FVR

Chapter Twenty-Six.

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As if they'd be too kind, they hardly know me, Joel thought as he reflected on Cedric's words.

He opened the door and stepped over the threshold into a lavishly adorned bedroom, its azure hues and intricate mosaics were befitting of the opulence Joel had already seen of House Waters. Of all the fanciful decorum, however, the first thing to catch his attention was Damon, standing rigidly beside the door.

Damon froze, indecision flickering across his face before he hesitantly spoke. “Hi,” he muttered, his eyes betraying the uncertainty on his mind. His once boyish features caked in a layer of mud and grime that contrasted so sharply with the room's elegance that Joel wondered how he was allowed in.

A man of many words this one. “Uh, yeah, hey,” Joel replied with an awkward pause. I thought he hated me?

Joel gave a small, polite smile, then wondered why Damon was still so disheveled. Flona cleaned most of me during the healing - why didn't he get the same treatment?

Closing the door behind him, Joel stepped further into the room, only to be accosted with the scent of sweat, damp clothing, and the lingering tang of earth and something akin to iron. He sighed. Somehow, the faint metallic odor of blood had become a recognizable smell to him - one he had come to tolerate with a grim familiarity.

Gareth caught his eye next, sprawled on a bed beside a gilded nightstand; his covers strewn across the floor, revealing his healed, bare, and thoroughly clean body. His shield and mace were precariously propped against the wall, a single nudge away from toppling onto a delicate glass vase.

Ali sat, legs crossed, perfectly still on his own bed at the opposite side of the room, seemingly lost in meditation. Shit... I have to talk to Ali about his escape route - I need more information now that Beatrice has this plan for me...

Joel's gaze then caught Zach's foggy brown eyes, his broad shoulders pressed against the edge of a bed as he sat on the floor with Theo, Jordan, Callum, and Tobias. Each one acknowledged Joel with their own nod, a silent greeting amid the tense atmosphere.

Theo's typically energetic eyes were calmed as he nodded hello, his sharp features softened by the room's gentle light. Tobias nodded gingerly, then his eyes flickered to Ali before dropping to the ground; his body was tense, seeking a form of reclusion that Joel could sympathize with. Callum lounged casually, his tousled hair and twinkling eyes adding a touch of naivety to the group. Finally, Jordan sat with an air of nonchalance, a smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at Damon, observing the awkwardness on his muddied face.

In between them lay an array of pies, cheeses, and breads, all artfully arranged on a large wooden platter. The cheeses ranged from creamy wheels of what Joel assumed to be brie based on the smell, to plainer wedges of cheddar; all of it exuded a tantalizing aroma that made Joel's stomach rumble. The thought of eating real food again, if only for a moment, made Joel's mouth water.

The room fell silent for a moment after Joel and Damon's awkward exchange, before Zach broke the stillness by clearing his throat. “Ahem! Joel!” he called out, rising to his feet. "About fuckin' time the man of the hour shows up!" He laughed, "we've been talking about the creature, and eaten fancy food - come and sit!"

"That's no way to ask," Theo said meekly.

"HE TALKS!" Zach bellowed, then leaned in close to Joel. "Two years I've known this fella, and he's spoken more in the last hour than I've heard out of his gob since the day he fell from the carriage and landed in horse shit!"

Theo looked sheepishly at Joel, silently pleading for help in dealing with Zach's boisterous and overly familiar behavior. "I didn't fall. I was pushed." He corrected quietly.

"AHAHAHA! He's turned into a mut with how much he yaps!" Zach laughed.

Jordan nearly fell over in stiches at Zach's outburst, clutching his sides as he gasped for breath.

"Zach," Damon interjected with a stern tone, his voice cutting through the laughter.

Zach turned to Damon, who silenced him with a commanding glare.

Damon sighed and looked to Joel. "We're grateful," he said, a hint of momentary confidence swelled in his chest before evaporating in the face of his earnest personality. "Your deeds today... They've... left us indebted, and, um..." Damon's awkward effort to express his gratitude and atone for his previous behavior betrayed the rawness of his youth and inexperience. It was as if he were trying to think of what someone else would say, instead of finding the words himself.

Zach, in an uncharacteristic display of maturity, gave Damon a pat on the back and looked to Theo, and then to Joel. "We're thankful for what you did," he said with a grounded tone, the humor in his voice pushed aside for the depth and stillness of an adult. "Not just for the brew, no. It was more." He looked down to the Damon, then gave a thoughtful pause. "Between the accounts of this one and the boss, you've got some balls on you, lad. You dove into the thick of it and hauled Gareth outta there before either of these idiots could blink. Your courage in the face of death for that alone is worthy of respect. But, you went back in, even after you bolted with Gaz, even though you lack the chops - you went back in!" Zach nudged Damon's arm. "Damon ere says your actions held off that beastie just long enough for me and Cedric to pop in and end it. He says you likely saved his life in doing so. You even made for a good distraction when we showed up." He laughed, an ounce of his inescapable immaturity seeping through. "Truly, lad." He continued, his voice back to a more serious tone. "Your actions saved the lives of all in that mine. Had you bought it, you'd have done so as a hero. But, you've lived, and it's thanks to that, that I'm able to look you in the eyes when I say," he stepped to Joel and placed a heavy hand atop his head, "well fought, Joel. We'd be proud to call you a friend."

Joel's lower lip quivered, and his nose ran hot as it flared. His heart pounded as his emotions welled. The weight of Zach's words stilled his mind like nothing else had.

In a breathless moment, Joel felt the tears he held back behind his eyes as he bit the inside of his mouth. The praise felt so foreign, so overwhelming, that he looked back to Zach and waited for him to laugh or make light of his words. As certain as Joel had been at the time of the battle that he would die, he was just as certain now that Zach didn't really mean what he had said, and that there was a degree of mockery laced beneath.

When he looked up, however, Joel caught the warmth in Damon's face as he smiled and nodded in agreement, then looked to Zach, and saw the bareness of his smile and the sincerity in his eyes - and couldn't help but believe in him.

Joel felt his resolve calm from the fiery determination it had once aimed to become, to something else. Before now, his resolve had meant enduring things he didn't want to - suffering through pain, inflicting hurt, taking lives. But in this moment, it meant something different. It meant finding a place to belong and doing whatever the game demanded of him so that he could stay here and carve out a small measure of peace for himself.

A resolve to be content settled within him and Joel smiled a toothy smile, tears running from his eyes and snot from his nose. He nodded back. "I'd like that," he said happily. "I'd like that a lot!" He laughed as he wiped the tears away, his embarrassment starting to show on his red ears. "Thank you," Joel managed to add, his voice trembling. He glanced around, seeing a mix of respect and solidarity in their faces. "But I... I wouldn't have made it without all of you."

Zach's hand remained on Joel's head, a comforting weight that grounded him. "Nah, lad, you did good. Real good. Now come and sit down - unless you can't because your balls are too big!" He laughed again and ruffled his hand through Joel's hair. He then let go and gave Joel a firm nod.

Zach sat back down in the same spot beside the bed, and Damon joined him on the floor - giving Joel an uncharacteristic pat on the back as he walked by.

With that, the tension broke, and the room filled with the sounds of laughter and chatter once more.

Joel took a seat among his friends, the weight of their acceptance settling warmly in his chest.

For the first time in a long while, he felt like he truly belonged.

***

The room buzzed with an indistinct chatter as the group settled into their meal. Jordan, Tobias, and Callum were in the midst of a conversation regarding their role in the fight. Or rather, their lack of a role.

"You're really saying you wanted to be there?" Tobias asked. He smelled some jam before placing it onto a slice of bread, then gave a subtle grimace as the sweetness of it overwhelmed him.

"Of course!" Jordan said, "easy praise just having them do the work - we'd be heroes for just being there!" He laughed.

"I'm not sure it works that way," Callum added skeptically.

"Oh whatever - if the new guy can survive it then we could have. We'd be one step closer to become real warriors," Jordan boasted.

"Or being free," Callum pondered.

"Or dead," Tobias said, wiping the last vestiges of jam from his tongue.

Joel listened on, humored by their conversation but gaining no satisfaction from the cheese he ate. It's just not hitting the stomach like it should...

"So," Zach said, leaning in and handing Joel a piece of pie, "we've been wondering—"

"–He. He's been wondering," Damon corrected quietly, biting into his own piece of pie.

Zach shot Damon a playful glare before turning back to Joel. "What was the reward the boss gave you?" Zach asked, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"You got rewards?" Jordan chimed in nosily, leaning forward with wide eyes.

Joel felt a little shy at the question and rubbed the back of his neck. "She said she'll petition for me to rise to Grade Two and have some special training." He took a bite of the pie and felt the tender meat break apart as the pastry dissolved on his tongue. Oh, it's not bad.

Zach laughed, a hearty, booming sound. "Must be the fastest promotion ever." He glanced at Damon. "Hold on. Have you?" he asked.

Damon understood what he meant. He crossed his arms and smiled slightly, trying to hide his pride. "Commander Beatrice saw me earlier. She promoted me to Grade Two with immediate effect."

"About time! Well done lad!" Zach said, he stood and clapped Damon on the shoulder with a broad grin. His radiant smile becoming more filled as the conversation carried on.

"Yeah, really, well done Damon," Theo added softly, his tone gentle. "You'll make a good second."

"Thanks. But with you as second of the team, it may mean a restructure," Damon replied, glancing at Theo with a thoughtful expression.

"Ah," Zach said, clicking his tongue and sitting back down.

"That certainly would make sense," Theo mused softly, lost in thought.

"Restructure?" Joel and Tobias asked simultaneously, exchanging puzzled looks.

"Zach, as Grade Three, currently leads our team, and Theo, as Grade Two, is second," Damon explained.

"Hold up! I thought Cedric led your team?" Jordan asked, his brows furrowing as he tried to recall their earlier conversations. He and Joel shared the same look of confusion.

"No, he's the second in command," Damon said proudly. Joel's confusion deepened, prompting Damon to clarify. "Of the entire Unblessed infantry."

"The entire..." Joel's voice trailed off in shock, his eyes widening.

"You thought?" Zach said with a laugh, clapping Joel on the back. "No, no, no, he's much more important than that. See, Unblessed weren't allowed to occupy positions of leadership, so the highest they could be was Grade Two. When Commander Beatrice took over the unit, she changed that, and Cedric - who used to be the leader of the team - was bumped up."

"Twice," Damon added, pride still in his voice over his brother.

"It didn't go well with the nobles, though," Theo said, absently twirling a piece of bread in his hands.

"Not one bit," Zach laughed, shaking his head. "They all scurried away to take command of other positions, leaving jobs open for the Unblessed."

"Which is good?" Tobias asked, swallowing a rather large piece of pie and looking around uncertainly.

"Hard to say," Zach said honestly, his smile fading slightly.

"Currently, our five-man squad consists of Zach, Theo, myself, Gareth, and Desmond," Damon stated, his voice steady amidst the focus in the room.

"Who's probably still on the shitter back in Kyrstil," Zach quipped, though his comment went largely unnoticed.

"But after today, Zach may be boosted to a ten-man squad," Damon continued optimistically. "Theo may get his own leadership, and I'll be given second and trained to lead my own group someday. Just like you," he added, turning to Joel.

Joel nodded thoughtfully, his brow furrowed in contemplation. "I see..." I'll be trained to lead others... But that means more responsibility? Joel didn't know how he felt about having the lives of others rest on his actions - but it filled him with a nervous sense of fear, or excitement. He really couldn't tell which.

"After only two days?" Jordan interjected skeptically, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at Tobias, who shrugged sheepishly.

"Talking of, Commander Beatrice said I'd get accelerated training too," Damon added with a hint of uncertainty, choosing to ignore Jordan's skepticism.

"Do you know what that means?" Joel asked.

"Not the foggiest," Damon replied honestly.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Could be the mana well," Zach chimed in, his voice laced with a hint of mischief.

"Mana well?" Joel echoed, leaning forward with interest.

"It's where the Tier Threes live," Theo explained matter-of-factly.

"They don't live there, you daft bastard, but they do train there for weeks on end," Zach corrected with a smirk.

"Regardless..." Damon sighed, ignoring their humor, "all of this has come off the back of that single creature," Damon said pensively, his fingers tracing absent-minded patterns on the floor.

"Right! That's what we were talking about!" Zach interjected with renewed energy. "You! You're lucky that miner saw your signal," he said, pointing at Theo with a grin.

Tobias glanced at Damon, his voice hushed with concern. "Ah, the miner, what happened to him?" He asked quietly.

"Court, for his report," Damon replied succinctly, his gaze shifting briefly to the side.

"The look of horror on his face when he heard we were heading back," Zach continued with a chuckle, his tone tinged with dark humor.

"You made it though," Theo remarked, his voice calm and reassuring.

"Yeah, but..." Zach paused, his expression growing serious. "When Cedric saw Gareth at the entrance... I've never seen him like that." He shook his head slightly, a mixture of disbelief and lingering tension evident in his posture.

"You must have thought the worst?" Tobias asked softly, his eyes reflecting empathy as he looked at Zach. "The way you two were hurrying."

"We thought you'd all died," Zach replied, his voice echoing Tobias's concern as he glanced at Damon.

Joel had seen that look before. There was a slither of defeat, mixed with a pensive sadness. It's the same look Roland had... Those vacant eyes... He really thought he'd lost everything?

A momentary stillness settled over the room.

Jordan continued to eat with casual indifference, while Callum and Tobias exchanged uneasy glances.

Gareth's soft snores punctuated the silence, drawing Zach's attention back to the present moment.

"When we got there," Zach continued, his voice quieter now, "it was just as the creature extended its mana shield. We didn't have time to think about anything other than killing it. But then after - seeing the boss like that... Seeing Damon so beat up..." He trailed off, a somber expression lay heavy on his face as he recalled the aftermath of the battle. He rubbed his temples absently, "I'd hate to be inside his head right now."

"Cedric's?" Callum asked.

Zach nodded slowly, his gaze distant. "He almost lost everything. Heck, for a moment, he thought he had. Even now he has to leave us to go back to The Breach? I can't imagine." He sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped.

He seems shattered, Joel thought. He looked at the others; their weary faces weren't just from the travel and the battle, there was an emotional toll playing on their minds. Etching away at their spirits. They're all shattered, he realized.

Silence returned to the group as they reflected on their actions in the mines. Joel thought back, recalling how they had swooped in without hesitation to kill the Uranatalo. "How did you do that, by the way?" Joel pondered aloud, breaking the quiet.

"Do what?" Zach asked casually, tearing off a piece of bread and tossing it towards Gareth, who remained oblivious as he slept.

"You leapt through the air to kill that Ura... creature," Joel amended quickly, correcting himself mid-sentence as to not let them know he knew its name. "That unusual creature, right? But you're Unblessed. How did you do that?"

"Oh, The Kick? Hmm," Zach mused, his brow furrowing in thought.

"You'll be taught that when you're ready." Theo interjected.

"The Kick is an advanced skill for an Unblessed, it takes a considerable understanding of mana and it's fairly risky," Damon clarified.

So, I'm a long way off from using mana to increase my speed even further...

"I've seen people rip their legs off trying," Zach quipped with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.

Tobias, however, wore a look of genuine terror, his eyes widening at the thought.

"Ignore him," Damon said, shooting Zach a reproachful glance. "But he's right. It's risky. There's a high chance of mana burn. Even Theo and I haven't mastered it yet."

"It's amazing though. That speed and height," Joel remarked as he pictured it again.

"Well. We needed to," Zach said stoically. "At the time, we both acted with the same thought... The same thought all Unblessed think at some point in their life."

"What's that?" Jordan asked, a smile on his face as he leaned in.

"This is it. This is where I die," Zach said quietly, his tone weighted with a resolve that Joel couldn't bring himself to feel. Jordan leaned back, sobered by the gravity of Zach's words. "We don't have... anything, really," Zach continued, staring into the empty space in beside him, a half-eaten slice of pie in his hand. "Our lives. That's all. That's all we have to give." He took another bite, chewed thoughtfully, and swallowed, savoring the flavor before smiling faintly. "And at some point - we all do."

"Not this time, however." Damon interjected optimistically. "We lived through a disaster class. All of us - together."

"Is it that rare?" Tobias asked, asking the question on Joel's mind.

"I've never heard of it happening for a small group of Unblessed," Damon answered. He paused, letting the significance sink in. "Tier Fours are disaster-class. They can decimate armies, reduce towns to rubble. To find one so inexperienced and so trapped... It was handed to us."

"And we still nearly died," Theo added with a deep exhale.

"That's the threat of a disaster class," Zach remarked grimly. "Even young, dumb, and trapped in a corner - it'll still fuck you up."

"You and Cedric must be amazing though - to kill it in one strike?" Joel said, more of a statement than a question.

"Hah, not at all." Zach replied with a wry smile, throwing a crumb at Gareth. "If it weren't for the impossible situation it was in, we'd have ended up as bad as you were. We surprised it, is all." He paused in reflection for a moment, "Ah!" He said as he recalled what he was searching for, "there's a lesson Dalton always drilled into us: even an Unblessed can kill a tier three if the circumstances are favorable. I used to think he was yanking my chain. But fuck. We actually managed it," he chuckled lightly, the tension easing momentarily.

"It'll never happen again," Damon remarked. "Too many things had to go right."

"But man," Zach said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "even against such an inexperienced Tier Four, to have survived as long as you all did." He glanced at Damon, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. "You really are your brother's brother." He said sincerely.

Damon shook his head, "I was useless," he replied.

"You were brave," Zach corrected firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "And you kept at it when you could have run. Without you there, we don't make it in time."

Damon shook his head again, but for a different reason - one of disbelief rather than disagreement. "I still don't know how I survived so long. Despite being a Tier Four, so many of its attacks were blocked by my mana shield." He said, disbelief painted into his expression.

"It lacked proficiency," Theo said. "Its attacks were too thin."

"That's right," Zach agreed, nodding. "Bit of luck never hurt."

Joel had a question on the edge of his lips as they talked about the Uranatalo's mana shield. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided to wait so as not to interrupt the flow of conversation.

"Go on," Zach prompted, noticing Joel's hesitation.

"I, uh," Joel stammered. "It used its mana shield as an attack..."

"You mean it pushed you back?" Zach queried, a piece of bread halfway to his mouth. He glanced at Damon and Theo, who both nodded in agreement. "Tier fours for you," Zach added with a loud exhale.

"What do you mean?" Joel asked.

"Usually, that wouldn't work," Zach explained, gesturing with his hands to illustrate. "A mana shield is like a window with many panes of glass, each made of mana. If the creature expanded its shield too much, it stretched each mana bead too thin. So instead of being sturdy like this," he showed with his fingers a small space, "it became thin like this," he moved his hands apart widely.

"Like the difference between a thin window and a thick one. Thinner windows break easier?" Jordan interjected, a knowing smile on his face.

Joel had an inkling as to how Jordan might know that, but he didn't press it.

"Precisely!" Zach continued eagerly. "Usually, with enough distance, and enough stretch, the mana shield would be too thin to break through even a mana shield of an Unblessed... We was lucky too, that it was thin enough for Unblessed such as ourselves to penetrate it. Although, had a Tier Three been there, they would have exploited that as a fatal weakness."

"Except Commander Beatrice," Damon interjected, his voice carrying a note of respect. "She was focused on her external mana shield to keep us alive and prevent the cave from collapsing."

Zach nodded in agreement. "It's precisely the reason why Aurora was able to kill the larger one so easily. It was distracted - focusing its mana entirely on an attack out of vengeance, it left its shield weak."

Joel thought of Aurora at the mention of her name, and wondered how much these guys knew. Cedric said 'despite what you are,' when he saw her in the mines - so he knows she's a Nerulian? But surely he doesn't know the plan is to marry her off to his younger brother?

"And that is what Dalton meant about having the right circumstances," Zach concluded. "I'll never doubt him again," he laughed.

"I understand about the shield changing size, but what does 'mana being stretched' mean?" Callum asked, wiping crumbs off his fingers.

Joel shook his head, trying to focus. I can think about Aurora later...

"You'll understand when you can create a mana shield," Zach replied, grabbing three apples and briefly juggling with them before handing them out. "Before that, it's not worth talking about."

"The amount of mana isn't the only thing that determines one's strength - as we proved with the creature in the mine," Damon stated.

Zach chuckled heartily again, then took a bite of an apple. "You have to ACCEPT," he said with emphasis.

"Accept what?" Joel asked.

"No, A.C.C.E.P.T.," Theo clarified, spelling it out.

"Holy shit he can spell," Zach roared with laughter, nearly choking on his apple. Jordan laughed too, then immediately shut up when he saw Theo's cold stare.

"Awareness, control, composure, experience, precision, technique." Theo continued, undeterred by Zach's laugh. "These are what determine who wins in a contest of mana. A Tier One can defeat a Tier Three if the conditions are right and they have at least four of these on their side."

"Accept, eh?" Joel reflected on those words and wondered how often he's had any of them.

"Gotta accept." Zach said, grinning broadly and tossing the apple core aside.

"Which of these did you and Cedric have?" Joel asked, referring to the fight.

"The seventh," Zach replied cryptically, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Seventh? Accept has six letters. Is he being thick?

Jordan and the Callum shared a confused look as they used their fingers to count the number of letters in accept. Tobias gave them a rather pitiable look which Joel internally laughed at.

"Don't mess with him," Damon said, sensing the confusion of the others.

Zach held up his hands in mock defense. "The seventh thing you need, and the only thing that beats all the others: luck."

Everyone laughed a little, the tension from earlier dissipating.

"Cedric would be the first to say that we just got lucky," Zach finished.

"Where's he gone by the way?" Joel asked. "He's is the second, right? So, with Commander Beatrice and him here, who's leading the people at The Breach?"

"Well, it's not that simple," Zach replied, answering the second of Joel's three questions as he absentmindedly picked the seeds off a slice of bread. "He has responsibilities of overseeing certain tasks when Beatrice can't, but usually stays by her side."

"There are others who lead each squad though, just as Zach leads ours," Damon added, gesturing towards Zach. "And those squads make up battalions under more decorated Grade Threes. Ultimately, all Unblessed are under Commander Beatrice, not Cedric. He's, um..." He hesitated, searching for the right words.

"Unblessed." Theo interjected quietly.

"Yeah, I guess that sums it up," Damon agreed.

Everyone shared the same look - even Tobias understood - but it was something that Joel couldn't intuitively understand.

Damon caught the look in Joel's eyes and clarified for him. "A Grade Three in Cedric's position would usually command a lot of respect, responsibility, wealth, status. You name it. But..."

"Unblessed," Joel interjected, finally understanding. It's classist, or something. I don't know the word - but it's just plain discrimination.

"Precisely," Damon affirmed. "He was ordered back to Kyrstil for a council meeting two days ago. Our squad was chosen to escort him."

"He's important don't cha know," Zach added with a wink.

"Good timing too, at first," Damon continued.

"At first, sure," Zach interrupted. "Then this shit happened in the mines, and now Gareth is down, Damon is injured, and our squad really is on leave," he chuckled again, finding humor in the chaos. Joel began to wonder if there was anything Zach didn't find amusing.

"But now? Where's he gone?" Jordan probed.

"He's got some preparation for the upcoming horde," Damon replied, plucking dirt from his hair.

"Horde?" Joel asked. Based on the reactions in the room, he was the only one who didn't know.

Zach snapped his fingers, searching for the right words. "The Touched Ones are like a... Crap, what's it called..."

"A hive," Theo helped.

"That's the one - they're like a hive!" Zach continued again with his animated hands, punctuating with expressive gestures. "Lots of swarms within the Touched Lands scurry around and occasionally venture through The Breach."

"They ever make it through?" Tobias asked, his voice tinged with a mix of fear and curiosity.

Zach, Damon, and Theo each shared a look, conveying volumes without words.

"What is it?" Callum prodded, his curiosity piqued.

"You can't stop there," Jordan added.

"The reason Beatrice took command of The Unblessed," Zach began, his demeanor suddenly guarded, "is because of what happened over a year ago." He glanced back to Damon before looked back to the others. "Look, we don't like scaring the newbies."

"It's fine," Callum said, nodding with Jordan and Joel. Tobias, however, seemed curious purely from a data collecting point of view.

"Yeah, we want to know," Tobias said hesitantly.

Zach hesitated, then nodded, relenting to their shared determination to understand.

Zach ran a hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh. "A horde plowed through the defenses and damn near reached the capital. It was a shit show. Thousands of Unblessed fell, along with hundreds of Tier Twos and Threes. Beatrice got hit, and..." He trailed off, unable to say the words.

"Her younger brother," Theo picked up where Zach left off, his voice solemn.

"He died?" Callum asked quietly, sensing the gravity in the room.

The three nodded in unison, their expressions reflecting the shared sorrow of loss.

They must have been close? Joel still didn't fully understand how life worked around here - it had only been a couple days for him - but he understood the comradery the Unblessed must feel, and how much they respect the higher ups who respected them. I wonder how alike Beatrice's brother was to her?

"And, well, you know the rest," Damon said, trying to shift the focus away from the grim past.

Zach nodded slowly, his tone turning pragmatic. "Without that incident though, nothing would have changed."

Those words resonated with Joel. Without that attack - without those deaths - this positive change wouldn't have happened...There it is again... Roland's words... 'Can good come from something bad?'

"More often than not though," Zach continued, his voice returning to a more conversational tone, "it's just a few at a time, usually Pebbles or Rocks."

"Unblessed or Elemental Movers," Theo said, clarifying.

"Tier One's or Tier Two's," Zach clarified Theo's clarification, a hint of dry humor in his voice.

"They get it," Damon said with his go-to unamused tone.

A brief, shared moment of humor passed among the group, providing a fleeting reprieve from the weight of their conversation.

"What about the Lungruls?" Joel asked, thinking about The Touched One that Aurora killed. "The Tier Threes? Are they unusual?"

"Ah. The Lungruls. Poor cunts." Zach remarked with a mix of pity and disdain, his voice tinged with a grim tone.

Again, Joel was the only one there with ignorance on his face; the look was evident as his eyebrows raised involuntarily and his eyes glazed over in thought.

"You don't know?" Zach asked, raising an eyebrow in return. "Ah. Lungruls are people who've been affected by the vismana so long that they transform into something else."

"They're people!?" Joel exclaimed - his mind flashing back to the feral creature he saw in The Burnt Lands.

"They're monsters," Zach corrected firmly. "Never question that."

"And how do Unblessed infantry help against the Lungruls?" Callum asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he leaned forward.

Tobias leaned in too, equally concerned.

"We don't. To put it simply." Zach replied bluntly, much to their relief.

"We used to," Theo said.

"Ay, used to." Zach echoed. "Before the boss. Now, we're structured in a way that we handle the smaller threats."

"Which is still fucked," Theo added with a sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"Ay, it's still fucked." Zach echoed again.

"But it's better?" Tobias pressed, seeking reassurance.

"Much," Zach said, looking over to Theo who gave a reluctant nod.

Zach stifled a yawn, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand as a moment of tiredness enveloped the group.

"So. We were wondering - " Zach said.

"He," Damon interjected with sleep in his voice, "he was wondering."

"Yes, yes, me. I was wondering... Where're ya from to not know as much as some daft fucker like me?" Zach leaned back against a log, his expression contemplative. "See, I'm thinkin' you're from Bali'si or something. Running from the war."

Shit, I really need to think of a backstory... "Ba lee see?" Joel repeated, trying to change the subject. "Where's that?"

"A city in the far south. Controlled by the creators of empty warriors." Zach explained, his gaze drifting to Theo and Damon.

"Empty warriors?" Jordan asked. He yawned contagiously.

"Hard to say what they are - I've only heard of stories." Zach said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Large men," Theo yawned, "that when you kill them, they don't bleed." He stretched his back. "When you cut them open, there's nothing inside. Hence, empty warriors."

"Think we'll ever see one?" Tobias asked, the only one whose fear kept him from yawning.

"If you do, then make your peace with Lumas and Samul." Zach said with a laugh.

"They're that deadly?" Joel asked.

"Who knows," Zach shrugged, his tone sobering. "But if they've made it this far into Durnovia to threaten us in Kyrstil, then the war is already lost."

"That's enough for now," Damon interjected wearily, rubbing his eyes with his infected yawn. "We should rest."

"Ay, we're leaving early tomorrow." Zach agreed, "no lounging around when you wake up." He stretched his arms and stood up.

One by one, they settled into their beds. Joel looked to Ali, who still sat in deep meditation. Joel was fairly certain he was using his mana to give him silence. I really ought to train my mana more, he yawned. But that'll wait for tomorrow.

Joel lay awake for a moment as the others shuffled into their beds. He pondered his uncertain future. The game was pulling him in different directions - north with Ali, south to war-torn lands with Aurora, or staying here and defending The Breach. The weight of choices pressed upon him, unsure which path was right. All he knew was what his newfound resolve meant for him: that he'd try his best to find a path to his own happiness, and not just a path away from pain.

Amidst his thoughts, Jordan's voice broke the silence, tinged with a humored resignation, "I finally get a nice bed and we barely get to have any sleep."

Zach chuckled softly, nostalgia creeping into his voice. "Reminds me of what my old scout leader used to say..."

"Yeah? What's that?" Jordan asked, nestling into his comfy bed.

"Sleep slower."