Danny stumbled back, retreating from Zach's room, his steps slow and unsteady.
His body felt heavy, as though the weight of what he had just heard had drained every ounce of his strength.
His shoulders slumped, his head hung low, and his feet dragged against the worn floorboards as he made his way back to his room.
Each step felt like a lifetime.
The bond he thought he shared with Zach felt like it had splintered, leaving jagged edges that cut deeper with every thought.
Reaching his room, Danny pushed the door open and collapsed onto his bed, the soft mattress offering no comfort. He buried his face in the pillow, his tears finally escaping as quiet sobs racked his body.
The room was silent except for his muffled cries, the emotions he had tried to hold back spilling out like a dam that had burst.
"So… we're brothers after all," Danny whispered to himself, his voice trembling. The words carried both warmth and sorrow.
The realization gave him a bittersweet comfort.
Zach still saw him as family, still considered him his brother.
But the knowledge that Zach had contemplated killing him—that his weakness had made him a liability—was a knife that twisted in his chest.
Tears streamed freely now, soaking into the fabric beneath him. His heart felt torn, pulled in opposite directions.
The love he had for Zach clashed with the betrayal he couldn't ignore.
He rolled over and glanced at the table across the room, where the four spheres sat in their cracked, mysterious forms. The faint glow of the white sphere caught his eye.
"What are you…?" Danny murmured, his voice barely audible.
"Just what are these stones, anyway?"
His eyes grew heavy, and before he could think any further, sleep claimed him.
The room fell silent once more, leaving behind only the faint glow of the spheres as Danny drifted into unconsciousness.
...
Meanwhile, Inside Zach's dimly lit room.
"No matter how weak he is… he's still my brother."
But Zach wasn't finished. He straightened, his expression hardening as his voice gained a dangerous edge.
"If we're going to talk about Matilda, then let's address some truths," Zach continued, his tone cutting through the stillness like a blade.
"When I said no robbing, who was the one that insisted on robbing?"
Tia's eyes widened, her confidence faltering. "That's…" she stammered, trying to find the words.
Zach didn't let her finish. He stood abruptly, towering over her as his voice rose, filled with fury.
"When we found the sentinels," he pressed, stepping closer, "who was the one that insisted on going deeper, on taking things from that cursed house?"
Tia shrank back, her frame trembling under his piercing glare. She opened her mouth to respond, but Zach's voice overpowered her once more.
"And when everything fell apart," he said, his words like a hammer striking stone, "when the sentinels were upon us, who was the one who arrived late while everyone else was running for their lives?"
His steps brought him directly in front of Tia now, his anger radiating off him like heat from a fire.
Tia froze, unable to hold his gaze, the weight of her guilt and fear bearing down on her.
Zach's voice exploded in a final command. "Now, get out!"
Tia stumbled backward, her face a mask of conflicting emotions—anger, guilt, sadness—all fighting for dominance. She turned on her heel and fled from the room, her hurried footsteps fading into the distance.
As the door slammed shut, the room fell into an eerie silence. Zach stood still for a moment, his fists clenched at his sides, before collapsing back onto the sofa. His anger dissipated, replaced by a deep, weary sadness.
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, his voice soft and filled with regret.
"Everyone blames Danny," he muttered, the words escaping like a sigh. "Just because he looks weak… because he is weak."
His fingers gripped the edge of the sofa as his thoughts spiraled.
'Danny had always been the target. Always the one others looked down on.' Zach's heart ached at the thought, but he knew the truth as well as anyone.
"Danny," he whispered, his voice breaking slightly. "I can't protect you forever, you know. This world doesn't let anyone stay weak."
He closed his eyes, the exhaustion of the day settling over him like a heavy blanket.
"You have to get stronger," he said to himself, as though trying to will the words into reality. "If you want to survive in this world."
The room fell silent once more, save for the faint creak of the sofa as Zach shifted slightly, lost in his thoughts.
...
In a dimly lit laboratory deep within the remote reaches of Vargath, the faint hum of machinery filled the air, casting eerie shadows across a room cluttered with strange tools and glowing instruments.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the quiet—a shout filled with fury and alarm.
"What the hell do you mean Danny got hurt?" The words echoed like thunder, reverberating in the confined space as a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness.
A boy in his late teens, with ruffled brown hair, black eyes, and a blemished face, flinched visibly. Dressed in black jeans and a brown shirt under a worn jacket, he stumbled backward in fear, his voice trembling as he tried to explain.
"It—it shouldn't have been anything dangerous," he stammered.
"He went with Zach, Tia, and Matilda to Valthar… to rob. But there was an explosion at the site. It was… unexpected. Matilda didn't make it, and everyone else scattered, trying to escape."
The figure in the shadows moved closer, a slow and deliberate step that only heightened the tension.
"Danny's safe, though," the boy added quickly, his words tumbling out in desperation. "He doesn't seem to have any injuries!"
"Doesn't seem to have?" The voice from the shadows erupted into a roar, laced with rage. A hand, slim but strong, shot out from the darkness, seizing the boy by the throat and lifting him effortlessly off the ground.
The figure finally stepped into the faint light, revealing a woman with fiery red hair and a piercing black eye that contrasted sharply with the artificial orange eye glowing ominously in other socket.
She is Scarlett, Danny's mother.
The very woman Danny believed to have been killed by sentinels, as Robert had told him.