palm flat against his chest, trying to suppress the internal frequencies.
"Breathe," Kota muttered aloud, his voice a low, raspy whisper that barely carried over the crackle of the logs. "Just breathe. Let it go. It's okay."
The group didn't seem to notice his quiet outburst. They were too busy eating. Taking a slow, deep breath, Kota forced his muscles to relax and pushed himself up from the dirt. He walked over to the edge of the fire's light.
"I'm going to sleep early," Kota said flatly, his tone entirely neutral. "Don't wake me unless something crosses the perimeter."
Leiya looked up from her parchment, her eyes narrowing slightly with concern, but she didn't push. She simply nodded. "Get some rest. We have a long walk tomorrow."
Kota turned and walked into the deep shadows of the collapsed archway, sliding his back down a cold stone wall until he was completely hidden in the darkness. He let out a long, weary exhale, closing his eyes entirely.
As the physical world faded, the violent roaring in his mind suddenly softened. The chaotic static smoothed out into a low, somber vibration. The voice spoke again, but this time, her tone carried a heavy, unexpected weight of sorrow.
I'm sorry for yelling, boy, the voice whispered, the words echoing softly in the quiet corners of his consciousness. It's just that woman who branded you. She is my ancient enemy. Seeing her mark on your flesh, it maddens me.
Kota opened his eyes in the dark, his brow furrowing. He pulled his collar down, staring at the faint number four through the dim gray light.
What woman, Kota asked internally, his thoughts cutting through the mental link. Who is she, The voice paused. A long, dead silence hung between them for a few seconds before she answered.
Don't worry about it now, she murmured, her presence shifting like rolling waves. It's a burden from a time before your world was even formed. I'll explain everything to you at a later time. When you're strong enough to bear it.
Kota let out a soft, cynical breath. Great. Another secret.
The voice didn't snap back this time. Instead, her presence seemed to soften even more, leaning into the quiet rhythm of his thoughts.
Tell me, she asked, her voice dropping into a genuinely curious, almost human tone. What is it you truly hope to find when we finally reach this kingdom, What drives you to walk a week through the wasteland for an old letter.
The question caught him off guard. Sitting alone in the dark, far away from the heavy expectations of his crew, Kota stared blankly at his bare boots, the absolute exhaustion of the past few days catching up to his chest. He took a slow, heavy pause.
People I can actually trust, Kota confessed, his mental voice cracking slightly with a vulnerability he never showed the others. He exhaled a long, shaky breath. I don't know, allies. Maybe just something, anything that can help me understand my mother more.
The voice remained quiet, allowing his words to settle in the absolute stillness of the shadow. For the first time, they weren't just a powerful entity and a vessel, they were just two souls sharing the weight of a cold night.