"What fate awaits the gods?" I asked, but she didn't respond. The silence lingered, so I shifted my question. "Where are we going?"
"We're heading to the world's end—the village of Longevity," she replied.
"Where is that?" I pressed.
"Through the lands of the fallen, across the body of the first dragon, past the valley of heroes. There, you'll find the village of Longevity, home to the spirit king's body," Avidia whispered, her voice just loud enough for me to catch.
"That's right," she added, "the destination of the tournament."
"But that's just a myth!" Avidia stepped forward, her voice rising. "That place has never been found! It was supposedly made up by a drunk man in some tavern. How could you possibly hold a tournament there?"
"Oh, right." The woman turned slightly, a sly smirk playing on her lips. "That's also where you might find the cure for your curse, isn't it?" She tilted her head, her words laced with an undeniable edge.
Avidia recoiled. "I—"
"I'm sure you were planning to follow the same path, weren't you? Or am I just imagining things?" The woman fully faced her, stepping so close that their faces nearly touched. "You intended to help them with this quest and then vanish once they were done, didn't you? And now you're pretending not to know the tournament was real."
Avidia's eyes widened in terror, as if the mere presence of the woman could end her existence with a single blow—which it could. "I... they asked me, and I saw an opportunity!"
"That's not a denial." She backed away and resumed walking.
"Explain," I demanded, wanting to know everything—about the boy, about Avidia. I needed to know the truth of her origin, the god she wanted dead, and whether that god was her father.
She inhaled sharply, steeling herself. "My father is a god. My mother was human. I don't know who he is, or if he even knows I exist, but what I do know is that he caused my mother's death."
"How?" I asked.
"Because a human body can't hold a demigod within it. It usually kills them. My mother survived longer than most, but it still led to her death. None of it made sense," she admitted.
"After years of screaming for answers, I found only one—the body of the spirit king, a tree. If the tree accepts you, it grants a unique attribute: the 'spirit king's blessing.' It can lift any curse. So I took this job. They said it was just to explore the end's valley and clear the dungeon, but once we arrived, everything changed. The leaders had a different agenda. I saw them kill... well, the owner of this body, someone I had grown to consider a friend."
"So, you knew nothing about this boy or the head?" I asked.
"Not really..." she shook her head. "All I knew was his last name—Hart."
"I see." Hearing that name tightened something in my chest. It was as if this body itself was reacting to it.
We walked in silence for a while. I couldn't stop turning over that name—Hart. Why was the 'head' so determined to kill this boy? Why go to such lengths just to drag him here and end his life?
Was the Hart family powerful in this world? If they were, I should've at least heard their name once during my observations of other chosen ones. Yet, despite my own worries, I hadn't told her about the decision I'd made.
To keep her inside my ring, about my true existence. I hadn't revealed anything, and she hadn't asked either.
"I'm an anomaly," I muttered, surprising even myself. She turned to me, clearly shocked. "I wasn't brought here like you all were. I just appeared. No guidance, no system from Vitalis."
"How is that even possible?" she asked, her surprise exactly what I had expected.
"I don't know. I wandered for years, watching how others unlocked their titles. Everything changed when I saw a glowing light coming from the desolate lands."
"You mean that forbidden place? The land where no one is allowed to go?"
"Yeah. I was observing a battle in ring three when I noticed it," I said, recounting every detail until I reached the moment I was about to reveal the truth.
"I know." She interrupted before I could speak. "A notification popped up and I accepted."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it said: 'Do you accept to enter Cipher's ring? Goal: end the gods.'" She looked at me then, her face twisted with hatred. "This is the only way I can avenge my mother and destroy the god who cursed us."
Her mission was the same as mine.
Revenge.
But now, I had another problem—the boy. My gaze dropped to him, slung over my shoulder. Blood seeped through my hand. "Shit!"
"Stay quiet," the woman said, stepping back toward us, her arms outstretched. "I think they're catching up."
"Who?" I asked.
"The ones who will, if they survive, join us in the tournament."