I woke with a yawn, Thea still asleep beside me.

I nudged her gently.

Nothing.

I should have known better. She really doesn’t wake up easily.

"Come on, Thea," I hummed. "Time to get uuup."

A muffled groan came from under the blanket as she shifted slightly.

Hmmm.

I had an idea.

Extending a single stealthy finger, I slowly approached her cheek, inching closer and closer to my target.

Soft.

I barely tapped her cheek before she lazily brushed my hand away with an annoyed huff, still deep in her sleeping stupor.

One more time.

I leaned in, finger poised for another strike.

"Peter, I swear, if you poke me again…"

"You aren’t going to finish that, Sleepy Grandmaster?" I teased, bestowing her with a new honorary title.

"I’m leaving it to your imagination," she mumbled before shoving the blanket over her head, leaving my head all alone in the cavern air.

I decided to make the smart choice and wait before bothering her again. It was hard, but I managed.

Wriggling free from our cocoon of warmth, I sighed, already dreading the next challenge, awkwardly squeezing between the tents again.

"I’m heading out, Thea."

She moved slightly, but since I couldn’t see her, I decided to take that as acknowledgment rather than the more likely truth…her ignoring me.

Shimmying out, I made my way to the cliffside, taking in the view of the now monsterless garden. Well, aside from the Vampire Grass, but it was mostly harmless.

I found myself wondering. How many people had come here before?

I only saw one orb.

Could this grass last a long time without nutrients?

And more importantly…did it have any uses?

A rustling behind me broke my thoughts. I turned as I greeted, "Good morning."

Elric nodded. "Morning."

"Want to try something with me?" I asked.

"We’re not making another pole," he stated flatly.

"What? No." I sighed, already heading down. "I made a new technique using my Precursor Sense as inspiration."

"Oh?"

"Come on, I’ll show you when we’re down there," I called up, already halfway down the cliffside.

Elric followed, and soon we reached the center of the terrarium, where the emerald pool sat, still and inviting.

"You going to explain?" Elric asked, his voice tinged with curiosity as he started stretching.

"Sooo, basically, I made an air filter." I leaned against a tree. "It’s kinda complicated, but you can probably use it if...Are you able to use multiple skills in the system at once?"

While bending down to touch his toes, he let out a light groan.

"Yeah. It’ll use up quite a bit of M—Precursor Energy. But I can."

I nodded. "Good. Because this is going to take a ton of control and focus."

I then explained the key steps to forming the internal force barrier, detailing the risks and potential dangers that came with it.

Elric sat down, eyes closing in deep focus.

At first, his face remained neutral, but soon, his expression tightened. His body stiff with intense concentration.

"You alright?" I asked.

"No talking." He whispered, voice strained with effort.

I sighed and twiddled my thumbs, waiting.

Eventually he spoke again.

"Got it." He exhaled, resolute.

"Y—you did it?" I blinked, astonished. I honestly didn’t think it was possible for anyone else to pull it off.

He shook his head. "I only made the air barrier. It has a passive effect, so it’s registered as a skill."

He paused before speaking its name, "Sensory Veil."

Then, reading the description, he continued,

"A rudimentary shield against outside influences. Greater mastery results in more sensory protection. The more Precursor Energy used, the wider the scale."

"So you still have to use Silencing Current manually?" I asked.

"That’s right. I’d actually prefer it the opposite way since I bet it costs less energy than this." Elric sighed. "Seriously, man, I’ll only be able to use the Veil for a few minutes at a time."

A random thought struck me now that it was just the two of us.

"I forgot to mention, we need to tell your brother about Precursor Energy...and the consequences of it."

"At least, the consequences we know of..." Elric added, his voice carrying a note of apology.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

I shook the memory of home from my head. Nothing could be done about it for now. All I had to do was get stronger. Much stronger.

"Also, don’t let me forget to tell Thea to inform the commander as well."

"Sure." He nodded.

I glanced over at the pool and realized something.

"I—I, um, forgot the canteens." I admitted, sheepish and slightly embarrassed.

We both sighed.

"Should try waking Sia up again," Elric suggested. "I’m sure Lyra’s already up."

I hesitated. "I’m a little scared to try on Thea."

I mean really, getting shocked all the time hurt. It wasn’t exactly unbearable, but still if I could avoid it, I would.

Elric started heading back toward the cliff, laughing as he called out, "Try anyway. Maybe offer her some snacks."

That…actually wasn’t a bad idea.

I followed him up and crawled into my tent, grabbing a bag full of dried rations.

"Theeaaa," I sang.

"Mmm, mmm mh mmhm." Came the unmistakable response from beneath the covers.

"Yeah, I know." I held up the bag. "But I brought breakfast."

Movement.

That was a good sign.

Then, like a coiling snake, her hand shot out from her blanket burrow, waiting expectantly.

I scooted closer, pulling out two strips of dried meat. One for her, and one for me.

I really, really, reeeaaalllly missed Miss Star’s cooking.

Soft nibbling and chewing sounds came from the mound.

"I want to try grabbing that liquid and checking out the other room today." I explained.

"Ok." A swallow, then another hand slipped out from the sheets.

I made another offering.

"I want to try figuring out how to use our Precursor Energy," Thea said between bites.

"Alrighty. We have a plan then." I forced the last strip of jerky down my throat. "Ready to get up?"

I moved closer to her barrier of fluff, grabbing the edge of the blanket.

Slowly, I peeled it down…revealing a small, sleepy, curled creature, more resembling a gerbil nibbling on a snack than an actual human girl.

"Yes." She paused briefly from her meal. "We need to leave here…I miss Sia’s mom’s cooking."

I wanted to offer words of comfort, but really, what could I say?

What words could possibly fill the void in our stomachs the same way a home-cooked meal could?

Instead, I just grabbed her free hand, sharing in her grief as one.

But unfortunately, the day had to go on.

Once she finished her snack, we both made our way out, spotting the others waiting by the water. Their tent was already gone, packed up.

Before I forgot again, I checked our packs, but Elric had already thought ahead. He’d gathered any spare flasks.

Without another word, Thea and I packed our things and raced down to meet them.

"Ready for the test?" Elric asked as soon as I arrived.

"Test?" Thea blinked, confused.

"Peter here came up with a new skill."

He placed a condescending hand on my head, rubbing it like I was a child.

"All by himself."

Lyra wiped an imaginary tear from her eye.

"They grow up so fast."

Sia finished off their three-pronged attack like it was rehearsed.

"Really put yourself together, Peter. I’m proud of you."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." I brushed off Elric’s hand, then explained to Thea, "It’s called Sensory Veil, and it is not an easy skill to pull off. But you can ask my dad here," I gestured toward Elric, "to explain how to use it. I’m sure he can do it more easily."

I held out my hand. "Flask, please."

Elric handed one over.

I walked closer to the pool, activating my inner flame and circulating my internal force around it. Then, I activated Sensory Veil in tandem with Silencing Current.

Step by step, I moved forward.

Then, summoning all the creepiness I could muster, I took a long, deliberate inhale.

"Gross!"

A familiar voice stabbed me from behind.

Thea cuts deep sometimes.

But…nothing.

No pull, no euphoria, no urge to drink.

So I was right. Smell really was the cause of the problem.

I uncapped the canteen and dipped it gently into the glistening pool, sending small ripples across its surface.

Something about the shimmering water bothered me. I couldn’t see more than a meter below.

What’s under there?

...A problem for later.

I capped the bottle and made my way back safely to the others.

"P—Peter, that was incredible," Elric said, mocking Thea’s voice. "Won’t you teach me?"

I immediately noticed the danger in Thea’s expression.

"You’re in a real jokey mood today, huh?" she remarked, eyes narrowing.

"Oh, Thea, of course I’ll teach you…personally, privately," I teased back looking straight into Elric's eyes.

She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, that’s enough teasing," Lyra cut in. "Let’s see if we can learn this new skill. Elric will teach us, and while we practice, you two can take turns filling the canteens."

Seemed fair.

I grabbed a couple more bottles and managed to fill them before the headache hit. At that point, I took a break while everyone else attempted to learn the skill.

I eventually joined them, watching as Elric moved back and forth between the center of the small forest.

Honestly?

Trying to replicate my own skill without using my Precursor Sense was exhausting.

My energy wasn’t moving the way I wanted it to. And when it did? Fusing the two techniques together felt next to impossible.

After a while, Elric returned from his last trip.

"Alright, unless we want to empty our own water reserves, this is it."

"I don’t want to run out of normal water." Sia shook her head, eyeing the six containers filled with our special green soup. "Let’s just check out the other room. I’m not having much luck with this skill right now."

"Me neither." Thea chimed in.

Lyra added the finishing touch. "Same."

I stood up. "Let’s head out then."

With that, we all got to our feet and returned to the room with the casket, the statue standing watch over it.

We paused before stepping through the round corridor. The deceptive doorway that was ready to seal behind us.

"Two options here, I think," Elric theorized. "It could be like the last one and only close when all of us step through. Or it might close the second one of us enters."

"We’ve only got one example to go by," Thea pointed out.

"Let’s stick together for now," I suggested. "Last thing we want is to be separated."

They all nodded, and we lined up.

Then, with a single large cautious step forward, we breached the passage.

Just like before, a stone slab slammed into place behind us, blocking any return to the garden.

The room was just like before. Not very big, essentially a stone box, embarrassingly large enough for a few more people to comfortably laze around in.

But our eyes were collectively fixed on one spot.

The casket in front of the statue.

Treasure? A tomb? Something horrifying?

"I wanna open it," I announced simply.

"...Me too." Thea admitted, a hint of desire in her voice.

The other three glanced around the otherwise bare room before Lyra let out a resigned sigh.

"Not much else we can do."

Together, we moved forward.

I activated my sense, and with a unified push, we shifted the smooth black stone cover, its surface grinding against the container beneath it.

It exhaled.

A hail of red mist sprayed from its mouth, unfurling like living vines, twisting and writhing upward. The tendrils of vapor crawled hungrily, slipping behind the statue’s frame. Vanishing before we could even flinch.

Then the veins took life.

Like blood through arteries, a deep red glow surged through the etchings, carving their way through the stone’s weathered flesh. The energy moved deliberately, careful to dance around the cracks, like a patient hand tracing the lines of an old wound.

Then it reached the eyes.

The carved sockets drank in the glow, and suddenly...the room was cast in a new, foreign terror, a hue neither warm nor inviting, but one that belonged to things best left undisturbed.