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When Luna reached him, her silver eyes searched his face. "What’s wrong? You looked worried yet excited." She had seen the ripple on Kai’s forehead and the sparkle like light across his eyes.
Kai nodded. "The rift isn’t finished with us. It’s hiding sothing. My instinct is telling to find it. I could feel it’s a rare treasure. But I am worried about you and Miryam. The rift will be closed soon."
"The realm could shift," Shadeclaw rumbled. His chitin still glistened with blood, but his stance was steady. "Ti might change. We need to get out as soon as possible, my lord."
"It could be days Or hours," Skyweaver added, voice laced with faint static. "Rifts are unpredictable. We all can feel it, it is closing. The question is how long? Can we find that treasure?"
Kai reached into a storage urn strapped to the siege sled and extracted a small flask of shimring silver. The liquid essence inside swirled lazily, reflecting tiny aura light that drifted along its surface like leaves on a mirrored pond.
"One liter," he said, handing it to Luna. "Feed it to Miryam in asured drops. No more than two spoons at once,’ feed it every six hours. Her runes should flare, then dim; if they pulse twice in succession, wait."
Luna accepted the flask carefully. "Why are you giving it to ? You can feed her. Don’t tell you want to..."
"I’m trusting you to keep her safe," he countered, softer now. "And yourself. I will stay here and find that treasure. You all will leave. I will join you in our ho as soon as I can."
Miryam chirped, her tiny mouth opening in a question. Through the soul link she sent a simple ssage:
Kai’s brows lifted slightly. He replied with the soul link, "No, you can’t. Go back with Luna, eat properly and plenty. Grow big, then we will go on many adventures together."
Miryam was sad, but didn’t say anything else. She just curled inside her sling. Luna was standing still. She knew Kai wouldn’t listen to her. They need powers. She thinks, "If Kai is willing to find that treasure or whatever. That ans it is an important thing for our future. I will support my husband."
He turned to his new Dawn Blade recruits. "Vexor, Shale, Flint, Needle, you’ve sworn yourselves. Your first duty is escort. Shadeclaw and Skyweaver will lead, Luna commands. You move through the Vein Gate tunnel we used to reach this basin. The traps are coded to my aura; you’ll pass safely."
Needle opened his mouth, perhaps to protest leaving Kai alone but Luna raised one hand. "We obey," she said, voice firm despite the uncertainty flickering in her gaze.
A ripple of acknowledgent ran through Kai’s Monarch Bond. The newly marked soldiers felt it as a thrum in their chests—certainty in a single heartbeat.
Shale saluted with a closed fist over his sternum. "We will keep everyone safe."
Kai faced Luna last. "The mountain’s nursery still needs reinforcent. Use the star milk I left there, let Miryam practice her breath in controlled bursts. And create a morial Stone for the boar brother, crown, mason. They deserve it..." He stopped and rembered the boar brothers and others’ sacrifice. He drew a calm breath. "Write, they will be missed. I collected their cores. Take it with you, put them under the stone morial."
"I will," she whispered. She started to lift her free hand toward his cheek, then seed to rember the blood still caked on her gauntlet. She lowered it instead and touched his wrist.
The Moonbound vine around their arms pulsed, a silent promise exchanged between two hearts.
Miryam stretched her neck from the sling and bumped Kai’s chin with her scaled head.
"Always," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers until the swirling runes on her hide flickered bright gold for a heartbeat.
Then it was done.
Shadeclaw called the march. Skyweaver spread her half tattered wings to cloak Luna in protective shimr. Vexor took point, Shale and Flint guarded the rear, Needle scouted ahead with a dancer’s silence.
Within minutes, they vanished into the narrow canyon path. Their figures beco small by dwarfed jagged walls.
Kai watched until he couldn’t see them anymore.
The rift above groaned—exhaling crackles of lightning that arced through broken clouds. Each bolt speared toward a bleak horizon, where rolling thunderheads circled sothing unseen.
"System," Kai said quietly. "Where’s the teoroid? Give the directions."
[Ding! System Guide Subroutine Initiated
Sensor Sweep: Anomalous Electromagnetic Signatures
Result: Star teoroid Iron crystallizes at lightning-strike loci within unstable manifolds.
Directive: Follow the thunder; where the storms converge, iron sleeps.
Estimated Distance: 71.4 rift-kiloters east-northeast—terrain hazardous.
Ti Window: Portal collapse predicted in 17 h 37 m.]
Kai sheathed his spear across his back, rolled his shoulders, and knelt to collect the last usable cores from the field. As he tucked them into his dinsional soul storage cube, he felt the faint tug of exhaustion. Ruler’s Roar had cost him dearly, and the Kin Devourer bonuses had made his attributes better. He got 152 unallocated stats points. He will allocate them as soon as he finds the star teoroid iron and leave this place. Every new heartbeat felt like a blow struck on the anvil of his ribcage.
Yet inside that ache was sothing else: possibility. Possibly what he could make with the iron. He was wondering if the star teoroid iron would be enough for the whole family (Harem mbers and childrens).
He shifted his weight, feet crunching over shattered obsidian and silver shards. With a single leap, he cleared the cracked chasm that bordered the basin’s center and landed on a ridge of broken slate. Ahead, a jagged valley opened—lit in rapid flashes of blue and white lightning.
Every thunderclap sounded like an ancient drum.
He took a final glance over his shoulder, toward the path where Luna and Miryam had gone. The bond between them vibrated softly, still within range but fading. Once they leave the rift the soul link will be cut off.
"Hold the mountain," he whispered. "I’ll bring back gifts for everyone."
Then he raced into the storm. By following the roar of thunder, where teors fell and iron dread of stars.
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