At the highest point of the collapsed building, beneath a massive steel plate, Kyle sat sheltered from the heavy rain.
In front of him were a few random things he had picked up on the way here.
He stared at them quietly, trying to push away the remaining dark thoughts in his head from the past few hours.
He knew his sister was fine. She was still alive under intensive care, so there was no reason to get dragged along by those nightmares.
’Let’s just forget about it.’ He thought as he reached toward one of the objects before him.
It was nothing more than a clean white bone around a meter long and a few centimeters thick.
He brought it closer, turning it in his hands while inspecting every part of it for flaws or bends.
Once he finished examining it, he pulled a dagger from his ring, holding the bone in one hand and the dagger in the other before bringing it close and beginning to carve it.
’This is harder than it looks.’ He thought as he struggled to remove the first piece of bone.
This bone belonged to one of those Rank 3 monsters they encountered in the grassy plains.
He applied more force, running the dagger across its hard surface again, causing another small piece to fall to the ground.
At that moment, the world flashed with white light, but he ignored it while focusing on his work.
Only a few moments later, thunder roared and shook the world itself.
But Kyle kept his eyes fixed on his work with deep concentration, while the sound of the rain drowned out whatever noise the dagger made.
Time passed quickly until a thin bone shaft around eighty centimeters long formed in his hand.
He stared at it, feeling its still rough surface before pulling out something else from his ring and placing it on the ground.
It was merely a rough stone used to smooth these materials.
He placed it down and brought the bone shaft close before beginning to smooth its surface against the stone, which was sturdy enough to withstand it.
Sometimes lightning flashed and cold winds reached him, but he didn’t care.
Soon, he raised the long bone before him, running his hand along its now smooth surface while nodding his head.
"Excellent."
With that, he shifted his attention toward the tip of the bone before beginning to create a vertical hole directly into it.
When he finished, he brought out an arrowhead he had previously crafted from the hard scales of some monsters from the stone labyrinth.
The arrowhead was dark-colored with a thin extension stretching a few centimeters.
He inserted that part into the hole he made in the bone, and after seeing that it fit properly, he pulled it out again before taking a vial from his ring containing a sticky black liquid.
He poured a few drops into the hole before inserting the arrowhead back inside... then wrapped his hand around it as essence glowed around it for some time before fading. He then tried moving the arrowhead, but it didn’t budge.
At that, satisfaction appeared on his face as he placed the new arrow aside.
It still wasn’t ready for use because he didn’t have anything suitable to use in place of feathers, so he postponed that until later.
And now, he turned his attention toward another one.
...
"Aaah..."
Izel’s annoyed voice echoed through the place.
She sat beneath the stairs on the lower floor above the gathered water.
For hours, her thoughts revolved around the nightmare and what happened there, but apparently she had grown tired of it, letting out a loud sound as though she had lost an argument with herself.
She grabbed a small stone fragment beside her and threw it hard into the collected water.
Her hair scattered during the motion while the stone struck the water, causing it to splash and form a small hole that filled again within seconds.
She stared there for a few moments before standing up, muttering a few words that confirmed her thoughts.
"It doesn’t matter..." Her tone was filled with annoyance and anger.
"Why the hell did I have to remember that?"
She had barely managed to close that wound, only for it to be reopened here once again.
It was true that things had become better between her parents recently, but she still wanted to keep all that buried away.
She stared at the water for a few moments before letting out a long breath along with words filled with frustration.
"Annoying... annoying..."
For a moment, she gritted her teeth and felt the urge to grab her hair and scream... maybe that would help her forget and calm the chaos a little.
But after thinking about it for a moment, that would be embarrassing since the others were still upstairs nearby.
"Aaah... fuck it."
So with another annoyed growl, she turned around and started climbing up.
Izel quickly reached the upper floor, only to find the place empty... well, it was always empty.
She walked near the rooms they were using, and there she saw Ellen sitting alone by the edge. She walked toward her, only for Elliot to emerge from the temporary bathroom before her, wiping his face with a towel before storing it inside his ring.
He noticed her presence and turned his head toward her while smiling with that same smile she remembered from years ago on his handsome face.
"Izel, how are you feeling now?" His tone was gentle and friendly, just as it always had been... bright.
But honestly, Izel didn’t like that smile on his face.
He was far too handsome, perfect, and kind to the point that she felt the urge to slap him right now just to ease her anger.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t do whatever she wanted, so her annoyed voice echoed out, causing Elliot’s expression to crack.
"Take that stupid smile off your face, it hurts my eyes."
Elliot’s smile vanished, replaced by surprise.
"Oh... maybe I shouldn’t have talked to her." He muttered quietly.
But annoyed Izel was simply searching for a reason to fight. She raised an eyebrow while tilting her head slightly.
"What did you mutter... just say it directly to my face."
’She’s really angry.’ He thought before forcing an apologetic smile onto his face.
"Sorry, maybe I really shouldn’t have talked to you right now."
"Didn’t I tell you to remove that smile from your face? And stop staring at me like that."
’Do you want me to start crying in front of you or something?’ Of course, he didn’t say that out loud... she’d probably be happy if he did.
So as the only completely sane person in this group, he had to act rationally.
"Alright, alright... I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have talked to you right now."
She tilted her head, her expression growing even more irritated.
"I’m not saying this because I’m angry, your smile is genuinely annoying. Just try... smiling at yourself in a mirror."
At that moment, Caius stepped out from the neighboring room. His hair was messy while his eyes were barely open.
At that point, Elliot and Izel realized they had been making some noise.
Elliot smiled apologetically at Caius.
"Sorry, looks like we woke you up with our voices."
Caius’s expression shifted from sleepiness to annoyance as he spoke words that caused Elliot’s expression to crack once again.
"Good that you know your mistake... and please remove that smile from your face, I don’t want it to be the first thing I see when I wake up."
With that, he walked past them indifferently and entered the bathroom, leaving Elliot standing there in shock, some doubts beginning to appear within him about himself.
Elliot raised a hand to his face while muttering.
"Is there really something wrong with my smile?"
But unlike him, Izel smiled while letting out a quiet laugh.
"See?"
He gave her a short glance. "At least I don’t get angry like children."
"Like children?..." Her expression shifted into anger as she raised her hand, a small ball of flame forming there.
Elliot didn’t expect that, so he failed to realize Izel had launched some flames directly toward his face.
He barely managed to avoid them at the last moment by tilting his head, letting the flames pass by him and strike the wall before dispersing.
Without stopping, Izel launched more, determined to at least burn his hair, while Elliot stepped back, dodging the bullets of flame flying toward him as he shouted at her.
"Are you seriously doing this?"
Izel smiled while stepping toward him, recalling a certain memory.
"Do you remember when I burned part of your hair when we were fourteen and you started crying while calling for your mother in the middle of the party?"
Elliot’s face turned red as he remembered that. "I didn’t cry and I didn’t call for my mother."
At the same time, Kyle saw all this from the stairs while on his way down, causing him to immediately turn around and head back upstairs without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Ellen snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed a ball of flame fly past her, nearly hitting her instead.
At the same time, the noise drew Leona over as she stood at the doorway of the other room, staring at the two with a somewhat stunned expression while muttering.
"Did she really bring that up?"
Only Caius came out from the bathroom, a few drops of water still on his face.
"Maybe I should go back to sleep."