Thick sheets of discarded cardboard offered the only barrier between his aching spine and the freezing dirt.
Drafts of bitter wind whistled through the big holes in the rotted wooden walls, carrying the foul stench of the slums straight into his nostrils. Pulled tight up to his chin, his blanket was nothing more than a frayed, moth-eaten rag barely capable of trapping a single degree of body heat.
At the very least, it did not smell like rotting cabbage. He was not suffering through this miserable night alone. Dozens of hollow-cheeked orphans covered the wide, uneven floor of the ruined mansion, sleeping in massive, huddled piles just to survive the plunging temperatures.
Curled up against his right side, Lushi slept fiercely. Her brow remained furrowed even in unconsciousness, her small fists clenched tightly against her chest. Over on his left, Siti breathed in a slow, rhythmic pattern, her short pink hair scattered messily across the rough cardboard.
Staring up at the sagging, leaky ceiling, Krai found a comforting thought.
I know what this is. This is just a really vivid, terribly unpleasant dream. When I wake up, I will be back in my secure room at the clan house. Eva will be nagging me about paperwork. Yes. That makes perfect sense.
Denial was his greatest weapon. Embracing the illusion, his eyes drifted toward the heavy metal band resting on his right index finger.
Six hours ago, when she was interrogated, the relic had suddenly grown warm against his skin. A faint blue glow had pulsed from the jagged carvings. Driven by sheer panic, he had whispered the only recognizable word from that cursed screen.
SYSTEM.
A translucent blue hologram had immediately snapped open in the dark air right above his face. It cast a faint, ghostly light over the sleeping children. Floating in the center of the strange, unreadable alien language was a set of big, glowing numbers.
17:59:50.
Before his tired eyes, the final digit ticked backward.
17:59:49.
I see. I totally get it, Krai had thought, a wave of profound relief washing over his exhausted mind. This is a cooldown timer. The relic needs time to recharge before it sends me back to the Imperial Capital. I just have to wait it out.
Feeling completely satisfied with his own deduction, he had closed the blue screen, rolled onto his side, and immediately gone to sleep.
By the time the next afternoon rolled around, the situation had not improved. The gray sky offered no warmth. Inside the broken house, a hundred starving children ran around the main hall, screaming and playing with whatever bits of trash they had scrounged up from the mud.
Sitting cross-legged against a crumbling wooden pillar, Krai stared intensely at the floating blue screen hovering just inches from his nose.
00:10:14.
Over the past few hours, he had made a crucial discovery. The other children simply walked right through the projection. They could not see the glowing blue light and they could not read the numbers. The "system" interface was entirely invisible to everyone except the wearer of the ring.
Approaching from across the noisy room, Lize stopped in front of him. She tilted her head, her long pink hair spilling over her thin shoulders.
"Krai-chan, you look happy today," Lize observed.
Yesterday, during the chaotic Lushi's interrogation, he had introduced himself using his real name. However, he carefully kept his true identity a secret. Telling a bunch of slum orphans that he was actually a Level 8 Clan Master from the Zebrudia Empire seemed like a fantastic way to get murdered for ransom.
Keeping his eyes locked entirely on the ticking numbers, Krai just nodded slowly, answering Lize.
"Un, un."