"Theryn left us, Dirga..."
Saelari’s voice was barely a whisper, caught between breathless sobs. "She said something up there in the air—I couldn’t hear it, but... I read her lips. She said ’I’m sorry.’ Then she flew off. In a different direction..."
Dirga stood still, the weight of the words sinking into him like stone.
"...Fuck," he muttered.
He should’ve seen this coming.
Theryn had dropped hints. The hesitations. The looks. The silence in the firelight.
And yet he hadn’t acted.
Maybe she left to protect them.
Maybe Dracula had whispered something in her ear—twisted her path with some old, rotting fate.
Or maybe... she simply made a choice.
But the fact remained.
Saelari’s sobs came in waves—messy, raw, real. "She was... like a sister. How could she just leave us like that...?"
Dirga clenched his fists. He didn’t have the right words. He didn’t even know what he was supposed to feel. Anger? Betrayal? Guilt?
He turned toward her, his voice low but firm. "We don’t know what’s going on in her head. But if she left... maybe it was to protect us. And we owe it to her not to fall apart now."
Saelari’s breathing steadied. She wiped her eyes, shoulders still trembling.
"Our journey’s been forged through blood and flame," Dirga continued. "You and Kaela... you’re not just the girls I rescued from goblins anymore. You’re my comrades. My family."
He paused, gaze distant.
"And Theryn still is. So yeah, we’ll find her again—after we make it to town. We’ll figure out why she left, knock some sense into her if we have to. But we survive first. We move forward."
Saelari gave a tiny, broken laugh through the tears. "...Yeah."
She nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear. The silver strands shimmered beneath the sunlight filtering through the trees. Her blue skin glowed faintly, warmed by the daylight.
They turned toward Kaela—still unconscious, wrapped gently in the Crimson Core’s bindings like a slumbering ember. Saelari leaned in and brushed a hand across her cheek.
"Please wake up," she whispered.
Kaela’s brow twitched. A faint grimace crossed her face—but it was something. A flicker of life.
Dirga exhaled in relief and adjusted the Crimson Core, reshaping it into a secure harness that cradled Kaela against his back. Every movement was careful, deliberate.
"She’ll pull through," he said. "She’s stubborn like that."
"Just like someone else I know," Saelari replied softly.
Together, they began walking.
The forest around them stretched like a forgotten kingdom—branches twisted in permanent dusk, soil dark as charcoal. But above, the red eyes of the sky glowed with daytime heat, casting long shadows behind them.
"We just need to follow the river," Dirga said, nodding toward the stream cutting through the terrain. "From what I saw up there—it flows all the way to the town."
"Then let’s go," Saelari said.
And so they walked—two survivors and a sleeping girl—chasing the path of water through a land of dusk.
Not knowing what waited ahead.
Not knowing what waited behind.
Only that they still had something to fight for.
The road, for once, was easy.
Dirga and Saelari followed the river downstream, its shimmering blue surface cutting a clean path through the dark terrain of the Dusk Forest. A few wild goblins skittered in the underbrush. A serpent hissed from a tree branch. A horned boar crossed their trail. But compared to what they had just survived—
They made camp by the riverbank that night, using Saelari’s enchanted backpack to summon the protective tent once again. Dirga built a small fire while Kaela slept inside, still unconscious but stable. Her breathing was deeper now, her face no longer pale.
Dirga and Saelari sat side by side, watching the fire crackle.
The silence stretched between them, warm and steady.
Then Saelari broke the silence.
"Dirga... what are you going to do once we reach Ortheva?"
He didn’t answer immediately. The fire crackled between them.
"First? I need information," he finally said. "There’s someone I need to contact."
"Someone from your world?"
"...Sort of. Let’s just say he’s involved in this whole mess."
Saelari let out a small hum of understanding. "I think some of my people have a base in Ortheva too. If they’re still active, I’ll contact them. They’ve probably gone crazy wondering where I am after the kidnapping."
Dirga turned to glance at her. "So Ortheva might be a good place to gather intel."
She nodded. "Definitely."
Dirga hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Hey... I’m still new to all this. Your world—does it really connect across the multiverse? Like... people can travel between universes?"
"Of course," Saelari replied matter-of-factly. "But we don’t just jump randomly. We use the registered coordinates listed in the Axis of Worlds."
Dirga tilted his head. "The what?"
"The Axis of Worlds," she explained, "is the governing body of the multiverse. Like how Hell is ruled by the Devil King—this is the bureaucratic side. Every stabilized universe has a signature, a coordinate you can jump to. It’s how we regulate multiverse travel."
"So... light-speed jumps?"
"More like spatial folds. You can’t really move through space fast enough—so we anchor the jump between fixed coordinates using confirmed Axis signatures."
Dirga furrowed his brow. "So what about free roaming? Just tearing through space to reach new universes?"
"Extremely dangerous," Saelari said seriously. "Unless you’re absurdly powerful or suicidal, it’s nearly impossible. Tearing the wall between universes is like trying to punch a hole in reality itself. Only entities on the level of Devils, Angels, or Axis agents can attempt something like that."
She paused, then added, "That’s why First-Timers—people like you, from closed worlds—are so important. When someone like you enters the multiverse, your world gets exposed. Registered. And that... changes everything."
Dirga’s gaze dropped to the fire.
A long silence passed.
Then he asked, "What about the worlds invaded by Hell?"
Saelari’s expression darkened.
"You already know," she said slowly, "that reality is divided into three major domains. Heaven. The Multiverse. And Hell. Heaven is governed by the Angelic Thrones. The multiverse is managed by the Axis. Hell belongs to the Devil King."
Dirga nodded, focused. Listening intently.
"I’m guessing in your world, Heaven and Hell are treated as good and evil," she continued. "Locked in eternal war. That’s... not entirely wrong. But it’s not the full picture."
Dirga’s jaw tensed. "So why do they invade worlds?"
Saelari sighed. "No one really knows. Some think it’s just influence wars. Others say it’s fate. But when a world gets caught in the crossfire—when it becomes a target—there’s no stopping it. Heaven or Hell will consume it, reshape it, and move on."
She let the words hang heavy in the air.
Dirga clenched his fists.
He already knew it—Sasa had told him. But hearing it again from Saelari felt like a final confirmation. The fate of his world was sealed.
Not if he could help it.
"...Do you know about the Hell Flower disease?" Dirga asked quietly.
Saelari blinked. "Yeah. The Hell Flower and the Heaven Seed. They’re marks—blessings, or curses. When someone is chosen by Hell or Heaven, they awaken power... and open a gate. That gate becomes a tether. A bridge that allows their realm to pour through into that world."
She looked directly at him now. "That’s how destruction begins."
"What happens to the person?" Dirga asked, voice tense.
"They lose themselves," Saelari said. "From what I’ve heard... they become something else. A vessel with one purpose. And once that purpose is complete—"
"They die," Dirga finished.
His voice had changed. Lower. Heavier.
His expression was unreadable, but his aura rippled—dark, gravitational, wild.
For a second, Saelari felt her skin prickle, the Zarion in the air bending subtly around him.
Then—just as fast—it vanished.
Dirga breathed out. Calm again. But behind his eyes, something had solidified.
A resolve sharper than steel.