Music for chapter: Modest Mouse - Satin In A Coffin
Dawn bled pale through the trees, washing the ridge in light.
Aullie woke to the taste of blood and smoke. His side burned where the bandages stuck, peeling them would tear the wound open again. He knew without checking.
Fuck.
He exhaled slow through his nose, counting the clouds. Three. Maybe four. They didn't move. Nothing did.
Sora's knee pressed into the dirt beside him. Her hands, steady, always steady, hovered with a damp cloth and a vial of salve that smelled like wintergreen and regret.
"Breathe," she murmured. The shadows under her eyes were darker than yesterday.
Aullie grinned. It hurt. "Tell me I look pretty."
"You look like roadkill."
"You always know what to say."
Around them, the camp moved in slow motion.
Aki sat statue-still at the cliff's edge, running a whetstone down her dagger's edge. Shick. Shick. The blade didn't need sharpening.
Haru clutched a dented canteen like it might vanish. His thumb rubbed at a rust spot where the metal had split.
No one mentioned the empty bedrolls. No one mentioned the quiet.
The kind of morning where even the wind felt like it held its breath.
Mayu stood in the middle of what was left of their camp, her armor held together with field patches. The exhaustion showed in every line of her face, but her voice stayed steady.
"Six confirmed." She didn't dress it up, didn't try to soften it. "Three from Group 4. One from Ryota's squad. Two from ours."
The numbers hit harder than names would have. Someone let out a shaky breath. Aullie stared at his hands, thinking of faces that wouldn't answer roll call anymore.
Footsteps pounded into camp. A scout stumbled in, uniform torn, face streaked with dirt and sweat. "Ma'am, reinforcements are still stuck. Something's screwing with the beacon signal bad. The mages keep saying they can't get a lock on us, like there's some kind of interference field."
Mayu's expression didn't change, but her jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Understood. We maintain position and prepare for contact."
"Permission to take a team west," Ryota said, stepping forward. His left eye was swollen shut, but his remaining one burned with barely contained frustration. "We need eyes on that ridge."
"Negative."
"We can't just sit here waiting for them to hit us again."
"And we can't afford to lose more people chasing shadows." Mayu's voice cut through his protest like a blade.
The two of them stared each other down, and Aullie could practically feel the accusations hanging in the air between them.
But neither of them said it. Not with everyone watching. Not when they all needed each other to survive the morning.
The silence stretched taut.
The fire crackled weakly between them, more for the comfort than any real warmth. Nobody had spoken for a while.
Haru picked at the dirt with a stick, eyes unfocused. "You know what's messed up? When I was a kid, I saw one of these attacks on TV. Some place in Brazil, I think. Thought it looked...I don't know. Exciting? Like watching Godzilla or something." He let out a bitter laugh. "Had no clue what it actually felt like. Being the thing that gets stepped on."
Aki grabbed a handful of dried grass and tossed it into the flames, watching it flare and die. "I kept psyching myself up, you know? Telling everyone I was ready for this. Hell, telling myself I was ready." Her voice got quieter. "But when it happened...God, I just froze. My whole body just...stopped working."
"You didn't freeze when it mattered," Sora said, shifting a little closer to Aullie on the log they were sharing. "Neither of you did."
"Didn't feel like bravery." Aullie's voice was barely above a whisper. "Just felt like... not wanting to die."
Queenie appeared out of the shadows, her black fur somehow still pristine despite everything. She wound herself around Aullie's legs before settling against his good side, and he absently stroked her head.
A tiny squeak came from inside Aki's jacket. Martin poked his head out, tongue tasting the wind, before quickly ducking back in.
"Poor guy's been jumpy all day," Aki murmured, gently patting her collar. "Can't stand the smell of blood."
"Smart gecko," Haru muttered.
Something silver caught the firelight as it spiraled down from above. Sora held out her arm and her space cardinal landed with barely a sound, feathers shimmering like liquid metal.
"She's beautiful," Aullie said, managing a small smile. "What's her name?"
"Saki." Sora stroked the bird's neck. "She's been staying close since..."
A low grunt interrupted them as something that looked like a charred log with legs waddled into the circle of light. Haru's lava-beaver plopped down beside the fire, ember eyes glowing contentedly.
Aki stared at it. "Please tell me you didn't actually name him Wood."
Haru's cheeks reddened. "He... he looks like a piece of wood, okay?"
Even Aullie snorted. "At least he can't understand how unimaginative you are."
The moment of levity faded quickly. Sora pulled her knees up to her chest, staring into the flames. "We can't keep barely scraping by like this. Next time..."
"Next time we might not get lucky," Aki finished grimly. "And this was supposed to be just scouts, right? If that's what they send to poke around..."
"They weren't just stronger," Haru added, his voice heavy. "They were thinking. Planning. We're not fighting mindless monsters anymore."
Aullie said nothing, but his fingers found the void bead at his wrist, gripping it tight enough that his knuckles went white.
The silence stretched between them, filled only by the soft pop and hiss of burning wood.
"We'll figure it out," Aullie said finally. "Have to. Not just so we don't die next time, but so..." He trailed off, jaw working. "So we can stop this before it gets to someone else."
Nobody argued. Nobody made promises they weren't sure they could keep.
But something shifted in that quiet moment, something that didn't need words. A shared weight settling on all their shoulders. A line drawn in the dirt that they'd all decided they wouldn't let anything cross.
A ripple in the air. Like a mirage opening.
Dane Cartwright stepped out of a vertical tear in space.
Every head turned.
He wore no armor, only a long dark coat brushed with silver thread. His boots crunched softly on gravel as he walked through the ruined camp, eyes flicking from face to face.
Even Ryota's bravado faltered.
"Cartwright," Mayu said.
"Instructor," Dane replied coolly. "Looks like you've been busy."
Mayu snorted. "Not half as busy as I'd like."
Dane knelt by one of the injured without fanfare. His hands glowed faintly, not healing, just assessing. He murmured something to Mayu no one else heard.
"It wasn't random, was it?" she asked.
Dane's eyes scanned the treeline. "No."
He turned, just once, and met Aullie's gaze across the camp.
He nodded.
Aullie nodded back.
The bodies lay in uneven rows, wrapped in whatever spare blankets they could find. Some looked almost peaceful, hands folded over chests, personal effects tucked beneath stiff fingers. Others were just shapes under cloth, too broken to look at for long.
A few students moved between them, adjusting covers, straightening collars. Most stood back, eyes fixed on the dirt, the trees, anywhere but the shrouded forms of people they'd laughed with yesterday.
Aullie sat apart, arms locked around his knees, the cold seeping through his pants. He didn't trust his voice.
Near the end of the row, one body still wore the remnants of armor, ornate plating now dented and split, the house crest shattered down the middle. The boy's face was pale but untouched, like he might sit up and recite some obscure battle stratagem at any moment.
"He knew every major engagement from the last three wars," Sora murmured, sinking down beside him. Her fingers brushed the dirt between them, not quite touching his. "Even the ones the professors skipped."
Aullie exhaled slowly. "Wanted a command position. Said it was smarter than swinging a sword."
The wind picked up, carrying the scent of damp earth and something faintly metallic.
Sora didn't say he was just a kid. She didn't have to.
Some truths sat too heavy to speak aloud.
That evening, Dane sat beside Aullie, their conversation quiet and unhurried.
"The Void isn't like anything other affinity," Dane said.
Aullie traced the edge of his bandage. "It's weird, like it wants me to move faster than I can. almost like it's dragging me forward."
"It most likely is."
Dane's tone darkened.
"Void draws attention. Not just from demons, but from everything. It's not just rare, it can almost be described as disruptive and absolutely dangerous at higher levels and the world doesn't like things it can't predict."
Aullie looked at the stars. "Then I guess I'll have to surprise it."
Dane smiled faintly. "You're not alone. But you'll be tested like someone who is. That's the price."
Mayu stepped away from the fire, reading a sealed scroll. Her expression hardened.
"Orders are in. Evac prep begins now."
Sighs. Then tired nods.
"Reinforcements will escort us back to Kirin. The Wilds are being quarantined. No one enters until the breach origin is found."
Students packed in silence. They were too tired to celebrate survival.
As they lined up to teleport, Aullie turned one last time toward the forest.
He could tell.
This trip changed him, changed everyone and things aren't ever going to be the same.