The silence inside Sunny's shelter had become unbearable again.
Not hostile.
Not tense.
Just heavy.
The kind of silence that settled after too many truths had been revealed at once.
Outside, Greenmire remained quiet beneath its endless dark canopy. Inside, the only sounds were Arthur's faint breathing and the occasional crackle from the small fire near the corner of the room.
No one really knew what to say after everything.
So naturally—
Rivien decided that was unacceptable.
He looked around the room once.
At the unconscious people.
At the exhausted expressions.
At Sunny staring into space.
At Layla looking like she was about to start overthinking reality itself.
Then he nodded seriously to himself.
"…This atmosphere is terrible."
Sunny didn't even look up.
"…Thank you, Rivien. We hadn't noticed."
Rivien ignored the sarcasm completely.
"You're welcome."
Kierran rubbed his forehead weakly.
"Why do you talk like that?"
"Like what?"
"…Like you practiced conversations in a mirror before coming here."
Rivien looked genuinely thoughtful for a second.
"…That is deeply offensive."
Layla snorted quietly before catching herself.
Rivien pointed at her immediately.
"See? That almost became a laugh. My work here is progressing."
"It was not a laugh," Layla replied instantly.
"It absolutely was."
"It wasn't."
"You made the face."
"What face?"
"The 'I'm trying not to laugh but unfortunately he's funny' face."
Sunny finally looked over now, visibly tired.
"…Do you ever stop talking?"
Rivien folded his arms confidently.
"No. Silence makes people confront their emotions."
A pause.
"…Which sounds horrible."
Kierran actually let out a small laugh at that before wincing from the pain in his ribs.
"Don't make me laugh," he groaned. "Everything still hurts."
Rivien nodded sympathetically.
"Understandable. You were thrown through at least three walls from what I saw."
Kierran blinked slowly.
"…Three?"
"Possibly four. The third one may have been decorative."
Sunny lowered his head slightly, shoulders shaking once.
Layla noticed immediately.
"…Are you laughing?"
Sunny straightened instantly.
"No."
"You literally are."
"I'm coughing internally."
"That's not a thing."
"It is now."
For the first time in days, the room felt lighter.
Not healed.
Not okay.
But lighter.
Even Alexi's expression softened faintly as she sat beside Arthur, listening to the pointless argument happening nearby.
Rivien noticed immediately.
And, naturally, made it worse.
He pointed toward Arthur dramatically.
"Also, for the record, when he wakes up, someone else is carrying him next time."
Layla looked at him flatly.
"You carried one person."
"And it was emotionally challenging."
"You carried Alexi for ten minutes."
"And I did it excellently."
Kierran shook his head weakly.
"…You're ridiculous."
Rivien placed a hand over his chest.
"Thank you. I bring balance to dark situations."
Sunny muttered quietly:
"You bring headaches."
"Those too."
And despite everything—
the shelter finally felt alive again.
The laughter and quiet arguing continued to bounce around the shelter, low but steady enough to push away the suffocating silence that had dominated Greenmire for the past two weeks.
Rivien was still defending himself dramatically.
"I carried people with elegance," he insisted.
"You nearly dropped Alexi walking through the doorway," Layla replied instantly.
"That doorway attacked me."
"It was a doorway."
"It came out of nowhere."
Sunny buried his face in one hand.
Kierran groaned quietly from where he sat.
And then—
another voice entered the room.
"…Why…"
Everyone froze slightly.
The voice was rough.
Weak.
Half-asleep.
"…Why is everyone so loud…"
Every head turned instantly.
Lucas was awake.
Barely.
His eyes were only half-open, his expression exhausted beyond belief, but he was very clearly conscious now.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for several seconds before slowly turning his head toward the group.
"…Am I dead?"
Sunny answered immediately.
"Unfortunately not."
Lucas blinked slowly.
"…Damn."
Kierran let out a laugh before regretting it instantly and grabbing his ribs again.
Lucas frowned weakly.
"…Why are you laughing like a dying seal?"
"Because Rivien exists."
Lucas looked toward Rivien for the first time.
Rivien straightened slightly.
"…I have apparently become the emotional support idiot of this group."
Lucas stared at him silently for a moment.
"…Who are you?"
Rivien looked deeply offended.
"You wound me."
"You look unfamiliar."
"That is because we met during a highly traumatic evacuation process."
Lucas closed his eyes briefly like he didn't have the energy for this conversation.
"…I woke up into nonsense."
"Correct," Sunny said. "You'll fit in perfectly."
Lucas slowly pushed himself up slightly before immediately wincing.
"…Ow."
Layla crossed her arms.
"Don't move too much. Your body's still healing."
Lucas looked down at himself, noticing the bandages, the lingering pain, and the faint traces of aether still moving beneath his skin.
Then his eyes shifted around the room again.
Kierran awake.
Sunny alive.
Layla fine.
Alexi beside Arthur.
Tom and Alex still unconscious.
And Arthur—
still unmoving.
Lucas went quiet for a second.
"…He actually did it," he muttered softly.
No one asked who he meant.
Because everyone already knew.
Lucas exhaled slowly and leaned his head back again.
"…That idiot…"
But despite the insult—
there was relief in his voice.
Real relief.
Because against all logic…
they had survived.The room slowly settled again after Lucas woke up.
Not fully quiet—Rivien was physically incapable of allowing that—but calmer.
Lucas leaned back carefully against the wall behind him, still wincing every now and then as the lingering pain in his body reminded him that surviving did not mean healed.
His eyes moved across the room again more carefully this time.
Then they stopped on Sunny.
Lucas frowned slightly.
"…Wait."
Sunny looked over.
Lucas pointed weakly.
"…Who are you?"
The room immediately got quieter.
Sunny blinked once.
"…That's a little rude after I helped carry you here."
Lucas looked genuinely confused.
"I was unconscious."
"That's fair," Sunny admitted.
Layla sighed softly from nearby.
"That's Sunny," she explained. "This is his place. He's the reason we got out of Greenmire alive."
Lucas looked back at Sunny again, taking him in properly now.
"…You don't look trustworthy."
Sunny stared at him for a moment.
"…And you woke up choosing violence."
Kierran snorted quietly.
Lucas shrugged weakly.
"You look too calm. Calm people are suspicious."
Sunny pointed toward Rivien.
"He's been talking nonstop for an hour and I'm the suspicious one?"
"Yes."
"…Unbelievable."
Rivien nodded seriously from the side.
"I understand Lucas completely."
"No you don't," Layla replied immediately.
"I support his vision anyway."
Lucas rubbed his face slowly before looking back toward Sunny again.
"…Thanks," he muttered finally. "For helping us."
Sunny gave a small shrug.
"Would've been awkward leaving you there."
Lucas let out a weak laugh through his nose before his expression shifted slightly again.
His eyes moved toward the far side of the room.
Toward Alexi Ravenheart sitting beside Arthur.
Toward Arthur Ravenheart still unconscious.
Lucas went quieter after that.
"…How's she holding up?" he asked softly.
The room understood immediately who he meant.
Alexi lowered her eyes slightly when she realized the attention had shifted toward her.
Layla answered first, voice gentler now.
"She's recovering physically."
A pause.
"…Mentally is another story."
Lucas nodded faintly.
His gaze stayed on Alexi for another moment.
"She hasn't left his side, huh?"
"Nope," Sunny answered quietly.
Alexi's fingers tightened slightly around Arthur's hand.
Lucas exhaled slowly.
"…He really did save her."
No one answered.
Because the evidence was lying right there in front of them.
Arthur's broken body.
Alexi sitting beside him.
And the silence between them that said more than words could.
One month later.
Greenmire no longer felt like a shelter for survivors.
It felt alive again.
The heavy silence that once filled Sunny's hidden home had slowly been replaced with movement, voices, arguments, and the occasional sound of someone getting slammed into the ground during training.
Recovery had finally begun.
Kierran and Lucas had recovered the fastest physically, though traces of the seventh descent still lingered in their bodies. Their aether reserves had changed after the battle—deeper, denser, harder to control at times.
So naturally—
they trained.
A lot.
Outside the shelter, deep within Greenmire's clearing, sparring matches had become almost routine.
Sometimes it was Lucas against Kierran.
Sometimes Sunny joined in.
Occasionally Layla stepped in and humbled everyone involved.
And Rivien—
despite talking far too much for someone who claimed to be composed—was surprisingly skilled whenever he actually fought seriously.
Currently, Kierran was flat on his back staring at the sky.
"…I think my spine disconnected," he groaned.
Layla lowered her fist calmly.
"You said you could dodge."
"I believed in myself too much."
Sunny snorted quietly nearby.
Lucas leaned against a tree, arms folded.
"To be fair," he said, "that punch looked personal."
"It wasn't," Layla replied immediately.
Kierran pointed weakly upward.
"She hesitated before saying that. You all saw it."
"I didn't hesitate."
"You absolutely did."
Rivien nodded thoughtfully.
"As an expert in unnecessary commentary, I confirm there was hesitation."
Layla grabbed a nearby stick.
Rivien immediately backed away.
"…Violence isn't necessary."
"You were literally supporting him."
"I support everyone emotionally."
The clearing erupted into tired laughter again.
For the first time in a long while—
things almost felt normal.
Almost.
Because back inside the shelter—
three people still hadn't woken up.
Tom.
Alex.
And Arthur Ravenheart.
Though their bodies had healed significantly over the past month, they remained unconscious, their aether still moving strangely beneath their skin like something deep inside them was still adapting.
Alexi rarely left Arthur's side.
Even now.
Then—
it happened.
Inside the shelter—
Tom's eyes snapped open violently.
At the exact same moment—
Alex jolted upright with a sharp inhale.
"MOVE—!"
"GET DOWN—!"
Both of them shouted at the same time.
Aether exploded outward instinctively from their bodies, rattling the room hard enough to shake nearby shelves.
Outside, everyone froze.
Sunny's expression sharpened instantly.
Kierran sat upright immediately.
"What the hell was that?!"
Inside the shelter, Tom's breathing was heavy, eyes wide with battle instinct still flooding through him.
Beside him, Alex looked equally shaken, his body tense as memories slammed back into him all at once.
The Devourer.
The overwhelming pressure.
Getting absolutely beaten down despite everything they threw at it.
The feeling of helplessness as Arthur kept fighting anyway.
Tom grabbed his forehead roughly.
"…Damn monster…"
Alex looked around rapidly, disoriented for a second.
"…Where is it?!"
The door burst open.
Sunny, Layla, Lucas, Kierran, and Rivien rushed inside immediately.
Only to stop.
Because Tom and Alex were awake.
Actually awake.
Alex blinked slowly at all of them.
Then at the room.
Then at himself.
A pause.
"…We lived?"
Rivien answered immediately.
"Unfortunately, yes."
The shelter had gone completely silent after Tom and Alex woke up.
The burst of aether from their panic still lingered faintly in the room, making the air feel heavy and charged.
Tom sat upright slowly, breathing hard as memories crashed back into him all at once.
The Devourer.
Arthur fighting like a madman.
The overwhelming pressure.
The feeling of getting completely overpowered.
Beside him, Alex looked equally disoriented, one hand pressed against his chest as his eyes scanned the room rapidly like he expected the monster to still be standing there.
"…Where is it?" Alex muttered sharply.
"It's dead," Sunny answered calmly from near the doorway.
Alex's head snapped toward the unfamiliar voice instantly.
So did Tom's.
Silence.
Tom narrowed his eyes slightly.
Alex frowned.
Because standing inside the room were several people neither of them recognized.
Layla.
Sunny.
Rivien.
Kierran.
Lucas.
And Alexi sitting beside Arthur.
Alex looked directly at Sunny first.
"…Who are you?"
Sunny blinked once.
"That's a rough first sentence after I helped carry your unconscious body through a cursed forest."
Alex stared.
"…I don't remember any of that."
"You were unconscious."
"That sounds inconvenient."
Kierran snorted quietly from the back.
Tom's gaze shifted carefully around the room, observant and guarded despite his injuries.
His eyes stopped briefly on Rivien.
Then on Layla.
Then back to Sunny.
"…Where exactly are we?" Tom asked slowly.
"Greenmire," Sunny replied. "My place."
Tom frowned slightly.
"…I don't know you."
"Correct."
"…That response somehow made me trust you less."
Layla finally stepped forward slightly before Sunny could answer something sarcastic.
"You two were unconscious for a month," she explained calmly. "We brought all of you out after the seventh descent collapsed."
Alex's expression tightened slightly at the memory.
"…Arthur," he muttered immediately, looking around.
Everyone's attention shifted toward the far side of the room.
Toward Arthur Ravenheart still lying unconscious.
Alex's face darkened slightly.
"…He's still out?"
"No change yet," Alexi answered quietly beside him.
That was the first time Tom properly noticed her.
His eyes widened slightly in recognition.
"…Alexi?"
She nodded faintly.
Tom exhaled slowly, relief briefly crossing his face.
"…So he actually saved you…"
Alex looked down silently for a moment after hearing that.
Then his attention shifted again—
this time toward Rivien.
"…And who's the silver-haired guy?"
Rivien straightened immediately like he had been waiting his entire life for this question.
"I," he declared dramatically, "am Rivien. Temporary battlefield medic, evacuation specialist, and the person forced to carry people heavier than expected through unstable terrain."
Sunny closed his eyes briefly.
"…You practiced that."
"I improved it over time."
Alex stared blankly.
Tom looked genuinely confused.
Kierran muttered quietly:
"This has been our life for a month."
Layla rubbed her forehead slightly.
"You get used to him."
"No you don't," Lucas replied immediately.
Rivien ignored all of them and extended a hand toward Alex proudly.
"Pleasure to finally meet you while conscious."
Alex looked at the hand.
Then at Rivien.
"…You're strange."
Rivien nodded once.
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I accept it anyway."
Tom let out a tired breath through his nose, somewhere between amused and exhausted.
And for the first time since waking—
the tension in the room eased just slightly.