Kaelen stood alone in the center of the corridor, the knife still in his hand, his body screaming for rest. The system flickered one more time:
[Combat Performance: Exceeded projected vessel capacity by 340%.]
[Recovery Required: Immediate]
[Note: This level of performance cannot be sustained without significant physical reinforcement.]
He had known from the first moment he moved in this body that the old skills would come at a cost. But knowing and experiencing were different things. His muscles were torn, his mana pathways were cracked. His vision was swimming at the edges.
He sheathed the knife and walked to the edge of the torchlight, where the shadows were deepest, and sank down against the wall. His legs gave out before he reached the ground, and he let them, sliding down the stone until he was sitting in the dirt, his back against the cold rock.
Arin approached him, hesitating at the edge of his space. He was young ten year old, maybe eleven.
"Thank you," the boy said. His voice was rough, still changing, still unsure.
Kaelen looked at him. "You did it yourself."
The boy blinked. "If it was not for you I would have died and not even learnt?"
"True but you are talented" he said picking a book that he had used to scribble some things when he first trying to incorporate mana into his body and handed it to the boy. "Many would not have learnt. Use this it should help you till you find a teacher."
He then closed his eyes, letting the darkness press against his lids.
When he opened his eyes again, the boy was lying beside him snoring, and the camp was settling into the quiet rhythm of a post-battle watch. Doran was making rounds, checking the perimeter, speaking to each hunter in turn. The system was tracking the gate's stability, the mana density, the anomalies that still pulsed in the darkness beyond their torchlight.
He closed his eyes again, not sleeping, just resting, letting his body begin the slow work of recovery.
The night passed without further attack.
When the first light of the gate's false dawn filtered through the corridor, Kaelen opened his eyes. His body was stiff, his muscles screaming, his mana pathways a web of pain. But he was alive. And the system was tracking his recovery:
[Mana Pathway Damage: Moderate. Estimated recovery: 4 days.]
[Physical Strain: Severe. Estimated recovery: 2 days with proper rest.]
[Note: Current environment is not conducive to proper rest.]
He smiled grimly. The system, at least, had not lost its sense of humor.
Doran found him at the edge of the camp, stretching his arms. The captain looked like he had not slept his eyes were red-rimmed, his face drawn, but his voice was steady.
"We push to the second marker today. The gate's core is three kilometers in. We clear it, we collapse it, we go home."
Kaelen nodded. "And the anomalies? The mana density? The fact that this gate is twice as strong as it should be?"
Doran's jaw tightened. "We deal with what's in front first."
Kaelen looked at the darkness ahead. The system flickered:
[Second Marker: 2.1 kilometers]
[Current Threat Level: Critical]
[Anomalies: 3 (Unchanged)]
[Note: Third anomaly signature has increased by 15% since entry.]
He pushed off from the wall, ignoring the protest of his muscles, and walked toward the back of the formation but the hunters parted for him now clearly more friendly.
They were one kilometer in when the system flared.
[Warning: Third anomaly signature detected at close range.]
[Distance: 8 meters. Location: Directly ahead.]
[Threat Assessment: ???]
[Note: This signature does not match any known classification.]
Kaelen stopped and Doran stopped beside him, his hand going to his sword.
"What is it?"
Kaelen did not answer. He was looking at the darkness ahead, at the place where the torchlight faded to nothing.
And then, from the darkness, a voice spoke.
"You're found me, how suprising."
The words were soft, almost gentle, but they cut through the silence like a blade. The hunters froze.
Doran drew his sword.
A figure stepped out of the shadows.
She was young. Her clothes were rags, her hair matted, her skin pale with the pallor of someone who had not seen sunlight in a very long time. But her eyes were old. Ancient. They were the color of the gate's false sky, purple and black and red, and when they looked at Kaelen, he felt the hum spike so hard he almost fell.
The system blazed:
[Connection Network Expansion Detected]
[New Node: ??? → GATEBOUND]
[Name: ???]
[Title: THE GATE'S HEART]
[Status: Awakened]
[Connection: This individual is the source of the gate's instability.]
[Warning: This individual is bonded to the gate. Cannot be separated without collapsing the structure.]
[Note: This individual is a danger to your existence.]
Kaelen stared at the girl. The girl stared back.
And in the space between them, the hum became a thread.
"You're not supposed to be here," she said again. "You're going to ruin everything."
She turned and vanished into the darkness, leaving Kaelen standing at the front of a frozen formation, with the system's warnings burning in his vision and a single question echoing in his mind:
What?
The system flickered:
[Third anomaly signature repositioned???]
[Distance: 12 meters.]
[Note: Observation ongoing.]
Kaelen's grip tightened on the knife.
"…It's still here."
Then his world went dark.