Kenzo could not believe it. After everything he had gone through in that forest—after the fog, the wooden creatures, the Young Shoot, the armor, and the broken spear—it was not a monster that left him breathless, but this kid. Standing before him was a boy barely one meter sixty tall, as fragile as a blade of grass, blond hair falling around his pale face, with two blue eyes so pure they looked as if someone had painted them carefully without understanding the concept of "survival in a hostile environment." He wore an entirely white tunic, made of such smooth, fine fabric that it looked like silk. It covered his whole body without clinging to his skin, giving him almost the appearance of a noble who had wandered into the wrong place. Even so, it was clear he could move freely in it. In his hand, he held a sword: the guard was made of wood, and at the end there was a small flower as decoration. A flower. And despite that detail, which should have made it ridiculous, the blade looked incredibly sharp, sharp enough that just looking at it sent a shiver down Kenzo's neck.
That was when he understood something from the terrified expression on Lucian's face. The blond boy was trembling, his eyes widening as if he had just seen a ghost, and for a second Kenzo wondered whether he looked so bad now that he frightened people.
– « Wait, wait, it's me, Kenzo! »
The moment he spoke, a gigantic spider nearly three meters wide appeared, as if it had been there from the beginning without him noticing. Its legs looked like sharpened lances, long and thin, capable of impaling an entire body without effort. Its eight empty eyes, with a violet glimmer deep inside them, inspired death. There was something deeply disturbing in the way it stared at him, as if it were deciding which side of him to start eating first. The worst part of it all was the spider's color: a pure, almost dazzling white, but terrifying, like snow heralding disaster.
For an instant, Kenzo thought it was his imagination, his hunger, his exhaustion, or some mixture of the three. But the spider did not move. It remained there, motionless, tense, but without attacking, like a giant bodyguard waiting for an order.
– « Kenzo? » Lucian's voice said, more timid than ever, as he took a step forward.
As if that single word had been a signal, the spider shifted aside, moving with fluid grace to let the two boys see each other fully.
– « Yeah, yeah, it's me, » Kenzo answered, still on guard, his fingers tightening around the shaft of his broken spear without meaning to.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lucian ran toward Kenzo and hugged him with all the strength his small body could manage. What Kenzo mostly felt were two thin arms clinging desperately to him, as if Lucian was afraid that if he let go, Kenzo would disappear.
– « Uh… are you okay? Is something wrong? » Kenzo asked, completely overwhelmed by the situation.
Lucian did not answer immediately. His shoulders trembled, his fingers clutched Kenzo's armor as if he were clinging to life itself. Then, suddenly, he burst into tears, his voice shattered by accumulated fear.
– « I was scared… I thought I was going to die… I arrived in this forest alone and there were monsters everywhere… without Madame Spider, I'd probably be dead… »
Kenzo froze.
Madame Spider.
He drew his head back slightly to look at him, wondering if he had heard correctly.
– « Wait, what??? You control that thing? »
Lucian nodded while wiping his tears with the sleeve of his white tunic, as though what he had just said was perfectly normal.
– « On the first day I arrived here, I landed next to that spider when it was almost dead. I got scared and threw a rock at it… and after that, I received it as an artifact. »
Kenzo stared at him in silence. He opened his mouth. Closed it again. Opened it once more. He was waiting for the rest. A clarification. A "just kidding." But nothing came.
– « Wait, what? » he repeated, this time with the very clear impression that something, somewhere, in this testing system was openly mocking him.
He, in order to get an artifact, had had to risk his life, fight until he had nothing left, get crushed by a raging creature, get his skin torn open, nearly break his ribs, run, dodge, come back, and finally eat a heart that smelled like death and mold. Lucian, meanwhile… had just thrown a rock. Kenzo felt something collapse in his chest, a mix of frustration and resignation. If anyone had been there to comment on the situation, they would probably have said that fate had a questionable sense of humor.
Exasperated, Kenzo gently pulled himself free to peel the blond off him, trying to recover some shred of dignity. Lucian's blue eyes, still wet, shone like a small ocean under sunlight. It was hard to stay angry in front of that, and even more frustrating because of it.
– « And that? » Kenzo asked, pointing at the white tunic and the flower sword, searching for at least one logical explanation in all this.
Lucian sniffled one last time before answering, a little calmer.
– « We got attacked a lot at night or in the morning, and Madame Spider always protected me. One day, there was another white spider just like her… that's when I got the tunic. And for the sword, it was from a wooden Void Creature… a Young Shoot of the Cursed Tree, I think. »
Kenzo felt his patience crack like a dry branch. Lucian had encountered three Deviants. And he had eliminated all of them. Well… technically, it was Madame Spider who had done it, but the result was the same: three artifacts, three rewards, three boosts in power. While Kenzo fought not to die, Lucian had been traveling around with a giant bodyguard, full-on "close protection" mode.
He ran a hand over his face, then sighed.
– « Tell me… what does the voice in your Orb call your Madame Spider? » Kenzo asked, already prepared to regret the answer.
Lucian took time to think, as if the question were purely theoretical, then replied very naturally:
– « Ah, it calls her the Messenger of the Mist. »
Kenzo felt an extremely sarcastic great rise all the way to his mouth. He managed to swallow it just in time, but he could do nothing to stop the irritated sigh that followed. He lifted his eyes toward the massive tree he had been occupying for the past two days.
– « I didn't think it would be you lighting those fires. In a place this deadly, honestly… you could've climbed one of those big trees with Madame, couldn't you? » he said, vaguely pointing toward the vegetal colossus.
Lucian shook his head from side to side with almost dramatic energy.
– « I know, but I was too scared. The really, really big tree scares me, and I don't trust it. And besides, there are lots of those spiders in the Mist. »
He glanced toward the Gargantuan Tree, as if it might personally answer him. A shiver passed through his shoulders. For a guy who controlled a giant three-meter spider, he had a very selective definition of courage.
Kenzo sighed deeply. He would have liked to say that he, at least, was not afraid of that tree. That he was ready to go there right now. But that would have been a colossal lie. In truth, he was just as terrified. The only difference was that he refused to say it out loud.
– « Lucian… even if you're scared, we need to find a way to finish this test. So yes, right now we're too weak to dare approach that tree, but sooner or later, we'll have to go. »
Those words were not only meant for the blond boy. They were a reminder to himself as well. Giving up was not an option, even if everything in that Fragment seemed designed to break them mentally before killing them physically.
He placed a hand on Lucian's shoulder, trying to maintain a serious, even slightly mature air. The contrast between his black armor, his dark hair, and Lucian's immaculate tunic made the whole scene almost comical, as if two characters from completely different stories had been thrown into the same one by mistake.
Lucian nodded timidly, his blue eyes dropping for a moment before rising back toward Kenzo with a certain trust. It was obvious that he relied on Kenzo just as much as he relied on Madame Spider.
Kenzo continued, more practical this time:
– « Listen, we'll talk about that later. Right now, we need to find a high place where we can take shelter from the fog. »
Lucian gave a small smile, as if he had just received good news.
– « Don't worry, the fog doesn't reach this far. Yesterday, I was able to sleep without getting attacked. »
Kenzo froze for a second. That was good news. Very good news, actually. But part of him remained wary. In his experience, having one less threat did not mean there were no problems left. It usually meant… that other problems were waiting in reserve.
He was just about to say so when a roar of rage tore through the air nearby, brutal, savage, loud enough to make the branches around them vibrate. The kind of cry that left no room for doubt: something had just spotted something… or someone.
The two boys froze instinctively, like two animals caught by a predator. Madame Spider herself shifted her legs slightly, as though preparing to move.
Kenzo turned his head slightly toward Lucian, then toward the Messenger of the Mist, still standing there in silence just behind him. Deep down, he could not help thinking that at least this time, if a new catastrophe arrived…
he would no longer be alone to endure it.