S?urtinaui stared at the communicator like it was a cruel joke.

  It crackled again, yet her mind refused to accept it. After everything… after the V-Dungeon, the ship, the being in black, Caroline—

  There was no way this was happening.

  Her fingers tightened around the device until her knuckles went pale.

  This has to be in my head.

  A coping mechanism.

  A final mercy before the end.

  She didn’t even want to answer. Not because she didn’t want to hear him—because she did—but because hearing him would make it real. And if it was real, then he would worry. He would panic. He would come running into a grave that couldn’t be escaped.

  And S?urtinaui didn’t have the strength to carry anyone else’s fear.

  She barely had the strength to carry her own.

  A voice cut through the static, urgent and raw.

  “S?urtinaui! What happened? You guys okay?!”

  North.

  She froze.

  Her throat tightened so hard it hurt.

  She swallowed, forcing air into lungs that didn’t want it.

  And when she spoke, her voice came out weak—ragged—half-choked.

  “We thought you… you…”

  A cough ripped through her, violent enough to bend her forward. It felt like her chest was splitting open from the inside.

  North’s voice spiked instantly, panic sharpening every word.

  “S?urtinaui! Stay with me! Where are you?!”

  She shut her eyes.

  Don’t make him scared. Don’t make him chase you. Don’t make him carry this too.

  Her voice dropped to a whisper, thin as ash.

  “We… made it to the tree…”

  “S?urtinaui!” North yelled again, like shouting could keep her from slipping away.

  “It wasn’t… too bad…” she lied.

  The lie tasted like metal.

  “But Tinsurnae…” S?urtinaui’s voice faltered. “Wasn’t the same… afterwards…”

  She heard his breath catch on the other side. Heard the weight drop into his stomach.

  S?urtinaui stared down at the dirt beneath her knees. Her hand trembled around the communicator.

  “The being in black…” she whispered. “The chaos… this team attacked us… and then—”

  North’s voice broke into her like a blade.

  “S?urtinaui! Where are you?! We can find you! What happened?!”

  Her breath faded in and out, the line crackling like it couldn’t decide if she was still here.

  “The being… in black…”

  North’s grip tightened so hard she heard the creak through the comm.

  “S?urtinaui!” His voice turned raw. “Where’s Caroline?! Where is she?!”

  S?urtinaui’s whole body went still.

  Her heart sank.

  Caroline.

  The name felt like a hole in her chest.

  Silence stretched—not because she was thinking.

  Because she couldn’t speak.

  Then, finally, her voice came out small.

  “I’m… so sorry, North…”

  “S?urtinaui—don’t—don’t do that,” North snapped, desperation bleeding through the anger. “Just tell me where you are! Who the FUCK attacked you?!”

  Wind hissed across the comm.

  S?urtinaui looked up at the sky like she wanted it to swallow her.

  A pause.

  Then three words, dragged out like a confession carved from bone:

  “We… were… betrayed.”

  She let the line go dead. And stared at the communicator in her hand.

  She then laid back on the ground, the dirt cold against her spine. The sky above her didn’t look like a sky anymore—just a ceiling that refused to fall, even though everything else already had.

  Her cheek burned.

  The missing arm felt like phantom weight.

  She closed her eyes.

  This was too much.

  Too many names.

  Too many voices.

  Too many endings stacked on top of each other until she couldn’t tell what was real and what was just her mind trying to soften the blade.

  North’s voice still echoed in her head like a wound that wouldn’t seal.

  She didn’t cry again.

  She didn’t scream again.

  She didn’t pray.

  She just let the exhaustion win.

  Now she just wanted to sleep.

  ——

  The line went dead.

  And in that silence, something in North’s chest fractured.

  Betrayed…? Who the hell could’ve done this? Civen? Jack? Someone else? His mind tried to assemble answers like armor, but none of it fit. None of it made the weight go away.

  Caroline…

  No.

  No, no—she couldn’t—

  North’s breath hitched, sharp and ugly.

  He turned to Ozzy.

  Ozzy’s face wasn’t smiling anymore. His usual brightness was gone like someone had turned it off. Even through the white blindfold, North could feel the change—like the fabric itself had tightened with tension. His white outfit was still stained with blood from blocking Tabia’s attack earlier.

  Tabia stepped forward, voice urgent. “Captain, what—”

  Ozzy lifted a hand.

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  Silence.

  North swallowed hard. His thoughts were spiraling, but Ozzy’s voice came out calm.

  “North,” he said. “What do you want to do?”

  North blinked. “The team was attacked and—”

  “North.” Ozzy repeated, quieter but sharper. “What do you want to do.”

  North’s jaw clenched. “Ozzy—apparently everyone is dead. And it might have been a traitor—“

  Ozzy didn’t flinch.

  “North,” he said again, this time stern. “What do you want to do. The mission on our end stays the same. We support you. The crew…”

  His voice faltered—just for half a second.

  “…the crew knew the risk. And from the sound of it, they did their duty. As for the traitor… we’ll handle that as it comes.”

  He exhaled through his nose, steadying himself.

  “So again, North… what do you want to do.”

  North’s mind scrambled.

  What to do. What to—

  Anger flooded in. Frustration. Fear. That raw helplessness that came from being too far away when the people you cared about were bleeding out alone.

  Caroline had to be okay.

  And Jack…

  What was Jack doing?

  Why didn’t S?urtinaui say anything about Jack?

  Did he betray them?

  The thoughts stacked on top of each other until North’s head felt like it was splitting.

  Then to top it off he was exhausted—still recovering from Ascending, still feeling like his bones were full of fire.

  But none of that mattered.

  He would find them.

  He would drag the truth out of the world by force if he had to.

  North took a shaky breath.

  “Let’s find them.”

  His eyes flicked over to Destiny—still standing with Crisper and Jamal. Destiny looked up, concern in her gaze, but North didn’t have the energy to explain.

  He looked back at Ozzy.

  Tabia had gone quiet, but the look in her eyes said everything she wasn’t saying out loud.

  Ozzy nodded slowly. Then asked the real question.

  “Well…” he said carefully. “How are we gonna find them?”

  North sighed.

  He already knew.

  He was about to do something dastardly.

  Something he was pretty sure wouldn’t kill him—

  But he had no idea what the backlash would be.

  “Let me do something,” North said, voice low. “And you guys follow behind. Catch up when you can.”

  Ozzy stared.

  Tabia stared.

  North’s eyes rotated.

  The sigils inside them turned, interlocking rings of light and meaning sliding over one another as his vision stopped being “sight” and became search.

  He bit down on his thumb.

  Blood welled.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  He dragged the red across his palm and let it drip into the air like ink writing on invisible paper.

  A thread formed.

  A through-line.

  He’d done it before—once—when he needed to find Destiny.

  But this… was easier.

  Not because the distance was shorter.

  Because the connection was deeper.

  Him and S?urtinaui had something tangled together that wasn’t just time spent. It wasn’t just shared danger. It was something that stuck—like Requiem itself recognized them as bonded pieces of the same chapter.

  The blood-thread stiffened, shimmered, then snapped forward—

  A single filament of crimson and light shooting out like a spear.

  North’s breath caught.

  Because something felt… off.

  Not the Unraveling.

  He was past that.

  This was different.

  But he didn’t have time to ponder it.

  Not now.

  North rose off the ground.

  His aura cracked outward, electricity crawling around him as he tilted forward—

  And became a bolt.

  He shot across the ruined world like lightning given intent, tearing through ash-filled skies as wreckage rolled beneath him in endless scars. Mountains were split. Forests were flattened. The air tasted like burned metal and failure.

  In the distance, the golden wave loomed—slow and enormous, like the horizon itself had decided to drown everything.

  North followed the thread, faster and faster, the blood-line vibrating like it was screaming hurry.

  That wrong feeling bled through him again, deeper now—cold in his ribs, heavy in his throat—

  And he pushed it aside with sheer force of will.

  Please be okay.

  S?urtinaui…

  Caroline…

  Tinsurnae…

  And god help Jack…

  If he was responsible for this.

  North followed the blood-thread until it started to vibrate—until the pull wasn’t distant anymore, but immediate. Close enough that the air itself felt different, heavier, like the world didn’t want him to arrive in time.

  His aura sputtered.

  His chest burned.

  His energy was low—dangerously low.

  But he didn’t slow.

  He broke over a ridge of wreckage and finally saw her.

  S?urtinaui.

  Lying in the dirt like someone had thrown her away.

  North’s breath vanished.

  His legs almost stopped working.

  Her right arm was gone.

  She was practically naked—torn fabric and blood and ash clinging to skin that used to look unbreakable. And the cut—

  God.

  A deep slash from her lip all the way to her ear, splitting her face into something brutal and unfinished. The elf who always stood tall, looked… discarded.

  North’s eyes pulsed, sigils tightening as he rushed to her side.

  Her aura was faint.

  So faint it felt like it was already leaving.

  “No—no no no,” he said under his breath as he dropped to his knees. “S?urtinaui, wake up!”

  He reached for her—then froze.

  Because he didn’t know what to do.

  He wasn’t a healer.

  He didn’t know any techniques that would stitch this back together. Didn’t know if moving her would make it worse. Didn’t know where she was bleeding internally or what was keeping her alive by pure spite.

  “S?urtinaui!” His voice cracked. “S?urtinaui!”

  Her eyelid fluttered.

  One eye opened—barely.

  North’s throat tightened so hard it hurt.

  He leaned closer. “Hey. Hey, it’s me. It’s North. It’s North, okay? Stay with me.”

  S?urtinaui stared at him for a long second.

  Then she laughed.

  Not happy.

  Not relieved.

  Just this cracked, broken laugh like her brain couldn’t decide whether to accept the hallucination or enjoy it before it faded.

  North blinked, confused. “What—?”

  She laughed harder, coughing in between, like the sound was scraping her raw from the inside.

  North’s hands trembled. “S?urtinaui… where is everyone?” he asked, voice shaking. “Where’s Caroline? Where’s Tinsurnae? Where’s—”

  She just kept laughing.

  Like the question was too cruel to answer.

  Like the world had already answered it for her.

  North’s chest constricted. He didn’t care anymore.

  He slid his arms under her—careful and gently. And lifted her up against him, holding her close like if he loosened his grip she’d disappear.

  Her body was so light it scared him.

  So fragile it didn’t feel real.

  S?urtinaui’s laughter stopped.

  Her eye widened.

  Her hand—shaking—grabbed the front of his shirt like she needed proof.

  He was warm.

  He was real.

  And that realization finally shattered what she’d been holding back.

  S?urtinaui started to cry.

  Not quiet tears.

  Full-body, shaking sobs that made her look smaller than he’d ever seen her.

  North swallowed hard, tightening his arms around her, voice dropping soft like he was afraid the universe would hear him and take her back.

  “What happened…?” he whispered.

  S?urtinaui tried to speak.

  But she couldn’t.

  She just cried.

  And North stayed there with her in the dirt, holding her.

  S?urtinaui clutched his shirt so hard her fingers shook.

  “S?urtinaui… hey—hey, it’s okay,” North whispered, trying to keep his voice steady while his heart tried to tear itself out of his chest. “Take it slow… what—”

  “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!” she screamed.

  The sound ripped out of her like it had been building for lifetimes.

  North flinched.

  “WHY does everyone think they need to put their life on the LINE for me?!”

  He stared at her, stunned. This wasn’t the elf he knew—the one who always stood like nothing could bend her.

  “Why did you come to find me?!” she yelled, spit and tears in her voice.

  “Because—”

  “I WANT TO DIE!”

  North froze.

  He looked at her like he didn’t recognize her. “This—stop talking like that,” he said, voice tight.

  “I do!” she snapped back. “Bourage… Senten… protected me with their lives! Caroline—”

  Her throat collapsed.

  She broke into sobs so violent her whole body shook.

  North felt his mind start to fracture.

  No. No no no.

  Caroline had to be fine.

  She’s a badass fire fox gamer. She’s—she’s—

  “I’m sorry, North,” S?urtinaui choked out, gasping between tears. “I’m not strong. I’m not meant to be a Ranker. I’m not meant for this life. But I’m always the one surviving.”

  Her voice dropped into something smaller.

  Something ashamed.

  “I don’t want to survive anymore. I’m tired… I’m so, so—”

  She couldn’t finish.

  North just held her tighter, jaw trembling, eyes burning.

  And in that silence—while she cried into him—two things shifted inside North.

  First: he’d never realized how deep S?urtinaui’s survivor guilt went.

  Not just guilt—a sickness. A belief that her existence cost too much.

  Second:

  Caroline was dead.

  And that realization punched a hole straight through him.

  It had been easy to forget Earth. Easy to stop thinking about his old friends—Marcus, the life he left—because in Requiem he’d found new anchors.

  S?urtinaui.

  Caroline.

  Now one of them was gone.

  And North had lost someone he never even pictured losing.

  His throat worked, but the words came out low.

  “…Where’s Jack?” he asked.

  “And Tinsurnae.”

  S?urtinaui’s breathing hitched.

  “Tinsurnae… disappeared.”

  North’s eyes hardened immediately.

  “And Jack…?”

  She didn’t answer.

  Not right away.

  And that silence told him more than words ever could.

  North’s voice turned cold. “What did Jack do?”

  S?urtinaui’s lips parted, then trembled.

  “I’m not sure… but he was part of it,” she whispered, barely audible. “Though… he did save me…”

  Her eye fluttered.

  Her head sagged against North’s shoulder.

  And before he could ask more—before he could hold her upright—

  She passed out in his arms.

  North stared down at her, shaking.

  And somewhere inside him, something ugly and focused began to form.

  Because if Jack was responsible—

  If Jack played protagonist while everyone else died—

  Then North was going to make sure he finally learned what it felt like when the story stops favoring you.

  Then there was Tinsurnae…. They wouldn’t leave unless they had a good reason. Or he hoped it was a good reason, because if it wasn’t….

  He took a slow breath.

  “Yeah.”

  The word wasn't an agreement to anything really.

  It was a decision.

  His mind dragged him backward—back to that moment when all of them were still alive in that cave. Back when he’d said it out loud, like naming the monster meant he could keep it leashed.

  “I’m done holding back. Done suppressing whatever instincts, urges, whatever’s inside me. I’ve been polite. I’ve been careful. That ends now.”

  He could still feel it—his body leaning back, red veins faintly glowing under his skin like cracks in glass.

  “I’m winning this tournament. I don’t care about the gems. I don’t care who’s hunting me. I will burn down anything standing in my way.”

  Silence.

  “So.” He’d exhaled, slow and final.

  “You’re either with me… or you’re against me. But I’m walking out of this stupid event victorious.”

  That was back when victory still felt like a game.

  Back when the points mattered.

  Back when he could pretend being “careful” made him good.

  Now?

  Now it felt stupid.

  He should’ve stuck to it.

  Fuck the game.

  Fuck the gems.

  Fuck the rules.

  North’s body trembled—half exhaustion, half fury so dense it felt like it had weight.

  The red lines beneath his eyes shifted.

  They were horizontal.

  Then—slowly— they turned vertical.

  Like red tears carved down his face.

  He looked down at S?urtinaui passed out in his arms, her aura barely clinging to her body.

  He didn’t care anymore.

  No more being nice.

  Starting tomorrow…

  Everyone in this region was going to die.

  They feared him.

  They attacked him.

  That cost him his friends.

  Fine.

  Then they could all mourn together.

  And when the mourning was done—

  This region would be erased by his hand.