The silence lingered after everything settled, as if the Void itself was waiting for something more to happen. Nothing did.
The man's gaze remained fixed on Izumi, steady and searching, as though he was trying to see past what was visible and into something deeper. There was no immediate hostility in his expression, but there was no ease either. What had happened moments ago had left a mark not on the ground, not in the air, but in the way they now looked at him.
"What just happened?" he asked.
Izumi didn't answer immediately. His thoughts moved not scattered, not tangled, but deliberate. He knew there were things he could not say. The figure he had seen, the voice that had spoken, the mark on his arm none of it could be revealed. Not here. Not to them. If he spoke about it, they would question him. If he hesitated too long, they would notice something was wrong. So he chose what to keep. And what to discard.
"I don't know," he said. The words came slowly, but they held together. He paused briefly, then continued, shaping the explanation with care. "When I started to perform the spell… like you said… my hand stayed above the ground. But suddenly… it touched it. After that… I don't know what happened."
It wasn't complete. But it was believable.
The man studied him for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing slightly as if weighing the answer against his own understanding. Then he exhaled, the tension in his shoulders easing just a little. "…Even I don't know what just happened," he admitted. "So I can't expect a novice like you to understand it." His gaze drifted for a moment, as if replaying the earlier scene in his mind. "That was my first time seeing something like that."
The girl, who had been watching closely the entire time, crossed her arms and shifted her weight slightly. "Well," she said, glancing at Izumi, "you're lucky he was here." Her tone carried a faint edge, but it lacked the sharp hostility from before. "Otherwise, you'd be dead by now."
Izumi lowered his gaze slightly. This time, he didn't think. He simply responded.
"…Thank you."
The words were quiet, but they came out more naturally than before. Not forced. Not broken. Kael looked at him for a moment, then waved it off. "Forget it," he said. "Anyone would've done the same."
Izumi didn't reply. But he knew that wasn't entirely true.
Kael's attention shifted, moving away from the past and back to the present. "Can you see clearly now?" he asked. "I don't know if whatever that was… even counts as restoring your spell." Izumi paused briefly. The question was simple on the surface, but it carried weight. If he answered wrong, it could raise suspicion. If he hesitated, it would be noticed.
"I can see clearly," he said. That part, at least, was true.
Kael gave a small nod, though the tension in his expression didn't fully disappear. Whatever had happened earlier still lingered in his mind. Then, after a moment, he looked at Izumi again.
"What's your name, boy?"
The question hung in the air for a second longer than expected. It felt strange. They had walked together, faced danger together, shared silence in a place where silence meant survival. And yet they didn't even know each other's names.
"I'm Izumi," he said. The name felt distant, like something carried over from a life that no longer belonged to him. He lifted his gaze slightly. "And you?"
The question came naturally, though he didn't truly need the answer. It was part of the exchange something expected.
"Kael," the man replied. Short. Direct. It suited him.
Izumi nodded slightly, then turned his gaze toward the girl. He didn't ask the question again. He didn't need to. She understood.
"…Elyra," she said, her tone quieter than before.
A brief silence followed. Not tense. Just unfamiliar. They had names now. And somehow, that changed something.
Kael exhaled lightly, glancing into the distance as if measuring something unseen. "First time in the Void, huh?" Izumi nodded. "…Yeah."
Kael shook his head slightly. "Then you're either extremely unlucky… or something's seriously off."
Elyra glanced at him. "That's not helpful."
"It's not supposed to be," Kael replied.
Izumi remained quiet, listening carefully. "Most people don't end up this deep on their first entry," Kael continued. "Even if they get lost, they don't last long enough to reach this far." Elyra added, "And they definitely don't stay calm about it." Her eyes flickered toward Izumi. "Not like you."
Izumi didn't respond. But he remembered. He wasn't calm because he was strong. He was calm because something inside him had already broken long ago.
Before the conversation could deepen further, a low sound interrupted the silence. Elyra froze. Her expression stiffened, and she immediately turned away. "…Don't say anything."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"You were thinking it."
"That's not something you can prove."
For a brief moment, the tension eased. Izumi watched them quietly. There was something oddly grounding about the exchange. It didn't belong to the Void. It didn't belong to fear or survival. It was normal. And that made it feel out of place.
Kael exhaled and glanced around, his expression shifting back to focus. "We've been moving for a while," he said. "We should get something to eat before going further." Elyra didn't argue, which meant she agreed.
Kael stepped forward slightly, scanning the darkness with practiced precision. "Stay alert," he said. "There should be smaller ones nearby."
Izumi's attention sharpened. "Monsters?" he asked. The word came slow, but steady.
Kael nodded. "Not all of them are like the one you faced. Some are weaker. Enough to survive on." "If we're lucky," Elyra added.
Kael moved a few steps ahead, his posture shifting completely. The casual air he had held earlier vanished, replaced by something sharper, more controlled. Every movement became deliberate, every step measured. Elyra remained behind, but this time closer to Izumi. Not by accident. Izumi noticed. For a moment, he said nothing. But something inside him registered it.
Kael stopped and glanced back at them. "We move together," he said. "No unnecessary risks." Elyra nodded. Izumi gave a small nod as well.
The mist drifted quietly around them, thinner now, calmer but no less endless. Without another word, they began to move. Forward.