When Leo opened his eyes again, he found himself in the corner of the room with a blanket draped over him.
He immediately sat up, heart lurching.
Daphne.
She was going to be worried that something had happened to him. He needed to make sure she knew nothing was wrong.
His gaze swept the dim shack and found her sitting off to the side, watching him. The moment their eyes met, she straightened.
"What happened? Why did you suddenly faint?" she asked.
He didn't respond right away. His mind churned, sorting through excuses, half-truths, and outright lies.
Was he going to keep lying?
Probably.
He couldn't drag her into his problems. But at the same time… he couldn't lie to Daphne. Not her.
Leo had met Daphne six years ago. Before that, he'd roamed the streets of Solhaven without a guardian — just another orphan the city had forgotten. He had no memory of how he ended up there, but he had no choice but to live with it. He scavenged whatever food he could find and lived off scraps and stubbornness. Back then, he'd stumbled upon this shack in the slums and found it empty. So he claimed it. The shacks were part of a city project designed to divert the homeless away from the nobles and wealthy commoners — out of sight, out of mind.
He'd found Daphne on one of his scavenging runs, picking through the trash bins of richer commoners. She was curled up against the side of a garbage bag, using filthy rags to keep herself warm. When he approached, she flinched at every sound, every shadow. She was afraid of everything around her.
He'd offered her a temporary place to stay at his shack.
She'd reluctantly accepted.
As time passed, they slowly formed a bond that went deeper than blood. Eventually, they decided to stick together and survive — no matter what. Ever since then, they'd been through everything in life together.
She was his best friend.
And it killed him inside every single time he lied to her.
"I will be very honest with you," Leo said slowly, meeting her eyes. "There are some things about my current circumstance that I cannot tell you. But at the same time, I cannot bring myself to lie to you." He paused. His voice came out quieter than he intended. "What should I do?"
He was so distraught that he no longer wanted to make Daphne's decisions for her. He just asked her what to do, because she normally had a better idea than he did anyway.
Daphne studied him for a long moment. Then she spoke.
"You don't have to tell me. Just tell me if you are okay now, or not." Her dark eyes held steady. "I trust that you know what you're doing."
Something warm spread through his chest.
He smiled. "I'm fine. And I will make sure that we have the money. Just give me another day. You can go to work without worrying."
He stepped forward and patted Daphne gently on her head.
"Thanks for trusting me."
---
It was the dawn of a new day.
He'd been sleeping for the entire previous day — a deep, dead sleep his body had desperately needed. That meant he only had four more days left to make enough money before the Blacktooth Gang came knocking again.
Four days.
Daphne nodded at his reassurance and left for work. He watched her slip out through the gap in the shack's entrance, then turned back to the empty room.
Finally. Alone.
The only reason Daphne wouldn't see him drawing circles in the air like a madman was that she was leaving for her job. Otherwise, the only time he'd be able to practice would be in the white room during the night. And that wasn't enough. Not with a deadline breathing down his neck.
He sat down cross-legged on the dirt floor and took a deep, steadying breath.
Previously, he'd been so exhausted that he couldn't concentrate. That was why the magic kept slipping out of his control, unraveling the moment it reached his extremities. His body had been running on fumes, and the spell demanded precision he simply couldn't deliver in that state.
But now?
He'd taken such a deep rest that he felt completely refreshed. His mind was clear. His thoughts were sharp.
A feeling stirred in his gut — a quiet, certain confidence.
He could do it this time.
He gathered his energy and started focusing. Properly this time. No rushing. No forcing.
The magic responded.
It flowed slowly, obediently, permeating through his body like warm water seeping into dry earth. It nested itself into his muscles — and every muscle it touched glowed with a faint, soft light.
His arms first.
Then his chest.
His legs.
His back.
The glow crept steadily through every fiber, every tendon, until it eventually reached every single part of his body. The light pulsed once, then faded, settling deep into his tissue like it belonged there.
When he finished, he felt the change immediately.
The minute the magic finished spreading throughout his body, something shifted. It was like his muscles had been reforged. He felt a surge of power — raw, tangible, and unmistakable — flooding through every limb.
He stood up slowly.
Then he punched the air.
Once. Twice. Three times — light, testing jabs.
His fist cut through the air with a sharpness that startled him. It was a lot stronger than before. Not just a little. A *lot*.
To see exactly how much the difference was, he jumped.
His head nearly slammed into the ceiling of the shack.
He landed in a crouch, eyes wide.
The shack didn't have a particularly high ceiling, sure. But it had always been hard for him to touch the top with his head because he was pretty short — only five foot one. And he hadn't even tried that hard just now.
A grin split across his face.
He was ready.
---
The reason Leo wanted this much preparation was simple: his plans were grander than finding just one herb and paying the Blacktooth Gang their protection fees.
He wanted to find enough herbs and make enough money to move out of the shack completely.
The Blacktooth Gang demanded 800 Star coins. But Leo knew the truth — no one in the entire slum community had that kind of money. It was just a scheme for the gang to rob them blind, and when people couldn't pay, they'd try to sell them off as slaves.
Even though slavery was illegal in Solhaven, if someone was sold to a noble? No one could do anything about it. The law bent wherever the wealthy wanted it to bend.
Leo clenched his fist.
Not Daphne. Never Daphne.
A small house outside the slums would cost 2,000 Star coins to rent for a month. The only issue he'd need to figure out was having enough to pay the first month's rent upfront. After that, he'd have a full month to figure out how to earn the money for the rest of the year.
He and Daphne would be able to move out of this shit hole. Finally have a decent life. If he had that much money, they could have proper meals — real food, not scraps from someone else's garbage. They could have a wardrobe that wasn't full of rags and holes.
A real home.
Real clothes.
Real food.
The thought made his chest ache with longing.
But all of this was dependent on two things: finding the rare herbs in Valkyr's Forest, and Trevor giving him the work.
So Leo wanted to make absolutely sure that his relationship with Trevor stayed strong — and that the body-strengthening spell he'd just completed would be enough to survive what the forest had waiting for him.
He looked down at his hands, feeling the new power humming quietly beneath his skin.
Four days.
That was all he had.