Atticus stared at the strange woman for a mont, uncertain of what response she expected from him. In the end, he gave only a curt nod and a simple,
"No."
After that, it was finally ti to leave the underground space. Atticus moved ahead of her, taking point as he controlled the earth before them, forcing it to part smoothly as they shot forward through the depths. He had chosen the underground route deliberately, to increase their pace, and to avoid the risk of being discovered. At least this way, they wouldn't have to worry about the others finding them and launching an attack.
The woman kept her position behind him, never once falling back, her gaze fixed on him without interruption. Eventually, the weight of that stare, combined with the oppressive silence, beca too much. Atticus released a slow breath.
"Why are you helping ?"
"Co—"
"That shouldn't apply here." Atticus sliced in calmly. "From the brief monts we've spent together, I think I understand you a little. You believe nothing should be freely given, that pressure and obstacles shape a person far more than kindness ever could. "But you're also not unfair. You give answers when I truly have no way of knowing sothing. Like how to control the elents the way you do." He paused, eyes forward as the earth continued to shift before him. "The sa logic applies here. Why you're helping isn't your identity. It's sothing that exists only in your mind. There's no way for to truly know it. Only you can."
Silence followed. Several seconds passed before she finally nodded.
"…I don't know."
"What?"
Atticus frowned when nothing followed. He had expected an answer that might offer so insight into who, or what, she truly was. This, however, was not sothing he'd anticipated.
"You an you don't know why you're helping ?" he asked.
A deeper frown creased her flawless face as her gaze drifted into the darkness ahead, as though she were searching for sothing buried deep within herself.
"…I don't," she said slowly. "I just feel a very strong urge to do so."
"A strong urge…" Atticus echoed, trailing off as he searched for a response and found none.
For a fleeting mont, the woman's usual cold mask slipped, replaced by sothing unsettled, almost disturbed, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Her head snapped forward, her eyes sharpening.
"We're here."
Atticus stopped instantly, instantly turning ahead. He pushed his awareness outward, parting the earth several ters in front of him until his control t sothing solid. A faint purple glow caught his eyes, forcing him to narrow his gaze.
'Solvath…'
He cleared more earth away, widening the space until the obstruction was fully exposed. Only then did he truly grasp what stood before them.
'A barrier.'
Its scale was difficult to comprehend. Even after carving out such a vast underground chamber, the barrier stretched endlessly in every direction, disappearing into the distance as though it had no boundary at all.
'If I touch it… will everything end?'
Atticus carefully moved toward the barrier, until the sharp click of the woman's tongue made him pause.
"You have sothing to say?"
"What you're about to do is ill-considered."
"…Why?"
She didn't answer him directly, gesturing to the barrier.
"Identify it?"
"A barrier?"
"Why does one create a barrier?"
"To keep things out…"
"Among other things." Her gaze remained fixed on the glowing surface ahead. "You were about to touch it, assuming it was part of Solvath's fragnt. It is not. It's nothing more than a manifestation of its power. Touch it, and not only will it repel you, you'll be announcing your position."
Atticus fell silent, turning her words over in his mind. If this truly was a manifestation of Solvath's power, then forcing his way through it, especially without his will, was close to impossible. Touching it and hoping for the best had been his most straightforward option, but if she was right, the mont he did, every Marquis in the vicinity would descend on this place. That wasn't an outco he could afford.
"A barrier is also used to protect things," he said at last. "The fragnts." His eyes narrowed slightly. "So how do you suppose I reach them if I can't get through this?"
"How can the fragnts control this world if they're fully sealed inside a barrier?"
Atticus frowned, already anticipating the answer before she gave it.
"It isn't fully covered," he said. "There's a way through."
She inclined her head in a small, wordless nod.
"Find it."
Atticus listened, closing his eyes as he expanded his perception outward, pushing past the layers of earth until it brushed the surface above. Only then did the full scale of the barrier reveal itself to him.
It enveloped an entire mountain towering over them, its purple glow stretching unbroken from base to peak. He narrowed his focus, sweeping across it carefully, searching for any inconsistency, any weakness. A mont later, his awareness snagged on sothing, and he froze.
'Of course.'
He had half expected a hidden passage, sothing concealed in the sky, buried in a cliff face, or woven through the roots of a tree, but what he found was the exact opposite.
Feeling the woman's silent gaze on him, Atticus opened his eyes and turned.
"I found it."
"Where?"
He hesitated, then answered,
"At the front of the mountain. In an open space."
…
Monts later, Atticus was perched high in a tree, surveying the massive mountain ahead, completely encompassed by the faintly shimring purple barrier. The woman rested on a nearby branch, her expression set in a slight frown.
Whether that frown ca from the danger of their current situation or from sothing he had unknowingly done to displease her, Atticus couldn't tell.
He pushed the thought aside and refocused on the problem at hand. The path into the barrier lay in a painfully exposed location, and even after entering it, they would still need to cross several hundred ters of open road before reaching the mountain itself.
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