So far, everything has followed it.
Well, almost everything.
Because there was one variable that Yaro had not accounted for.
One person his master’s grand design might have missed, or perhaps dismissed as insignificant and irrelevant.
Yaro himself was unaware of this anomaly.
Of a mere background character that had been seen once and instantly forgotten.
The Night Devourer, however, was acutely aware of this existence.
That quiet, precise presence felt more dangerous than the Blood Marquis’s roaring pressure. The Marquis was a force to be weathered. This other was like a small flame that could burn you into smithereens if left unchecked.
Thankfully, it realized the two ’parasites’ inside were not on good terms. They watched each other. So they balanced each other out. And spitting them out would remove that balance. It would only unite them against a common enemy — itself. Keeping them inside, letting them glare at each other in the dark, saved it from more trouble.
But...
This wouldn’t solve the real problem. The Blood Marquis hammered at its walls. The cold blade mapped its insides. The hidden prince burned with a different danger.
It had to find a way. A way to survive this. To show these arrogant insects the cost of offending it.
The solution was forming in its cunning, hungry mind. A drastic move. A gambit.
It might require something it did not want to give and take.
...Help.
__________ ___ _
Meanwhile, the compass led the trio deeper into the murky, silent expanse left behind by the shrunken dome.
Uru’en moved a step closer to Lumin, leaning in to whisper directly into his ear, her voice a low hum against the dead air. "Hey, hey. What do you think about him?"
Lumin glanced at her, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
"I am talking about Bane," She explained, her amber eyes glinting in the relic’s light. "He’s totally charming and cute, right?"
Hearing the word ’cute’, Lumin’s eye twitched briefly. But the word wasn’t aimed at him this time, so a small wave of relief washed over him.
’But... it seems the prince has already charmed Uru’en.’ He thought. Then again, considering her known tastes, even if the prince hadn’t tried, she might have fallen for him instantly anyway.
"Do you think I should ask him out?" she whispered again, her tone half-serious, half-teasing.
’...Seriously, this is what you’re thinking about right now?’ was what Lumin wanted to say. But he held back.
He could see the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her grip on her axe was too tight. There was no need to use [Lanter’s Glow] to know how nervous or worried she was. She was probably trying to distract herself, to cheer them both up with silly thoughts.
He could also tell she hadn’t completely lowered her guard around the prince. If she had, she’d be acting like those brainless, lovestruck characters from cheap ballads, just like that Viremont girl, Carmine.
"Who knows," Lumin finally murmured back, his voice just as quiet. "But let’s talk about it after we escape."
"Alright," she nodded, the playful glint fading back into focused seriousness. "Right, how far are we?"
"Let me see," Lumin looked down at the compass. He calculated the distance based on his previous experience with it. "Hm... We should be close. Probably a few more hundred meters."
"Let’s go then!" Uru’en’s eyes lit up. She took off, her boots crunching on the snow as she broke into a run.
Lumin glanced back at Bane, who nodded in understanding.
They crossed the distance in a few seconds. But Uru’en skidded to a sudden stop about fifty meters ahead, dropping into a low crouch.
Lumin and Bane caught up to her. "What is it?" Lumin asked.
"I’m sensing danger up ahead," Uru’en replied, her eyes glowing sharply, squinting into the gloom. "They must be in danger. Let’s hurry!"
They sprinted the final stretch.
After a few more strides, they reached the source of the compass’s pull.
"!"
The scene before them was chaos.
A ragged group of hunters from all three tribes was locked in a desperate battle. They fought in a loose circle, back-to-back. Their foes were two types: black, shifting monsters made of solidified shadows, and phantom barbarians with hollow, dark eyes.
At the center of the group stood Chieftain Risha.
A single, glowing necklace around her neck pulsed with a soft white light, carving out a fragile pocket of visibility and sound in the oppressive dark. It was the only reason they could fight coherently. Her husband fought beside her, his massive maul crushing phantoms with each swing. Not far away, Laura of the Frostwalkers and Norak of the Stonehides battled their own clones and shadows, their expressions grim.
Risha was bleeding from a gash on her left arm, her movements slightly slower than usual.
"Mom! Dad!" Uru’en shouted, the sound bursting from her in a wave of relief and fear.
The shout cut through the muffled battle sounds. Her parents’ heads snapped toward her. So did the heads of several shadow-beasts and phantoms.
"Watch out!" A roar came from behind.
Tendrils of darkness shot from the nearest monster, lancing toward Uru’en with unbelievable speed. Bane moved, shoving her sideways. A tendril grazed his shoulder instead, slicing through his tunic and drawing a thin line of blood.
Lumin reacted in the same instant, twisting his body to let another tendril whip past his face. His mind raced. ’Did he do that on purpose?’ The move looked heroic, saving Uru’en and taking a wound. It was too perfect to be a coincidence.
But he didn’t have time to think about it now as more tendrils shot from the swirling darkness. A group of shadow-beasts had already detached from the main horde, lunging toward them.
"Run to me! Now!" Risha’s command cut through the chaos.
She slammed her palm onto the ground.
WHOOSH-!
A wall of jagged, blue-white ice erupted from the frozen earth, cutting off the advance of three monsters. She carved a narrow, temporary path through the fray with a sweep of her other hand.
"Run!"