The sun had long dipped below the horizon. A faint orange hue clung to the edges of the sky, soon swallowed by the night. Inside the cave, the bonfire crackled gently—its warmth flickering across the rough stone walls.
Eirian and Selenia sat silently, each lost in their own thoughts.
Eventually, Eirian broke the quiet.
"We should rest now," he said softly. He pointed toward the pile of large leaves he had gathered earlier. "Let's sleep near the fire. I'll seal the cave entrance for safety."
Selenia nodded without a word. She was exhausted. They hadn't had proper rest in days, and her eyes ached with weariness. The soft warmth of the fire was beginning to lull her to sleep.
Eirian rose and walked toward the mouth of the cave. He glanced around, searching for something to block the entrance—but there was nothing useful nearby. He stepped outside, letting the cool night air hit his face as he scanned the area for a solution.
A thought occurred to him. "What if I just use stones to cover it? Even if I can't move a giant boulder… I can stack smaller ones."
He smiled to himself and got to work.
For nearly an hour, Eirian hauled rock after rock, piling them tightly at the entrance of the cave. By the time he placed the final few inside from within, the opening was nearly sealed. A rough wall of stones stood where the entrance once gaped, forming a crude but solid barricade.
He stepped back and wiped the sweat from his brow, a tired but satisfied grin tugging at his lips.
Inside, Selenia watched silently. She didn't understand him. "Why does he smile so easily? Even after everything… even after I punched him twice today, he just kept going. Calm. Quiet. Patient."
Her fingers curled against her robe. "I wanted him to regret what he said back at the Eclipse Legion. That was the plan. But now…"
She looked down. There's something behind that calm. Something broken, maybe. Something he's hiding.
Originally, she had intended to make him regret insulting her during their first meeting at the Eclipse Legion. But now—now, she wasn't so sure. There was a heaviness behind his calm smile. Something he wasn't telling anyone.
"I still want to teach him a lesson… she thought, curling her fingers. But… it's getting complicated."
Meanwhile, Eirian inspected his clothes. His robe was torn in several places, stained with mud, ash, and dried blood. He hadn't changed clothes since arriving in the Dust Realm.
A crooked smile played on his lips as he muttered to himself, "I really do look like a beggar…"
He plopped down by the fire and stared into the flames. "Once this trial ends… and I get my reward from the Eclipse Legion, I'll finally get a new set of clothes. Maybe something that doesn't make me look like I crawled out of a grave…"
He leaned back on his hands and exhaled deeply. The firelight danced in his silver eyes.
Behind him, Selenia's voice broke the quiet again.
"You're always working so hard… Do you ever take a break?"
Eirian turned his head slightly. "Rest can wait. Safety comes first."
She paused. "You're strange."
He chuckled softly. "So I've heard."
She opened her mouth to say more, but stopped herself. In the end, she turned over and lay on her side, using a folded leaf as a pillow.
Eirian did the same, his back to the fire, his gaze fixed on the crude wall of stones he had built.
They both lay in silence, the only sounds being the soft crackle of the flames and the distant cry of night beasts in the wilderness.
A dry chuckle echoed inside Eirian's mind. "Tsk, tsk... How boring. You're really clueless, aren't you? Can't you see that girl's expression changed at least five times while talking to you?"
Eirian didn't even open his eyes. He already knew the voice—it was the Soulless Flame, ever present within his consciousness.
He groaned inwardly. Why is it always like this?
"You really need a hobby," he muttered under his breath, mentally addressing the flame. "If you're so bored, why don't you flow through my palm and burn down everything in sight? That should be spicy enough for you."
The flame's tone turned sharp. "You insolent little human! Keep running your mouth, and I'll sear your soul to ash!"
He sighed, pressing two fingers to his temple. "Why can't you be peaceful… like the Soulbrand? She doesn't run her mouth every two seconds."
The flame crackled in irritation, its voice flaring with heat. "Tch. That floating soul girl is boring. Always watching, always silent. She gives me the chills. What fun is there in just *watching* when we could be melting faces?"
Eirian ignored it, too tired to keep playing along with its tantrum. "Whatever," he grumbled. "Arguing with a flame... maybe I really am losing my mind."
He turned on his side and closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the bonfire lull him toward sleep.
Inside his mind, the flame went silent—bored out of its mind now that its host had drifted off. "Hmph. Boring human," it muttered one last time before fading into quiet embers within his soul.
—
Far from the quiet cave where Eirian and Selenia were resting, the forest twisted into something else entirely.
Thick mist crawled over the ground like a living thing. The trees here were massive, blackened husks—branches sharp and gnarled like broken bones. Stones were scattered everywhere, some as tall as men. Even the soil was dark, almost charred, as if fire had once scorched everything down to silence.
Behind one of the larger stones, four boys huddled in pain, panting hard, blood dripping from their robes.
Orven, Garron, and their two teammates. All of them were injured—bruises swelling, skin split open, limbs trembling from overuse of Starflow.
They hadn't planned on things going this way.
They'd run into each other while hunting, and after a quick exchange, decided to team up. Their target? A powerful beast—a 9-star Soulspark Realm Bigfoot rumored to be nesting deep within this corrupted zone.
It should've been manageable. With four of them, and the right timing, they could trap it. Kill it. Take the core.
And at first… it had worked. Their strategy nearly brought the beast down. Until another one showed up. Bigger. Meaner. Faster. A second Bigfoot—probably its mate.
The fight had turned ugly fast. Two against four wasn't a fair fight when both enemies were monsters.
If Orven hadn't activated his defensive talisman at the last second, they'd all be corpses rotting in that den.
It bought them just enough time to escape. Barely. Now, they were here—hiding behind a rock, blood on their skin, fear in their eyes. And even worse…
They could still hear it. A distant thud. Heavy. Steady. The sound of something *following*.
"We can't stay here…" Garron finally broke the silence, voice tight and shaky. "They'll catch up. We have to move."
One of the other boys coughed and winced, gripping his side. Blood leaked through his fingers—his ribs were caved in slightly where the beast had kicked him. "He's right. If we stop now, we're dead."
Orven didn't argue. He was pale, his shoulder soaked in red, but his eyes were still sharp. "Let's go. East. Keep running."
So they did. The four of them staggered into the mist, half-running, half-limping. Feet dragging through black soil. Eyes flicking behind them with every step.
They didn't know it yet—But the direction they were running in?
It was heading straight for the cave. Straight toward where Eirian and Selenia are resting.
Somewhere behind them, hidden in the trees, a low growl rumbled through the mist. Something massive was still hunting.