"You should drink less," Elias smirked, stretching his arms over his head. "You're going to need that brain of yours in working order if we're going to keep throwing impossible theories at you."
Edan groaned, rubbing his temple. "I think my brain has already decided to abandon me at this point."
I crossed my arms, watching him carefully. "At least you're taking this seriously."
"Oh, trust me, I am," he muttered. "I just don't particularly enjoy being confronted with the fact that everything I've studied might be wrong."
Elias let out a chuckle. "Welcome to my world, mate."
But before Edan could respond—
A voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"So, what exactly are you lot whispering about back here?"
——
The air shifted.
A new presence, one we had not invited into our conversation.
I turned, and there—Galeas.
His broad frame leaned against a stack of wooden crates, his arms crossed, his gaze sharp as he studied us like we were a pack of cornered animals.
Elias stiffened just slightly beside me, his casual demeanour flickering for the briefest moment before his grin returned—too easy, too sharp.
"Ah, Galeas," Elias drawled. "Lovely of you to join us. I didn't realise you had such a keen interest in philosophical debates."
Galeas's expression did not change.
"Philosophy, huh?" His voice was low, edged with something dangerous. "Because from where I'm standing, it sounds like you three are talking about things you probably shouldn't be."
——
Edan's jaw tightened, but he stayed calm, unreadable.
"And what exactly do you think we're discussing?" he asked, carefully neutral.
Galeas's lips curled into something resembling a smirk, but it did not reach his eyes.
"Oh, I don't know," he said, stepping forward slightly, closing the space between us. "Maybe about treasures hidden where they shouldn't be. Maybe about things better left untouched."
His gaze flickered briefly to Edan.
"Or maybe just about things you don't want anyone else to know."
——
I felt the tension coil in my stomach.
He was testing us.
Pushing, watching, waiting for a reaction.
Elias's fingers twitched slightly, a tell I only just managed to catch.
He didn't like being cornered.
Edan, however, was composed, his scholar's mask slipping into place seamlessly.
"If you've got something to accuse us of, Galeas," he said evenly, "then say it outright. Otherwise, I'd rather not waste my time with games."
Galeas's smirk deepened.
"Oh, I'll say it outright when I have the proof." His eyes narrowed. "And trust me—I will."
The words hung between us, heavy, charged.
And just when I thought the tension couldn't get worse—
It did.
——
The ground shook.
Not a gentle tremor.
Not a passing quake.
But a deep, rolling force that sent vibrations through the very air.
Followed by a sound—
A low, guttural roar, carried on the wind like a death knell.
——
The camp exploded into chaos.
Shouts.
Metal clashing against metal.
And then—
A horn sounded, urgent and sharp, slicing through the morning air like a warning too late to heed.
——
We moved instantly.
Elias's posture shifted, his grin fading into something colder, sharper.
Edan's eyes gleamed, his mind already racing, analysing.
And me?
The moment the roar echoed again—closer this time, louder, deeper—
I felt something thrill through my veins.
Something waking.
This was a battle.
This was what I was meant for.
——
We sprinted towards the main gates, weaving between panicked soldiers scrambling to arm themselves, to rally, to prepare.
And then we saw it.
The wall of mist was moving.
Shadows shifted within the dense fog, figures emerging, monstrous, twisted.
Not just Imps.
Not just another raid.
This was something else.
And at the centre of it—
A towering figure, its form hulking, unnatural.
——
Red Nose.
Or at least—
What was once Red Nose.
——
The stories said he had been twisted, that the Black Spirit had changed him—made him something else.
But this?
This was beyond anything I had heard.
His flesh was warped, thick like armour, his hunched form carrying a massive, grotesque shell that cracked with every movement, dark and jagged like chitin fused with obsidian.
His arms—
I barely stopped myself from recoiling.
His arms were lined with jagged, spiralling spikes, and between them—
A sickly purple glow pulsed beneath his skin, veins of energy that flickered like lightning trapped in flesh.
——
And his eyes.
They were locked onto Elias.
——
My stomach dropped.
Because this wasn't just an attack.
This was a hunt.
——
Red Nose's mouth twisted into something resembling a grin, jagged teeth glinting in the fog.
His voice—when it came—was wrong.
Low, guttural, but layered—as if it did not belong to just one being, but to many.
"We found you."
——
Elias stilled.
Not in fear.
But in something else.
Something darker.
——
The air shifted.
The ground tensed.
And for the first time since we had stepped into this world—
I realised we were about to face something none of us were prepared for.