The three of them were sitting around the fire.

  The wood crackled softly, casting trembling shadows over the stone.

  The night was black, heavy, shamefully silent.

  And none of them was sleeping.

  Impossible.

  Paranoia had their nerves stretched tight. They knew now that danger didn’t always announce itself with noise. It could laugh, cry, talk — it could have a face.

  Each of them had wrapped themselves in their fur, pulling it tight like a meager layer of armor against fear

  All of them… except Kael.

  He was still wearing his makeshift black cloak. He had pulled the panel that ran under his arm back over his bare shoulder, closing the fabric around himself. He looked calm. Too calm.

  And it was he who broke the silence, his voice low, almost a whisper.

  "It probably won’t even need to act directly."

  The other two looked at him.

  Kael was staring into the flames, eyes dark.

  "It can just… let us rot.

  Let us sink into fear, suspicion…

  and wait for us to turn on each other, or collapse."

  A brutal silence fell after that sentence.

  Then, without taking his eyes off the fire, Kael went on, his tone heavier, more grounded, more determined.

  "We don’t have a choice anymore.

  We absolutely have to flush out the last of the three Overdrawn."

  He finally turned his head toward them.

  "If it adapts too much…

  we won’t stand a chance."

  The fire kept hissing softly, drowned in the silence.

  Althéa, still curled in on herself beneath her fur, finally spoke.

  "And how exactly do you want us to flush it out?

  Every time, it’s the one setting the trap.

  It’s the one who finds us."

  Her tone was sharp, distant as always — but this time, there was fatigue in it.

  Cold anger.

  Lucanis nodded slightly.

  "And I’d be frankly surprised if it left any traces.

  No footprints.

  Nothing."

  Kael slowly turned his head toward them, a sarcastic smile at the corner of his lips.

  "Of course not.

  What did you expect? That it weighs seventy kilos soaking wet and leaves prints in the mud like a good, obedient dog?"

  He raised an eyebrow.

  "No. It’s watching us.

  Almost constantly.

  It can’t ever really be far."

  He fell silent for a moment.

  His face closed off.

  His eyes drifted into the void.

  He was thinking back to what had happened at the camp.

  To the way the Overdrawn had reacted once exposed.

  To the clumsy improvisation, the panic — controlled, but perceptible.

  The shift in tone.

  The loss of control over the disguise.

  Then suddenly…

  His eyes widened.

  A click.

  He burst out laughing — a dry, nervous laugh, almost relieved — and slapped his thigh with the back of his hand.

  Althéa and Lucanis straightened at once, on alert.

  "Are you alright?" Lucanis asked.

  "What did you figure out?" Althéa growled, brows furrowed.

  Kael caught his breath. A crooked smile still lingered on his face, almost… unhealthy.

  "I know how we’re going to flush it out."

  He stood up, stretched as if waking from a nap.

  "And now… I’m going to sleep."

  He looked at the other two, then added in a falsely detached tone:

  "You should do the same.

  We won’t be attacked tonight."

  Lucanis frowned, suspicious.

  "What did you figure out… to be this confident, this… carefree?"

  Kael simply raised his hands.

  "I can’t tell you."

  "Why?"

  He moved closer to the fire and crouched down.

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  "Because it might hear."

  Morning had broken over the canyon.

  A ribbon of golden light slipped between the rock outcrops, brushing the stone, gently rekindling the cooled embers.

  Kael opened his eyes.

  He sat up without haste, muscles sore but his gaze clear.

  Lucanis was already awake, seated near the fire. Eyes half-closed, motionless, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, as if he had never truly slept.

  Kael watched him for a moment, then said quietly:

  "If you had a cloak like mine, you wouldn’t look like a frozen bird."

  Lucanis didn’t move.

  "Keep your voice down.

  Althéa finished her watch not long ago.

  Let her sleep."

  Kael raised his hands in a silent okay, okay.

  Then he tipped his chin toward the chasm.

  "I’m going to take a look at the valley.

  See if I can spot any human infrastructure."

  Lucanis nodded without a word.

  Kael walked off at an easy pace, arms crossed beneath his cloak. A faint smile lingered on his lips, heavy with a strange certainty.

  He stepped out from the rock outcrop.

  The morning cold bit briefly at his face, but he showed no reaction.

  He walked up to the edge of the chasm he had noticed the day before. A dry wind swept across the heights.

  Kael slowly opened his arms.

  His cloak snapped in the air like a black banner.

  Sunlight washed over his face.

  He closed his eyes for a moment.

  Breathed deeply.

  Then, without losing his smile, he loosened the bottom of his uniform and relieved himself into the void with disconcerting serenity.

  When he was done, he calmly buttoned himself back up.

  Then he lifted his eyes toward the valley.

  An ocean of dense trees.

  Nothing but green, nothing but uneven ground.

  And in the distance, a mountain range stretched all the way to the horizon.

  Not the slightest sign of civilization.

  No tower.

  No road.

  No movement.

  Just… the deceptive calm of a world where humankind did not exist.

  Then, in a breath he didn’t bother to hide:

  "If I don’t see anything…

  then either we’re very far from any civilization…

  or we’re on the wrong side of the canyon."

  He frowned slightly, then shrugged.

  And out loud, a little louder:

  "Ah, life is beautiful."

  A crooked smile on his face.

  At that exact moment, a small rockslide — almost insignificant.

  A few stones rolled down below, bouncing against the cliff face.

  Nothing unusual for the canyon.

  Nothing alarming.

  But Kael froze for a fraction of a second.

  His gaze slid toward the sound.

  Then he turned around, the same smile still fixed on his lips.

  He walked back to the camp at an easy pace.

  The fire was low, but still alive.

  Lucanis was waiting for him, crouched near the embers.

  Beside him, Althéa had risen.

  Still wrapped in her fur, hair cut short, features hard — but eyes clear.

  She said nothing.

  But she was watching him differently now.

  Not trust yet.

  But no doubt either.

  Now that daylight had fully broken, Kael could finally really see her.

  Althéa.

  Her hair cut clean just below the ears, wavy, almost supple despite its stiffness.

  Still that unreal white, like snow in the shade.

  Her thick bangs fell across her forehead, perfectly straight, framed by two long strands that escaped on either side of her face.

  A face hardened.

  But not closed.

  The cut gave her an almost warrior-like air, with something strangely noble to it.

  Something aristocratic, despite the roughness.

  An icy beauty. Raw. Unadorned.

  And it suited her.

  Perfectly.

  Kael couldn’t help commenting, a smile fixed on his face.

  "Well then…

  You’ve got a look now. Something…"

  He raised a finger, searching for the word.

  "Deadly. Literally."

  Althéa lifted a hand and brushed her hair. Her fingers slid over the short strands, then grazed her bangs. She turned her face slightly aside.

  "I haven’t seen the result yet."

  Her voice was neutral. Not embarrassed — just… distant. As if the detail barely mattered. As if she refused to give weight to what she had sacrificed.

  Lucanis, still crouched by the fire, didn’t even look up.

  "It was pragmatic.

  You chose to live. That’s what matters."

  There was no irony in his voice. Just a cold statement of fact, very much like him.

  Kael watched the scene, arms crossed beneath his cloak, one eyebrow raised. He let a half-smile form, more restrained this time.

  "Yeah.

  But now you’re alive and stylish.

  Best of both worlds."

  Kael broke the silence again, arms still crossed.

  "I didn’t see anything.

  No roads, no outposts, no watchtowers… nothing.

  But I think we’re just on the wrong side of the canyon."

  Lucanis looked up at him and nodded.

  "Crossing it. Yeah… that makes sense."

  Althéa, still wrapped in her fur, replied sharply.

  "It’s possible.

  But it’s also possible we’re miles away from any civilization.

  Lost in a green desert."

  Kael nodded calmly.

  "Also a possibility.

  But we’ll know for sure once we cross."

  Lucanis frowned. He shifted slightly away from the fire, staring toward the unseen horizon beyond the rock.

  "It won’t be an easy crossing.

  We’re being hunted by a Class-S.

  And we still don’t know where it is."

  Kael waved a hand dismissively, as if brushing away the fear itself.

  "Don’t worry about that."

  Althéa snapped her head toward him, eyes wide with disbelief.

  "What did you just say?"

  Lucanis sprang to his feet, tense, angry.

  "You’ve been awfully confident since last night.

  And you keep saying things like that like it’s nothing."

  He stared straight at Kael.

  "Care to tell us what’s going on in your head?

  How exactly do you plan to flush it out?"

  Kael locked eyes with Lucanis.

  Then with Althéa.

  A crooked smile on his lips — that same damn mocking, confident, almost insolent look.

  "No."

  Lucanis clenched his fists.

  "We have four days, Kael.

  Four.

  Before the Trial properly activates.

  This is not the time to play smart-ass."

  His voice was drier now, heavier.

  Not outright anger yet.

  But it was building.

  Kael pretended to think.

  Then snapped his fingers.

  "Oh, right. The activation of the Trial.

  That’s true."

  He shrugged, still looking detached.

  "No need to worry about that either."

  Althéa and Lucanis stared at him, as if they hadn’t heard correctly.

  Kael rolled his eyes and paced a few steps around the fire, hands clasped behind his back.

  "With a bit of luck…

  we’ll stumble across a teleportation circle in the canyon."

  His voice rose slightly at the end.

  As if he wanted to be heard.

  A brutal silence fell.

  Lucanis and Althéa exchanged a tense look.

  Kael was still smiling.

  But something had changed in his eyes.

  Less playfulness.

  More calculation.

  Althéa was the one who broke.

  She turned toward Kael, jaw clenched, voice low but sharp as a blade’s edge.

  "Listen, Kael.

  I’m trying to listen to you.

  I’m trying to take what you’re saying seriously.

  But right now… you’re completely losing it."

  She was making a visible effort to stay calm, but frustration seeped into every word.

  "What’s gotten into you this morning?

  You’re dropping information like we’re not being hunted, like there isn’t someone — or something — listening to us."

  "You joke, you smile, you talk loudly…"

  She shook her head, irritated.

  Kael stayed still for a moment.

  Then replied simply, that same crooked smile still there.

  "I’m in a good mood this morning."

  He bent down and picked up his Needle-Blade in one smooth motion, slid it back into the lining of his cloak exactly where he could draw it without a sound.

  Then he grabbed his rabbit-skin pouch, tied it to his belt with a quick knot, and without another word…

  He started walking.

  Lucanis stared at him, brows furrowed, clearly trying to read meaning into every one of his movements. He rubbed his eyes, exhausted, irritated — but still in control.

  Althéa, meanwhile, pressed two fingers to her temples, closing her eyes.

  She needed to find the thread again.

  To understand.

  But all of this was starting to go beyond her.

  Ahead of them, Kael was already walking.

  As if everything were settled.

  As if the path were obvious.