It had been a week since Astor's announcement and safe to say, people were still on edge and were ready to fight at any moment. The preparations for the fight against the Devourer's offspring were all done. The wagons for people that wanted to leave for Kresha were gone also. Yidra also said the fight would begin tomorrow.

  Today...well every "days" were nights in Gaon, was quite the boring one.

  In the bar of Latomni, the air stank of cheap alcohol and expensive cocktails, the noise was filled with numerous voices. Laughter, cries, shouts, or just normal conversations.

  Just like the one Virn was participating in, actually.

  He sat at a table he shared with two people, both were Magi, though the dark-haired girl was from Rikshasha and the young blond-haired man from Zyr.

  "Hey did you hear that Miss Rami punched Sir Zoldyk? I never thought she'd do that!" Said the Rikshashanan after drinking her beer.

  Virn shrugged. "She has always been someone that stood on business, so I'm not surprised."

  Both Magi raised their eyebrows "You know her personally?"

  He shook his head with an easy smile while scratching the healed scar on his nose. "Not at all, but back when Almati was still a small village she had always been feared."

  He continued.

  "Talking about it, not even some time ago I was just a mundane farmer and now I'm an infantry soldier...It's crazy how this world changes over the years."

  The other Magus sipped their cocktail with a bitter expression. "Still, I would've punched him too, he's the representative of everything wrong with our kingdom.

  Virn smirked. "Heh, looks like Hama's descent into corruption didn't change anything about how your people think, huh Gabri?"

  "Right?? Political power shouldn't mean shit, our previous fights with Rit shouldn't mean shit either! We're all Gaonians for Guardians' sake!"

  Gabri groaned. "Maru, pass me your beer."

  "Hell no! I just drank some of it!"

  He grumbled "Just pass it already, I need some strong stuff, this cocktail ain't it."

  She exhaled. "Fiiiine..."

  Maru slid the beer jug across the table.

  The young Magus immediately took it in hand and drank the whole thing in one gulp.

  She frowned. "You're definitely paying for that by the way."

  Virn laughed at the interaction .

  After some time, there was a comfortable silence between them.

  While this was happening, singers from Rikshasha sang songs about a certain Guardian.

  The voice was layered, one deep and rhythmic, the others sharp and lilting. All were accompanied by hand-drums, steady tapping of fingers against wood and the whistle of a flute.

  BGM Heilung Norupo

  "They sang of her beneath wide leaves, Where-ere-ere-ere rivers split like silver thread..."

  "Mother!"

  "Six-winged Mother, many-eyed-eyed-eyed-eyed,

  who walked where the soil was bare and dead..."

  "Mother!"

  "Where her feet touched, grain-ain-ain-ain-ain stood tall, where her shadow passed, fruits grew fat."

  "Goddess!"

  "She gave the ants their endless roads-oads-oads-oads-oads, and called the wildest fields her throoooo~~ne.

  The interlude happened.

  Then the infantryman turned his head to the Rikshashanan at the table with a smile. "What a song...are all the songs from your homeland like this, Maru?"

  The woman did not answer, her expression was bitter and avoidant.

  '...I guess not everyone likes their cultures.'

  The singers sang their chorus.

  "But songs change shape when mouths grow dry-y-y-y-y~~"

  "They say the jungle learned to bite."

  "BITE."

  "The leaves grew shar-ar-ar-ar-ar-arp, the vines grew hands, the hives grew hungry overnight."

  "The ants marched where the roads once ra-a-a-a-a-an, the beetles cracked the city gates, the fields stood tall, and would not bend."

  "OH MOTHER, MOTHER, HEAR OUR PLEA!"

  "YOUR ABUNDANCE LEARNED OUR TASTE!"

  "She fed the land with living fle-e-e-esh, and called the screaming harvest waste."

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  "They say the adults fed the roooooots, pressed screaming into living loam."

  "The crops grew thick on blood and booooone, and still the Mother did not care."

  "The children vanished without a tra-a-a-a-ace, carried soft in silken thread."

  "MOTHER, MOTHER, HEAR OUR PLEA!"

  "YOUR ABUNDANCE LEARNED OUR TASTE!"

  "OH MOTHER OF THE CRAWLING HOST, "

  "YOUR GIFTS WERE NEVER BOUGHT OR SOOOOOOLD!"

  "We named you blessing, named you liiiiife, and carved your likeness out of gold."

  "Now we sing with careful to-o-o-o-o-o-o-ongues, and never praise without restraint."

  "For gods who give without a pri-i-i-i-i-i-i-ice, may take it back without complaint."

  "So drink, and eat, and thank the soil-oil-oil-oil-oil, but do not ask for too much.

  "For even blessings grow sharp teeth when held too long in mortal tou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ouch."

  "Ha!"

  "Fataaaaaaleeee."

  The rikshanans bowed and left the podium.

  Everyone at the bar had become silent after the second half of the song, many were shocked, others were indifferent

  Virn was the former but it's not the first time he heard those atrocities.

  His gaze turned back to his comrade, Maru. She wore the same bitter face as when the song started.

  'So that's why...'

  Many things had happened in Rikshasha, but now, he knew why people had evacuated from there. The place was definitely a death zone now.

  How much had Maru lost before arriving here in Almati?

  '...'

  'I have to lift the mood up.'

  The infantryman spoke with a smile. "Before we go into battle, do you guys have any dreams?"

  Both Magi looked at him with dread, so much so that Gabri sobered up.

  "Are you insane?!"

  "That's a death flag!"

  Virn winced. 'Ack they're not wrong...but still!'

  "Yeah but if only one of us dies, at least the others might live our dreams, no?"

  Their eyes widened.

  They thought for a bit then spoke.

  Gabri spoke first with a wistful expression. "I want to be a baker after this. I heard people started planting more wheat in Kresha, so pastries might become more available and I wanna be one of the few to spread them."

  Maru breathed in, then exhaled. "I think I'll teach kids magic here, it doesn't have to be offensive spells," she smiled, "I want them to learn spells that would make life easier for them or try new ideas. Kids have so much creativity, you know?"

  They both turned toward Virn and asked at the same time. "What about yours?"

  He leaned back and stared at the roof while humming. "I guess it would be..."

  The farmer smiled. "I want to buy a few ducks."

  Meanwhile, somewhere far away

  Rikaen waited until the last wagon vanished into the fog of Kresha's outskirts before she peeled off from the road.

  She stood there for a moment with her hands on her hips.

  "Alright," she muttered. "Let's go bother a corpse."

  She headed toward the hills where Paro's cave rested, boots crunching softly against dead leaves and brittle soil, and blue scarf fluttering in the wind. The air here felt a bit wrong, but the heat that the previous inhabitants of Kresha had described wasn't anywhere to be found.

  That was a good thing actually, Rikaen didn't want to be under the heat of another desert-like place. The desert that separated the dark forest of Rikshasha and the center of Gaon was a pain.

  Rikaen crept forward anyway.

  She did so badly.

  The young insect-like Ascendant exaggerated every step, crouched far lower than necessary, peering around rocks and stalagmites with the seriousness of someone who had absolutely no reason to be doing this alone.

  She leaned out from behind a boulder, her antenna swinging at the movement.

  'Nothing.'

  She leaned out again, from the other side.

  'Still nothing.'

  She squinted, wings twitching once behind her shoulders.

  "...Okay," she whispered to herself, "either something very scary is hiding very well, or this place is actually safe!"

  She popped up from behind the rock and immediately relaxed.

  'No Dusk-creatures.'

  'No movement.'

  'No ominous whispers of whatever the fuck lived here....'

  "Cleared!" she announced cheerfully to absolutely no one, then paused and tilted her head. "...Probably."

  Mister Astor did say Kresha was safe, but she couldn't really trust his words. Though, she guessed she could trust Sir Naro's actions.

  She smiled smugly.

  'He said he was a slayer after all! What kind of slayer leaves things alive, right?'

  A bad one, that's for sure!

  Paro's cave loomed ahead of her, its jagged entrance carved into the stone like a wound that never healed. Dark scorched marks stained the rock around it, overlapping layers of melted stone and cracked earth.

  Rikaen stepped closer, eyes widening.

  "Whoa..." She crouched and touched the wall, fingers brushing over fused rock. "This wasn't just one spell, was it?"

  'Was it even a spell? Maybe it was someone's Authority, since it was scorched it probably was Sir Naro's. But why would he do that? If he managed to enter the cave, why would he...ooooooh an ambush!"

  That was probably that!

  She stood, excitement bubbling up despite herself.

  "Amazing!"

  She followed the path inward, boots crunching softly over rubble. The deeper she went, the clearer it became that the tunnel had been forced open.

  Charred claw marks scored the walls. Blackened stone radiated outward in violent arcs. Melted crystal veins ran like frozen lightning through the floor.

  Rikaen whistled. "Someone really didn't like whatever lived here, ah! lightning residue! I guess Miss Rami did help with it after all!"

  She skipped over a collapsed section, wings fluttering to steady herself, then stopped short.

  "...Wow."

  The shaft opened beneath her like a throat, descending straight down into darkness. The edges were scorched clean, rock vitrified smooth by overwhelming heat by both heat and lightning.

  She leaned over, peering down.

  "Okay," she muttered, smiling nervously, "note to self: never annoy those two."

  Her wings unfurled mid-fall, catching the air just enough to slow her descent as she spiraled down the shaft. Ash and dust drifted lazily around her as the cavern widened.

  Her boots touched the ground softly.

  She straightened and froze.

  Something laid nearby.

  Rikaen walked closer, her steps slowing.

  "...Huh?"

  It was an arm.

  Burnt, and blackened, the fingers twisted into clawed shapes that no longer moved. The stone beneath it was cracked and glassy.

  Her smile faded.

  She crouched beside it, staring.

  "...That's...not a Dusk-creature's."

  Her eyes traced the shape, the length, the remnants of scorched armor fused to stone.

  "...Oh."

  But let me tell you this, this cool left arm here, it wasn't there when I first went to Kresha. I wasn't a cripple before going there.

  A quiet breath left her.

  "That must've hurt."

  She stood slowly and turned her gaze forward.

  Paro's corpse lay further in.

  The Guardian's massive stone-like body was slumped against shattered stone, his spine was split open and shattered, he had three massive arms, though it seemed someone stole the fourth. The markings on his body were as grey as ash.

  Rikaen exhaled and put her hands on her hips.

  "Great."

  She looked at the corpse.

  Then at herself.

  Then back at the corpse.

  "I really wish you were lighter..."

  With a resigned sigh, her Authority surged.

  Her body shifted, bones and muscle rearranging as chitin flowed across her skin. Limbs thinned and strengthened, wings elongated and hardened, and her antennae became longer. In moments, a humanoid ant-like form stood where the girl had been.

  She crouched, braced herself, and wrapped her arms around Paro's remains.

  "Okay... lift with your legs... and don't think about how gross this is..."

  The stone cracked beneath her feet.

  With a strained grunt, she rose, wings buzzing furiously as she hauled the corpse upward.

  "Ugh...Agir owes me so much for this..."

  'What would he do with it anyways?! I won't be able to arrive in Kresha in time for the fight!'

  She took off with some effort, dragging the dead Guardian up through the shaft and out into the open air.

  As she disappeared into the sky, Paro's previous fell silent once more.

  Only scorched stone remained.