Chichen Itza was the same, yet there was a distinct change in the air. The sky was darker, as if it was dawn and the sun was setting, and a cool autumn wind brushed his hair.

'Where is everyone?'

The witches were gone. Nash's friends had disappeared. He glanced over at William's unconscious form. Red hand prints were left on his face, the red blood of the lake having stained him and his garbs, seeping into the chainmail underneath.

His breath hitched, eyelids twitching, and William muttered, "N-no, not…her…" His level had returned and the chills dissipated.

Kazi was fixated on him, running through ideas. 'If I leave with William, can I even come back here? To this specific rendition of the gate? I know for a fact that Server Rooms lead to different iterations of Gates.'

What if Sun-young was still here? And what if William attacked again? Kazi wasn't sure if he'd survive, even if Sun-young was fighting alongside him. The magic he displayed was so much thicker than the Wendigo's; her anti-magic katana would be trying to mine through an avalanche.

'I have less than two hundred mana.' He approached the twitchy body, eyes shadowing. 'Should I kill him?'

He considered it for a long minute.

'Save myself from the suffering. The effort. I should just kill him. I could. I could do it.

…but he's just a kid.'

He was Kazi Hossain. He was better than that. He had to be better than that.

Just as he was about to open his friend list to try and message Sun-young and Marta, his ears turned and he heard a whistle. No, not a whistle, a collection of hard, gusty winds.

He snapped his head above and saw a hupil flapping through the wind. He saw the golden earrings of the Kaloomte and grinned.

"Heeeey! Over here!"

Upon his signal, she came down with her magic carpet of wind. At six feet above ground, she deactivated the spell and gracefully descended.

"Kazi Hossain," Kaloomte' Yuritzi called. "Where have you been?"

"That's my question. Where were you? I know you got blasted away. Are you hurt?"

She didn't look hurt and she looked offended that he thought that. "Of course I am not hurt. Itzel possesses great healing magic."

He gave an apologetic smile. "My bad."

It had been what? Ten minutes since she got hit? William's energy blast was absurdly powerful and had he directed it at Kazi it would have shattered his barrier. The Kaloomte', having lost her immortality and not quite as powerful as him, should have been burned to a horrific degree. Itzel's healing magic must have been absurdly powerful.

"Where's Nash?" he asked.

Kaloomte' Yuritzi side-eyed him. "Gone with his friends. Why?"

"Already? How?"

Either that guy cared about his friends a lot or he hid his speed. Going from the Temple of Kukulcán to the Osario region would ordinarily take ten or twenty minutes, not five.

"Do you perhaps have trouble tracking time? You have been gone for five days, Kazi Hossain."

His soul felt like it had been trampled.

'What?'

"Five days," Kazi repeated.

"Five days," she confirmed. It was then her eyes wandered and locked onto William. "You fell a Warrior of Tlaltecuhtli. Unbelievable. Is there nothing you cannot do?"

"I guess not."

Kazi worked up a smile. Outwardly, he pretended to be okay. On the inside, he was swimming in questions.

'Five days? But how? We were in that dimension for a minute, max. Does time move differently there? Why didn’t that happen with the Wendigo then?'

The solution, no matter which way he sliced it, converged as one. That dimension, wherever it was, must have operated on a different space-time. Otherwise, five minutes could not have become five days. The Kaloomte' had no reason to lie to him too. There was no significant purpose between claiming it was five minutes, five hours, or five days. Nash, his friends, and everyone else was gone regardless.

"That yellow-haired man's power resembled him—the killer." Kaloomte' Yuritzi summoned a ball of wind. "We should end him, here and now."

He wished he could be surprised. He wished he hadn't seen something like this before. He had. 'To think I was thinking to do the same thing...'

Kazi steadied himself. "Why?"

"This may be a relative of the man with the short blade." Her grey eyes darkened. "Retribution. My sisters and I can require retribution for what that man did to us."

It was just a guess but it seemed like the sisters hadn't told Kaloomte' Yuritzi that William was his friend. Maybe they didn't notice? Didn't matter though, as long as he could use that fact to his advantage.

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"No."

Her ball of wind weakened. "...no?"

"He may have attacked those people, but he didn’t kill them. Just the way I believed you and your sisters when they attacked me, I want to believe in this man."

"Even if he may rise up to kill you?" she asked.

"Even then." He lowered his eyes. "I'm strong. I've always been strong. And with strength comes the gift of mercy. Tell me, why do you worship gods? For their strength? No, we desire their mercy and wisdom. I seek that very same wisdom they themselves show to us."

"You think yourself a god? You cannot do everything."

"Nor can the gods, yet still you believe."

Kalmoote' Yuritzi did not respond. Her eyes travelled up his appearance, then locked onto his face. She looked into the deep hazel of his eyes, its beauty and its flawlessness. "I do not understand you," the Kalmoote' admitted. "Are you some sort of messenger? A god in disguise? I witnessed you fighting that avatar of darkness, yet still you spare him? And you speak our language so beautifully. I do not understand it. I do not understand you."

She looked at him in a bewildering fascination. Grey eyes lighting up as if she were challenged by a divine test.

Kazi hated that look.

[ Receiving call from Yoon Sun-young! ]

"Give me a moment." Kazi had never accepted a call so fast. "Ms. Sun-young!"

"Kazi! You're alive! Thank god!" Her voice broke out a sigh of relief. "I thought…is William with you!?"

"He is. He's fine, I think."

Unconscious but alive wouldn't be the best comfort, he thought. Better to keep it vague.

"I thought both of you were dead. You disappeared from the party and now you're back! What happened?"

"It's a long story. Well, not long, but insane. We'll definitely need a barbecue for it."

Sun-young laughed. He wasn’t sure if he had ever heard her laugh so openly. An infectious mirth of wonder and delight. He wondered what her expression was like.

"And you?" Kazi asked.

"Yeah, it's an insane story." Her enthusiasm winded down. "Super insane."

"We can talk when I get back. It was nice to hear your voice." Beside him, William groaned. Kaloomte' Yuritzi tensed up. "Okay, yeah, William is waking up. I'll be back later. Text a rendezvous point."

"Got it."

The call ended. He and the Kaloomte' waited for the bloodied blond to open his eyes. The humble blueness had returned with no sign of the void. William rubbed his eyes, accidentally wiping himself with blood, and did a double-take.

"Kazi?" William stared at the blood in his hands, then him. "What happened?"

"You tell me." Kazi could piece together much of what happened. "You ran into Nash's goons and what? Fought them?"

William didn't meet his gaze. "...yeah. Sorry."

"You must have had a good reason," Kazi said. "What was it? Just what happened?"

"You must have saved me again, eh?" William sighed and hung his head in defeat. "It was just normal insults. Shit about my mom. I know I shouldn't have gotten riled up but I couldn't help. Those types of guys are the worst."

"And then?"

"And then…" His brows furrowed. "I…don't remember. I fought them and I think I fell. I-I think I fell into a pool of blood. I must have." The blood in his hair, hands, and clothes seemed to be convincing him. Was that the truth though? "After that, I'm drawing a blank."

Kaloomte' Yuritzi opened her mouth. Kazi talked over her.

"Don't worry about it. I got into contact with Ms. Sun-young. From the sound of it, she and Marta got into a big scuffle too."

William remarked, half-joking, "With each other?"

"No." Pause. "At least I don't think so."

"You never know with Sun-young," William joked. His nostrils flared up from the excess blood clinging to his clothes. "We should go. I REALLY need to change," William muttered.

"Right." Kazi turned to the Kaloomte' and the two of them couldn't help but exchange smiles. “So, will you stay here?”

“We were sworn to stay in this land, to protect it till the end. However, our gods have granted us the mission to leave. Just like you, we will relocate and let the gods decide the fate of their places of worship.”

“Good. It can’t be good to be alone with just your sisters,” Kazi joked.

“They are fine, kind-hearted women. I raised them as best I could.” The Kaloomte’s gaze softened. “That reminds me, my sisters and I prepared you a gift.”

From her pouch, she carefully laid out a belt across the palms of her hands. It was the same belt she had been wearing, or rather should have been wearing. Finely braided with quetzal feathers and ornate jade beads, yet shimmering with light it did not previously possess.

“This is a Kaloomte’s belt, enchanted and blessed further by Kukulcán. For slaying the creature of the underworld, we as well as the gods wish to thank you.”

Denying such an offering would be disrespectful. Kazi accepted. "Kalmoote' Yuritzi. It is an honour." He placed a hand over his heart and lowered his head.

She mirrored him, respect oozing from her. "The honour was all mine, Kazi Hossain,” she said, handing the belt over. “As warrior to warrior, perhaps we will cross swords one day."

"One day."

[ Receive:

1x Kukulcán’s Champion Belt ]

He didn’t know what would happen to her after the Gate. Her existence might fade or maybe continue to exist as an enemy to players. Regardless, what mattered to Kazi was that he did his best; that through his hardest efforts, witches were able to live and get their happy ending.

***

Their meeting point was right outside the Nulgupjisin Grill House. Black and blonde hair were already there, Sun–young and Marta, the former of which searched her surroundings with a subtle hunch and a strong edge. Not that it mattered. Kazi jogged up to them with a big wave.

The first thing Marta did when she saw him was hug him.

"Oh. Er…"

Hugging women wasn’t really a thing for him, so he awkwardly patted her head.

He heard hiccups and sobbing. Kazi peered down and went wide eyed. 'Is she…crying?'

She was, and staining his black garbs with her tears while she was at it. He looked to Sun-young for help. She pretended nothing was happening. No, it seemed almost like she was too occupied to care.

Kazi wasn’t the type to care about what people thought, but this was different. Way, way different. A girl crying into his chest? The stares he was receiving from his Muslim brethren were not good.

He gently pushed Marta away and said, "Next time, warn me. I might not look like it but I am not the hugging type."

She took off her glasses and wiped her tears. "M-my bad."

Dammit, when she made an expression like that, how could he not feel guilty? Rules were rules, however, and so were outward appearances. “Let’s go inside,” he hurriedly suggested.

“Where’s William?” Sun-young asked.

“He’s, well…” A sigh breezed through his nose. “Let’s go inside and I’ll explain.”

Marta promptly did, the chime of the door going off. Sun-young didn’t. Sweating profusely, her legs almost refused to move.

A hand to the door, Kazi looked over his shoulder. "Sun-young?"

Her lips trembled. “I-I’m okay.”

“You’re not...” Kazi trailed off, as his eyes scanned her. She had lost several pounds of weight and her complexion was ghostly white. Sun-young had always been lithe and through the Heavenly Games she had been unintentionally building muscle in the arm and shoulder areas. "What happened to you?"

All that progress was gone. All the muscle, all the strength, all the confidence she had built up was gone. Veins of red reached into the sides of her eyes. Somehow, she was worse-off than William.

“Ha…” She wiped the sweat coming down her temple and powered inside the store, her palm hovering over her stomach. The blue garb was a tinge darker in that area. Blood? No, something darker. “I’m okay!”

Kazi was taken aback. Sun-young didn’t ever raise her voice. Never. She was as cool as a cucumber.

“I’m okay,” she muttered as if to convince herself. “I’m okay…”

Five days of rest. Five days of healing, and yet Sun-young was still hurting. The Game System should have healed her. Marta should have been able to heal her.

What in the world happened?