They pushed to their feet slowly, one hand braced against the ground and dipped their head in a bow they couldn't quite straighten out of.
"Thank you… for saving us."
Kayon offered a small, tired smile. "Rest. And have the men bury them."
"Yes. We will."
He said nothing more. He turned to Carai and lifted her carefully into his arms.
"That was terrifying to watch," Dravena remarked.
"I almost felt pity for the woman."
They fell quiet. The wind moved through the silence, swallowing it.
Inside the tent, Kayon laid Carai down carefully. He leaned over her and kissed her slow, deliberate and when he pulled back, her wounds had closed.
"Do you feel pain anywhere else?"
She shook her head.
"Good." He dropped beside her.
A beat.
"Hey, Kayon. Do you plan on accepting the girls?" Carai spoke.
Silence.
Carai looked at him already gone, breath slow, face slack.
She poked his cheek. Nothing.
"You were incredible today," she murmured, settling onto her back. "And a bit scary."
She closed her eyes.
Outside, the camp worked by torchlight. Hammers. Dragged stone. Low voices.
Then the ground moved.
Not a tremor. A lurch.
The ceiling cracked. A slab dropped and hit the floor. Screaming tore through the cave like a second collapse.
Kayon was on his feet before he was awake, already through the tent flap, watching the ceiling come down.
Slabs fell and people where below Kayon moves towards them. His arms went up. The stones stopped suspended, groaning, raining dust over his shoulders. His teeth locked. A vein rose along his neck.
"Out." The word came out low. Absolute. "Now."
They ran. He held it. Seconds that stretched.
When the last figure cleared the threshold, he lowered it slow, controlled and let it settle into rubble at his feet.
Carai appeared at his shoulder, eyes on the dark beyond the cave mouth.
"Another one's arrived."
Kayon stared into it. Jaw tight.
"I know."
A beat.
"I'm already pissed."
Kayon moved toward the entrance. Carai's footsteps fell in behind him. He stopped.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She stepped in front of him, fists closed at her sides. "I'm coming to help you."
"Wait here. Check on the others I'll handle this quickly."
She held his gaze for a moment.
"Alright." She turned. "Just don't take long. We need your strength to move the stones." She leaped toward the cries.
Kayon stepped out and stopped.
A woman stood among the bodies of Eva and Evans, looking down at them without urgency.
'She doesn't have magic. Is she a regular human?' He walked closer.
"You did a number on my underlings." Her voice was calm. Almost bored.
"Your underlings?" He scoffed. "I don't know how you did this but you're paying for this."
She turned to look at him and her eyes caught the dark. Deep red, glowing faintly. "What's with those eyes?"
'Master. She is one of Pandora's creations.'
'I see.'
"Tell me where Pandora is," Kayon said, "and I might spare your life."
She laughed. "I didn't think I'd find you this quickly." A smile spread slow across her face. "Good. Entertain me."
Then the smile stopped.
Kayon's body moved before his mind did. One step back. Then another. His hands were shaking.
'What is this.'
She watched him. The corner of her mouth lifted. "Your body is smarter than your brain."
"What does that mean?"
"It's telling you to run."
"Like hell I..."
She crossed the distance in an instant.
The impact drove him into the mountainside. Stone cratered around his spine. He couldn't breathe. Blood filled his mouth and he grabbed at his stomach, fingers pressing against nothing.
She was already on him blows landing faster than he could track. He threw up his right arm to block. It shattered on impact. He raised the left. It shattered too.
'Master. You are taking more damage than you can heal. Any more could be fatal.'
Kayon screamed and detonated fire from his body in every direction.
She stepped back.
He stood in the ring of flame, chest heaving, watching his bones slowly knit. His hands reformed.
She glanced at him.
"Oh, should I give you time to heal." she sat down. "Alright how long"
kayon grit his teeth, forced himself up.
He pulled red light into his palms slow at first, then roaring, bright enough to throw shadows across the mountains.
She stood up. "That looks interesting."
He fired.
The beam turned the night red. The sound came half a second later, a crack that split the sky. When the light faded, she was standing in a crater, patting out small flames on her sleeve. Behind her, the mountains were carved open. Stone and earth, reduced to ruin.
Kayon took a step back. "You're still alive."
She walked toward him through the smoke, unhurried. "With this kind of power no wonder they didn't stand a chance." She stopped in front of him. "Do it again. More power this time."
He shot upward. Lightning split the sky. Stone tore from the earth, glowing red, and crushed into her from every direction.
He landed. Waited.
Dust settled.
"Is this all you can do?"
His body started moving backward on its own.
"There it is again," she said.
"What?"
"Your body." She lunged. "Reeks of fear!."
The strike hit him like a wall. He went through the mountain.
He landed inside the city, crashing through stone, skidding across the ground. Before he could move she was there foot driving down onto his chest, her fists following, relentless.
"Come on." She grabbed his head. "Fight back, you cocky bastard." She kicked him up through the ceiling, stone exploding outward, and he dropped back outside into the dark.
"Why can't I beat her."
Her footsteps crunched behind him.
"Simple," she said. "I'm stronger."
She uppercut him, caught his leg on the way up, and slammed him into the earth. The air left his body. He lay there staring up at the clouds, arms out, unable to move.
She crouched over him. "You're not used to your own power yet." She lifted him by the collar. "You need to master it." She kicked him through the tree line.
She followed.
She hit him again.
And again.
He stopped responding. The ground beneath him was dark and wet.
"This was fun." She straightened, rolling her shoulder. "I need more."
"What..." Kayon's voice came out barely above breath. "What are you?"
She laughed low, slow and leaned down close.
"I have many names." She tilted her head. "But the one that tends to stick is the Eternal Giant."
She rose. Looked down at him a moment longer.
"I'll return in three months. With my army." She stepped back, then lifted into the sky. Her voice carried down as she rose above the clouds "Make sure you can at least land a hit" and then she was gone.
Kayon lay still, staring up at where she had been.
Somewhere behind him, Carai was calling his name.
The cave was ruin. Most of the mountain had come down, and what remained stood at wrong angles, dust still settling in the dark. Dravena and Carai moved among the displaced, stepping over rubble, checking faces.
"We need to find a new place," Dravena said.
"And go where, exactly?"
"I don't know. But we can't stay here much longer."
Carai slowed, looking at what remained of the walls. Then she nodded. "We'll make a plan soon."
They walked in silence for a while.
"Carai." Dravena kept her eyes ahead. "How is he?"
A pause. Carai's lips pressed together.
"Healed," she said. "Fully." She didn't stop walking. "But he hasn't said a word in two weeks."
Dravena caught her by the shoulder.
Carai stopped but didn't turn.
"You're not alone anymore." Dravena's arms came around her from behind, slow and deliberate. "I can offer everything I have, you just need to say the word"
The silence stretched. Somewhere deeper in the cave a sound of a child crying echoed off the broken walls.
A tear ran down Carai's cheek, She didn't wipe it. "Thank you," she said quietly.
She stood there another moment then gently freed herself and walked on ahead.
She reached the tent and stopped.
Saeriel was on the ground just outside, slumped against the post. A scrap of Kayon's clothing was bunched in her fist, tightly held against her chest.
Carai crouched down. "Hey." She touched her arm. "Saeriel."
Saeriel's eyes opened slowly, unfocused, then found her. "Carai." Her voice was rough. "You're back."
"How long have you been out here?"
She glanced around. "I don't remember."
"Go and rest properly."
"I'm staying."
Carai looked at her. 'She has dried tracks running down her cheeks, and the way she is clinging onto that cloth,'
"At least wash your face."
Saeriel reached up and touched her own cheek.
She rose slowly, straightened, and walked past Carai without looking at her.
"I'm going to kill her."
Saeriel continued.
"Even if it's the last thing I do."