Two days passed beneath the slow grind of the second sphere. Even with meditation, its pulse never stopped pressing inward. A constant, muffled heartbeat under his ribs. Kaelric spent his mornings near the cougars' region, studying their trails, the burned trees, the subtle ways the air shifted before they moved. The afternoons, he used to make his next step certain.
He needed Tenfold Blossoms and Moonwood Ash. Both could stabilize the vitalis array he was building, or so he had claimed.
Seryn's family, the Lysmar family lived near the upper quarter, where the air always smelled faintly of pine and tea leaves. Their home glowed with polished wood and bronze lamps, a small waterfall murmuring through the courtyard.
Seryn met him at the door, posture formal, yet her smile couldn't quite hide her surprise.
Inside, her father listened in patient silence as Kaelric spoke of his "training array." He was a tall man with the calm of someone used to trade and talk, the kind whose silence carried weight. Kaelric let his gaze linger just long enough to suggest understanding, tilting his head subtly as if he shared in the father's unspoken pride.
When Kaelric finished, the man nodded slowly. "You have always been steady, Kaelric. The clan will need that. And Seryn…" His eyes softened. "She has been watching your progress with some admiration, I think."
Seryn's mother chuckled softly, setting a tray of tea down. "Strong-willed, but she learns quickly. I suppose she should, the way she keeps measuring herself against you."
Kaelric inclined his head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips, letting his tone remain gentle and conspiratorial. "She is capable. A C-grade still has great potential. Will and steadiness matter more than aptitude in the long term."
That earned a pleased smile from the father, and a sudden, quiet blush from Seryn. She looked down, fingers brushing the rim of her cup.
Kaelric's eyes lingered on her just a heartbeat longer than necessary, enough to mark his satisfaction with the seed of influence he had planted.
The man rose and fetched a small bronze box from a cabinet. Inside rested the reagents: silvery-gray Moonwood Ash sealed in glass, and dried scarlet Tenfold Blossoms that shimmered faintly under the lamplight. "Use them wisely," he said. Then, after a pause: "And remember that strong families are built on trust. A name like yours should carry one of its own someday."
It was said casually, too casually. But Kaelric caught the meaning. Even Seryn went still, her fingers tightening lightly on her cup. Kaelric bowed lightly, letting his posture speak calm control, thanked them, and left, the weight of their faith settling beside the quiet amusement in his chest.
By the second evening, Kaelric stood at the mouth of the Breathless Depths. It wasn't what he expected. Not dark or lifeless, but alive in a way that disturbed him.
The entrance exhaled faint blue mist, thick with a scent like scorched minerals and rain. The ground itself pulsed underfoot. He could feel the aura of the vitalis stones deep within, sharp and unstable, as if the world's breath had been trapped here and turned sour.
Vitalis energy leaked from the cracks like light through fractured glass, dense, beautiful, but carrying a kind of suffocating weight. It was strength too pure, too compressed, the second sphere almost tuned to it, as if attracted by the essence.
He couldn't enter alone. The thought didn't come from fear but from survival instinct. A calculation. Someone needed to be there to take the first step. Someone expendable. There needed to be two people to extract the variant mutated vitalis stones there.
The opportunity came that same night.
The lane behind the storehouses was narrow and dim, oil lamps spaced too far apart to banish the shadows fully. Daren slowed near a stacked crate, letting the voices of his fellow disciples drift past him as they rounded the corner ahead.
Some spoke Kaelric's name with easy praise, the kind that assumed agreement. Something tight twisted in Daren's chest. His boot scuffed a loose stone, sending it skittering across the lane as he continued toward the residential quarter.
"He's not that special," he muttered, voice pitched low but edged with heat. "They just dress it up that way. A-grade this, A-grade that. Favor does the rest."
Then the light shifted.
Daren stiffened.
Kaelric stepped out from between the buildings, close enough that retreat would be awkward, not close enough to be threatening. Just present, as if he'd always been there and the lane had merely decided to reveal him.
He moved where guards' routines allowed, patterns he had learned to watch but never disturb.
Daren's hand twitched toward the pipe at his belt. "Kaelric. I-"
"Quiet," Kaelric said, voice even, almost conversational. He didn't touch him. Didn't need to. "You speak loudly when you're certain no one important is listening."
Daren swallowed. His eyes flicked past Kaelric once, checking the lane, then snapped back. "Were you following me?"
Kaelric's mouth curved faintly. "You were complaining. It was hard not to."
The answer stung more than anger would have. Daren's jaw tightened. "If you're here to threaten me-"
"If I were," Kaelric interrupted mildly, "you wouldn't be standing upright. Relax."
He leaned back against the wall, casual, blocking nothing, offering the lane behind him. It forced Daren to decide whether to leave on his own.
He didn't.
Kaelric went on, tone light. "You think I'm favored. That everything I have was handed to me."
Daren scoffed, but it came out thin. "Am I wrong?"
"Not entirely," Kaelric said. "I know where opportunities are buried. Most people walk past them."
Daren hesitated. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because one of them requires two people."
That cut through. Daren's eyes narrowed. "You don't need help."
"Not for training," Kaelric agreed. "For access."
He stepped closer, just enough that Daren had to tilt his head to keep eye contact. "There's something beneath the southern cliffs. Vitalis-rich stone. Partially awakened. It can be refined into a growth amplifier. Enough to push a rank one to rank two."
Daren's breath caught before he could stop it. "That kind of thing would've been taken already."
"It would have," Kaelric said smoothly. "If the clan cared to spend refinement materials on rank ones. The stone only makes advancement possible. It doesn't guarantee it. Too much effort for too little certainty."
Silence stretched.
Daren's fingers flexed once, then stilled. "And you're just… offering this?"
"I can't extract it cleanly alone," Kaelric said, the lie delivered without weight. "The formation is narrow. Awkward. It punishes haste."
Daren stared at him, suspicion flaring. "If it's real, why not tell Edran? Or the elders?"
Kaelric's smile didn't move. "Why would an A-grade need a rank-one cultivation amplifier?"
The implication settled heavily between them.
Daren looked away, jaw working. "So what, I risk myself and you take the prize?"
"If I wanted that," Kaelric said, "I wouldn't be speaking to you."
He straightened, stepping back again, leaving the lane open. "You help me reach it. I use it first. Then it's yours. I won't need it anymore. Rank two will change how people look at you. How quickly they stop talking."
Daren laughed once, sharp and disbelieving. "You expect me to trust you."
"I expect you to want this more than you distrust me."
Daren's shoulders rose and fell. He hesitated, then asked, quieter, "Is it dangerous?"
Kaelric didn't answer immediately. Just long enough to let the question breathe. "It's remote," he said at last. "That's all."
That was enough.
Daren nodded too quickly, as if afraid the moment might slip away. "When?"
"I'll tell you," Kaelric said. "If you decide to come."
He turned before Daren could say more, footsteps fading into the lamplit street.
Behind him, Daren stood alone in the narrow lane, staring at the empty space Kaelric had left behind, already imagining how different everything might look once he stepped past that line.
Kaelric did not look back.