Selena stirred.
Her eyes fluttered — then opened.
Light scraped across the cave wall. Quiet. Still. Safe.
She sat up slowly, a hand pressing to her ribs. Bandaged. Carefully. Her head throbbed, but not from poison.
She was alive.
Rell was gone.
Her fingers twitched at the memory — the heat, the closeness, the faint press of lips that weren’t cruel.
Her heart pounded once.
Then again.
She exhaled sharp and looked at the mouth of the cave.
But didn’t run.
This time… she waited.
Rell moved through a dead zone.
The jungle didn’t speak here.
No animals. No wind.
Just scorched roots and trees bent like they’d been flung backward by something ancient.
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The spirit led him to a hollow — wide, bowl-shaped, vines torn up from the earth.
In the center was a grove of ash.
Rell stepped forward.
And the world cracked open.
The vision didn’t feel like a memory.
It felt like being thrown into a thunderstorm.
Sky split.
Two shapes — winged and massive — fought above a burning jungle.
One radiant, one shadow-drenched.
Angel. Demon.
Clashing with such force that time ripped.
Light speared downward — broke open the earth — and from it, a pod grew.
Inside that pod…
A body.
His body.
He reached out. The spirit beside him mirrored the motion.
Then it vanished again.
Still no words.
Still no answers.
Just a pull.
He returned to the cave scratched, dirty, silent.
Selena saw him and stood fast — but didn’t speak.
He nodded once.
She relaxed.
They didn’t need to say anything.
Until the leaves outside shifted.
A crunch.
A presence.
Selena raised her staff.
Rell dropped low into stance.
Three cloaked figures stepped from the underbrush — covered in dust, moss, bone gear. Each armed.
“Easy,” one said. “We saw the slime burst two zones away. Thought someone died.”
Rell didn’t lower his guard.
Selena didn’t blink.
The middle figure stepped forward. Calm. Measured.
Removed her hood.
She was older. Not old. Late 20s, maybe. Dark skin marked by claw scars. A necklace made of dried beast teeth. One glowing eye — not magic. Branded.
She studied them.
“You’re not just wanderers.”
Rell didn’t speak.
She kept going.
“We’re survivors. Been in this hell longer than I can count.”
She extended a hand toward the fire.
“You survived a slime king? You belong with us.”
Selena hesitated.
Rell looked at her.
Then nodded once.
[SPEAKS]
“…We go.”
And just like that — their circle got bigger.
Whether they wanted it or not.
End of Volume 2