Lilee sat in the snow, staring at nothing.
Her mind was still trying to process the fact that she had just survived being chased by dozens of trolls, watched a man punch them with fire, and somehow lived.
Rex, meanwhile, was doing exactly what Rex did best.
Working.
He dropped into the pit using an earth spike as a ladder, carefully descending past broken bodies and frozen blood. Collecting troll teeth was… unpleasant. It took time, effort, and a level of focus that suggested he'd done far worse things before.
He climbed back out, dumping the teeth onto a cloth.
He counted.
Once.
Twice.
"Eighty," he said.
Lilee blinked. "…Eighty?"
"Yeah."
He sorted them quickly, efficiently.
"Based on the trap and kills," he continued, "thirty-one for you, forty-nine for me."
She stared at the pile pushed toward her.
"I—no, I can't take that many."
"You helped," Rex said simply.
"I barely—"
"You helped," he repeated.
She hesitated.
Then sighed and took them.
"…Fine."
That's when she noticed it.
"Rex," she said slowly, pointing.
His pouch was glowing.
Orange.
Rex frowned and pulled it open.
The fire focus.
It was glowing—pulsing—and the crack from earlier had spread like a spiderweb across its surface.
"…That's not good," Rex muttered.
The glow intensified.
In his head—
SAGE: THROW IT, YOU IDIOT.
Rex did not hesitate.
He yeeted it.
"What—why did you do that—?" Lilee started.
Rex grabbed her and dragged her into the narrow rock opening.
"Duck!"
A heartbeat later—
BOOM.
The explosion was violent.
The ground vanished.
They peeked out.
Where the focus had landed was now a massive crater—rock vaporized, snow blown away.
They approached cautiously.
Lilee stared into the hole. "…What happened?"
Rex scratched his head.
"I think when a focus cracks, magic starts leaking," he said thoughtfully. "And since it was fire… the leaking magic probably ignited itself until—boom."
"…That's a theory?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "I'll need to test it."
She did not like that sentence.
Then Rex froze.
"…Do you hear that?"
She looked up.
Smoke?
No.
Snow.
Too much snow.
Coming down fast.
"Avalanche," Rex said.
"Lilee—let go—!"
She was staring straight down.
The ice beneath them cracked.
The mountain gave way.
The avalanche hit—
And the ground collapsed.
They fell.
Snow followed.
Darkness swallowed them.