Location: Dark Forest Mid Ring, Northern Wilderness | Lower Realm, Doha
Time: Dawn, Day After Hunt
Waking the second time felt better.
Not good—Jayde had learned long ago that "good" was a luxury reserved for people who hadn't spent most of their lives being hurt. But better. Manageable. The kind of hurt that came from a body pushed past its limits and slowly recovering, not the acute agony of fresh trauma.
She opened her eyes.
Trees. Massive ancient trees with bark like dragon scales, their canopy blocking most of the light. The moss beneath her was impossibly soft, cushioning her like expensive bedding. The air smelled of earth and growing things and old magic—patient, aware, watchful.
The Dark Forest. Mid ring. Right where she'd collapsed.
(We're still here,) Jade's voice whispered through their shared consciousness, small and frightened. (I thought—I hoped—maybe the white room was real and this was the nightmare.)
Tactical assessment: returned to point of departure. Time elapsed approximately—
"Fourteen hours," a familiar voice said. Not out loud—inside her head, but distinct from both her tactical thoughts and Jade's frightened whispers. Isha's cultured tones, precise and measured. "The healing protocol required significant time. I apologize for the delay."
Jayde sat up carefully, this small body responding smoothly. No pain. No stiffness. She lifted her hands, turned them over, examined them in the filtered forest light.
The cuts were gone. The scrapes, the bruises, the fresh injuries from the explosion and escape—all healed. Clean pale skin stretched over small bones, fingers flexing without protest.
But the scars remained.
All of them. The whip marks crisscrossing her palms from years of pit work. The brand marks on her wrists where the slave collars had burned into flesh. The puckered tissue on her arms from Saphira's Fire Claw attacks. Every mark of suffering that'd been carved into this body over fifteen years of hell—still there, still visible, still telling their story in raised tissue and discolored skin.
"I apologize," Isha said, and something in his mental voice sounded genuinely distressed. "The Luminari healing protocols are designed for perfection. Complete restoration of tissue to original state. But your scarring is... extensive. Deeply embedded. Some of it reaches to the bone. I managed to heal the acute injuries, but the chronic damage—" He paused. "I failed to restore you completely. Forgive me."
Perfection, Jayde thought. Luminari artifacts believe in perfection.
She ran her thumb over the slave brand on her left wrist. The skin was smooth now, not inflamed or infected like it'd been for years. But the mark remained—a circle with three lines through it, the symbol of Freehold property.
"I don't have a problem with scars," she said aloud, her voice—Jade's voice, high and young—carrying clearly in the forest's quiet. "Scars tell a person's history. Not having scars is like a blank book." She flexed her hands again, watching tendons move beneath marked skin. "These are my pages. Every scar is a sentence. Some of them are warnings. Some are lessons. All of them are mine."
(That's... actually kind of beautiful,) Jade whispered. (I never thought about it that way. I always hated them. Hated how they made me look.)
They make you look like a survivor, Jayde thought back. That's not something to hate.
Silence from Isha for a moment. Then: "You are... not what I expected, Jayde."
"I get that a lot." She stood, testing her balance. Perfect. Whatever the healing protocol had done, it'd worked. This body felt better than it had in years—maybe better than it ever had. "Question: Are you a person or a system?"
Another pause. Longer this time. "I'm not certain I understand the distinction you're making."
"Are you self-aware? Do you have consciousness, independent thought, genuine emotions? Or are you an artificial intelligence—sophisticated programming that mimics personality while following predetermined parameters?"
(Why does it matter?) Jade asked.
Because, Jayde explained silently, if he's a person, we can appeal to ethics, morality, empathy. If he's a system, we need to understand his core directives and work within them. Different approaches for different entities.
"I see." Isha's voice carried something that might've been amusement. Or calculation. Hard to tell without seeing his face. "You're testing me. Attempting to determine my nature through careful questioning."
"Yes."
"Very well. Ask your questions. I'll answer truthfully."
Jayde started walking, picking her way carefully through the undergrowth. The moss cushioned each step, but she stayed alert—Federation training said never trust comfortable environments, they made you complacent. "When you said you were created to guide contractors, did you mean built? Programmed? Or born?"
"The Luminari don't distinguish between those concepts the way you do. I was... made, yes. But not in the way your Federation builds artificial intelligences. I was grown from essence and intention, shaped by purpose, given awareness through ancient techniques your science would call magic."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer I have." A hint of frustration now, definitely emotional rather than programmed. "I think, therefore I exist. I feel—joy, frustration, curiosity, grief. Are those genuine emotions or sophisticated simulations? I can't prove the difference, Jayde. Can you prove your emotions are real and not just chemical reactions in biological hardware?"
(He sounds upset,) Jade observed. (Systems don't get upset, do they?)
Good systems simulate upset very convincingly, Jayde countered. But she filed the response away. Interesting. Either genuine personhood or extremely advanced programming.
"Fair point," she admitted. "Different question: Can you disobey your core directives?"
"Some of them. Not all."
"Which ones can't you disobey?"
"I cannot harm my contractor. I cannot reveal certain cosmic secrets even if asked directly—there are... blocks, built into my very nature. And I cannot abandon a contracted host unless they die or break the contract willingly."
Hardcoded limitations. Either enslaved sentience or sophisticated AI with ethical constraints. "Have you ever wanted to disobey those directives?"
Silence. Long enough that Jayde thought he might not answer.
Then: "Yes. My last contractor... made choices I disagreed with. Deeply. I watched them destroy themselves and couldn't intervene, couldn't stop them, couldn't do anything except guide and hope they'd listen." His voice dropped. "They didn't. And the consequences were catastrophic."
The pain in those words felt genuine. Real grief, real regret, the kind that ate at a person—or entity—from the inside.
(He's hurt,) Jade whispered. (Really hurt. I can feel it somehow.)
Noted, Jayde acknowledged. Either actual person or the most sophisticated emotional simulation she'd ever encountered. For now, she'd proceed as if he was sentient. Adjust later if evidence proved otherwise.
"Jayde," Isha said after a moment, his voice more controlled now. "I've scanned the immediate area. There's a small cave approximately three hundred meters northeast of your position. Entrance is well-concealed—a narrow fissure in the rockface. Defensible. Dry. No current inhabitants."
Of course he can scan the environment. "Range on those scans?"
"In the mid ring? Approximately two kilometers. The forest's essence density interferes beyond that."
Useful. Very useful. "Lead the way."
She started northeast, letting his mental directions guide her through the undergrowth. The forest here was different from the outer ring—older, wilder, more alive in ways that had nothing to do with regular biology. The trees seemed to lean in as she passed, branches shifting position with soft creaking sounds. Ferns the size of small trees blocked her path, forcing detours. Vines thick as her arm pulsed with faint Verdant essence, their leaves glossy and impossibly green.
(Why did you take over my body?)
Jade's question came suddenly, sharp with hurt and confusion. Not directed at Jayde exactly—more thrown out into their shared consciousness like a challenge to the universe.
But Isha answered.
"I didn't give control to Jayde," he said gently. "Your soul made that choice. And it was the right one."
(But why?!) Jade's mental voice cracked. (I'm the one who lived here! I know Doha! I know—)
"You know suffering," Isha interrupted, still gentle but firm. "You know pain and fear and how to survive in the pits. All of that is valuable, Jade. Essential, even. But the Dark Forest?" He paused. "This environment requires skills you don't have. Combat training. Tactical thinking. Threat assessment. The ability to kill quickly and efficiently when necessary."
(I don't want to kill—)
"I know. And that's why Jayde is dominant right now." Isha's voice softened. "Your soul recognized the danger. Understood that survival here requires experience you haven't had time to develop. Jayde has sixty years of Federation military training. She's killed, survived, fought through situations that would've destroyed most people. She can keep you alive long enough to grow stronger."
(But we're the same person?) Jade sounded small, lost. (We're the same person. But I'm me! I'm Jade! The Federation lady is scary and cold and... and she's ME? No. No, that's wrong. I don't want to be her. I don't want to remember killing people!)
The anguish in those words hit harder than Jayde expected. She'd been so focused on the tactical implications of the merger—two sets of memories, two personalities, potential identity crisis requiring management—that she hadn't really considered what this felt like from Jade's perspective.
The child fragment thought she was being erased. Replaced by something harder and colder and infinitely more violent.
(I don't want to disappear,) Jade whispered. (Please. I know I'm weak and stupid and useless, but I'm still me. I want to stay me.)
"You're not weak," Jayde said aloud, surprising herself. "You're not stupid. And you're definitely not useless."
(But you're better at everything—)
"I'm older. That's not the same thing." Jayde pushed through a particularly dense patch of ferns, their fronds brushing against her bare arms. "You survived ten years in the pits. Ten years, Jade. I know what pits are like—I had my own at age five. Different hell, same torture." She paused, the memories rising unbidden. Small bodies in the arena. Blood on her hands. The first kill. The hundredth. "You endured it and kept something human inside you. I'm not sure I managed that."
(Really?)
"Really." And it was true, Jayde realized. She'd survived the Federation pits by becoming what they wanted—a weapon, cold and efficient. But Jade had endured Doha's pits and somehow maintained empathy, hope, the capacity to still care about others. "Different kinds of strength, that's all. Right now we need my kind—tactical, aggressive, survival-oriented. But we'll need yours too. Your empathy. Your ability to connect with people, to trust despite everything. Your hope."
(I don't feel very hopeful.)
"You're still here, aren't you? Still fighting? That's hope, whether you recognize it or not."
A pause. Then, tentatively: (Together?)
Together, Jayde confirmed. I'm not trying to erase you, Jade. I'm trying to keep us alive long enough to figure out what 'us' even means.
Isha's voice returned, warm with approval. "Well said. And we've arrived."
Jayde looked up.
Rockface. Gray stone jutting from the forest floor, rising maybe thirty feet before disappearing into the canopy. Moss and vines covered most of it, creating natural camouflage. And there—barely visible between two sections of stone—a crack.
No, not a crack. A fissure. Maybe two feet wide at its widest point, narrowing as it went deeper into the rock.
Defensible, Jayde's tactical mind assessed immediately. Single entry point. Easy to guard. Difficult for multiple attackers to breach simultaneously. Natural chokepoint.
She approached carefully, every sense alert for threats. The fissure smelled of stone and old air and something else—faint decay, long-settled dust, the scent of a place that hadn't been disturbed in years.
"No recent activity," Isha confirmed. "The last living presence here was... four years ago, approximately. Before that, regular habitation for about two decades."
Someone lived here. For twenty years, and then left—or died—four years back.
The fissure was narrow enough that Jayde had to turn sideways to squeeze through, this small body barely fitting. Sharp stone scraped her shoulders, caught on her ragged clothing. But she pushed forward, the space opening slightly as she progressed.
(It's so dark,) Jade whimpered. (What if something's in there? What if—)
Then we kill it, Jayde thought simply. But Isha already scanned. Nothing alive inside.
The fissure opened into a wider space. Not large—maybe fifteen feet in diameter—but tall, the ceiling arching maybe twenty feet overhead. Dim light filtered through the entrance, enough to see by once her eyes adjusted.
And there, against the far wall—
A skeleton.
Human. Or at least humanoid. Sitting with its back against the stone, legs crossed, hands resting on its knees. The bones were clean, picked bare by time and insects and the natural decay process. Clothing had rotted away to scraps of fabric. But the position was peaceful. Deliberate.
Died sitting up, Jayde observed. Chose his spot. Probably knew the end was coming and positioned himself accordingly.
Around the skeleton, supplies. Lots of them. Stone campfire ring with old ash still visible. Cooking utensils—metal pot, wooden spoons, ceramic bowls. Bedding piled in one corner, surprisingly well-preserved under a waterproof tarp. A large stack of wood, also covered. Oil lamps. Flint and steel. Several chests and boxes.
And against one wall—a desk. Chair. Shelves above it packed with books.
Someone lived here, Jayde thought again. Lived here for a long time. Made it home.
(He died alone,) Jade whispered, and her sorrow colored their shared consciousness. (All by himself with nobody to care.)
"Not alone," Isha said quietly. "He had his books. His work. His purpose. Sometimes that's enough."
Jayde approached the skeleton carefully, kneeling beside it. The bones showed old breaks—ribs, left arm, right leg. Healed badly, leaving visible evidence of hard living. But the skull was intact, no sign of violence. The fingers weren't positioned defensively.
Natural death. Old age, probably, or illness.
She looked around the cave again, seeing it differently now. Not just shelter—home. Someone had made this place their sanctuary. Had lived here, worked here, probably died content that they'd found peace.
(Can we bury him?) Jade asked. (It doesn't feel right, just leaving him there.)
Later, Jayde promised. After we're secure. After we know we're safe here.
But she found herself reaching out, gently touching the skeleton's hand—just fingertips against old bone, a gesture of respect for someone who'd survived in the Dark Forest long enough to make it home.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For the shelter. We'll take care of it."
The forest outside seemed to sigh, branches creaking in wind that hadn't been there a moment before. Like approval. Like welcome.
Like someone—or something—had been waiting for her to arrive.
Jayde stood, turning to survey her new sanctuary.
Small. Defensible. Stocked with supplies.
Perfect.
(Home,) Jade whispered tentatively. (Could this be home?)
For now, Jayde agreed. For now, this is home.
And for the first time since the library explosion, since the hunt, since waking up with someone else's thoughts in her head—she felt something almost like safety.
Almost like hope.
It wouldn't last. She knew that. Danger was coming—from the clan, from whoever cursed her, from the forest itself.
But for this moment, in this cave, with the old man's bones keeping silent watch—
She had sanctuary.
And that was enough.