My boots sank into the fine white sand as I stepped out of the tent, each step kicking up a small, glittering cloud that caught the brutal sunlight and threw it back twice as bright. This wasn’t the plain’s sun. This light was sharper, whiter, bouncing rcilessly off the pale ground and stinging my eyes.
Guen’s friend was waiting just outside, arms loosely crossed. She studied for a beat, confirming sothing in her head.
"You’re Abram?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Great. Follow ."
No explanation. No context. She turned and started walking. I fell in beside her, the hot sand shifting under my soles with every stride.
The system had stayed completely silent since we arrived. No warnings, no red flags, no hostile entity markers. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t reading as danger. At least not the kind the system knew how to flag.
rcury sat cross-legged in the sand near her tent, surrounded by a cluster of laughing children who had clearly decided she was the most fascinating thing they’d seen in weeks. Further down the row, Code leaned against a tent pole, doing sothing with his hands I couldn’t make out from this distance, relaxed, detached, completely in his own world.
"There was a great celebration when the Libra showed us you were alive," the woman said casually as we walked.
I slowed half a step. "What does that an?"
"Nothing much," she replied, brushing it aside with the smooth deflection of soone who had already said too much. Her braids swayed against her back with each step.
The Libra. Whatever it was, it had known I was alive. It had known where I was. And it had told these people long before we arrived.
"What’s your na?" I asked.
She glanced sideways at , a small, playful smile tugging at her lips. "Whatever you want to give ."
I looked at her. She kept walking like the answer was perfectly normal.
The solid building grew larger ahead, the only real structure in this ocean of white tents. In front of it stood a large open tent, its sides rolled up, a simple wooden table and two chairs waiting inside like a quiet invitation.
"We’re here," she said.
We stepped into the shade of the tent. The air imdiately felt ten degrees cooler. Two chairs. One table. At the far end, another thick layer of fabric hung like a divider, concealing whatever lay beyond.
"Have a seat," she told . "She’s inside."
I sat. The chair was sturdy, wooden, warm from the sun.
"Eleanor," she called toward the inner curtain. "He’s here."
Then she turned and walked out, her footsteps fading softly into the sand.
I sat alone in the open tent, staring at the hanging fabric. Camp sounds filtered through the canvas, children shouting and laughing in the distance, the low murmur of conversations, the flap of tents in the breeze. Normal life. Peaceful life.
No guards. The leader of a camp this size was sitting behind a curtain waiting to speak with like it was just a conversation between two people.
These were free people. The freest I had ever seen. The inner curtain shifted with a soft whisper of fabric.
She stepped through.
Early thirties. Small waist. Straight black hair falling past her shoulders like a dark river, framing a face that was almost unnaturally composed, the kind of stillness that ca from years of holding power quietly. Her eyes found mine instantly. Dark, sharp, and deeply certain. The eyes of soone who had been waiting for this exact mont and had rehearsed it in her mind many tis.
She wore simple white linen, a loose shirt and pants that moved with the faint breeze. Bare feet in the white sand. No jewelry. No guards. Just presence.
She looked at the way a hunter looks at the animal she has tracked for years, finally standing ten feet away.
"Abram," she said. Her voice was quiet, warm, but carried weight. "I’ve been waiting for you."
"Eleanor," I replied. "Right?"
She smiled. Small, genuine dimples ford just above the corners of her lips. She crossed the space and sat across from at the simple wooden table like we were old acquaintances who had agreed to et here months ago.
"I’ve been tracking you since the system awakened," she said without preamble. "That’s why I summoned you."
I studied her. She was several moves ahead of and she knew it. She wasn’t pretending otherwise.
"If you wanted specifically," I said, "why bring the whole team? You could have taken just ."
She gave the patient look of soone deciding how much truth to hand to a child asking why the sky is blue.
"Where were you heading?" she asked.
"Back to the walls."
"Exactly." She leaned forward slightly. "The walls will only open if you return with them. That part is non-negotiable."
[Eleanor. Immortal.]
The notification flashed across my vision. I kept my face completely still.
"Why does the system work through intimacy?" she asked, tilting her head.
I hadn’t asked myself that question properly. I had simply accepted the chanic the way you accept rain.
"I don’t know," I admitted.
She nodded, as if that was the correct answer.
"Has it occurred to you that the system chose you for a very specific purpose?"
I stayed silent.
"You’ve been chasing girls to level up," she continued. Not mocking. Just stating fact. "Fucking your way through the chanics."
"Yes," I said.
Eleanor stood slowly, the linen shifting against her body. "You’ve mistaken the direction of the hunt."
She moved toward the open side of the tent, clearly expecting to follow.
"One more thing," she added, pausing at the edge where sunlight t shade. "Have you ever wondered what happens to the infected after they die?"
"No," I said.
She turned and looked at with the calm, patient expression of soone who knew she had a very long conversation ahead and was looking forward to every word of it.
"You don’t know anything yet, Abram," she said softly. "Walk with ."
I stood up. The chair scraped lightly against the sand. I followed her out into the blinding white light.
The camp stretched endlessly around us, rows of tents flapping gently, the distant sound of laughter and life carrying on the warm breeze. Eleanor walked beside , bare feet leaving delicate prints in the sand, her dark hair swaying with each step.
She was ready to start talking. And I was ready to listen.
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