Morning light filled Orario, soft and warm, spilling over the white stone buildings and casting long shadows across the streets below. But it did nothing to ease the void in the girl's chest as she walked through the awakening city, searching for answers.
It had been there since they surfaced. An unease that refused to settle.
Her heart and her mind weren't syncing.
One said believe him, but the other said something else entirely.
Because she saw him risk his life to save his party—but that same guy is the one that piqued the interest of something that literally wiped out eight adventurers, just for a herb.
So she couldn't simply reconcile the two.
Not yet.
Not until she found out what that boy was hiding.
Her boots clicked against the cobblestones, a lonely rhythm among the growing sounds of the day. Shopkeepers raised their shutters, adventurers laughed as they headed toward the Dungeon, and families began their morning routines.
Everyone seemed to know what they were doing in this moment.
Everyone except her.
It may be foolish to dig but that word she heard from that thing…
*Interesting.*
It left her no choice but to act. Not only curiosity but wariness. Unease.
So she acts now.
She stopped in front of a familiar shop and pushed the door open.
The smell of herbs hit her first.
Familiar, and comforting.
At least it should've been.
But it failed to do so.
Naaza sat behind the counter, sharp eyes half-lidded as always.
Drowsy. Bored.
Her gaze flicked to Elara's pouch—looking for what she was supposed to bring.
The phantom vines.
But she didn't bring any.
Her eyes searched for answers.
"What happened? You look exhausted. And…"
She didn't finish the word. Because she could tell Elara wasn't her usual self.
Elara exhaled.
What came out was not an answer but a question of her own.
"Can you—" She paused, then tried again. "Can you promise me something? Will you keep a secret for me?"
Naaza's eyes narrowed. "I won't tell a soul."
Elara believed it because no one would believe a word that came from Naaza's mouth anyway. Instead she sighed.
"We failed the fourteenth floor expedition."
Naaza couldn't believe what she said. "Why? Did something happen down there?"
"We found the vines.
But a few adventurers and… a mysterious figure in a black cloak attacked us.
In that fight we lost the vines.
We handled the adventurers—those were just doing some shady supply runs."
A pause. Now her words carried more weight.
"But when that figure entered… it beat all of us in a few seconds."
Naaza's mouth opened in disbelief. "A Level 3 and Level 2 can't handle a single human?
And you said figure. What is that supposed to mean?"
Elara looked out the window to calm herself. Calling the memories back. "We couldn't tell if it was man or woman. Tall, broad shoulders, fully covered in a black cloak… and a white mask…
I suspect it is at least Level 5."
"What the—?" Naaza went still for a second.
"And… I have another doubt—it's not fully human." Now her fist tightened. "What's more unsettling is they both work for the same people. That's what we found from those adventurers."
Now Naaza was speechless. No word came out.
"You know the Evilus faction, right?"
"Evilus? They're still around doing crazy stuff?"
"Think so. Either that figure was a top-level adventurer working with them or it was one of their experiment products."
"How can you say for sure?"
"Because one of those supply runs included monsters. Alive. There isn't anyone crazy enough to research on monsters and humans."
"True," Naaza said, closing her eyes to process what she'd heard. "But what's the secret you told me about? And what's that got to do with this?"
Elara reached into her pouch as if waiting for this exact moment. Her fingers touched the stiffened cloth.
She stopped.
When she closed her eyes, it wasn't a monster that came to mind—only a naïve boy who used himself as bait to save his party.
She hesitated to call him out.
Then another echo in her mind. "Let's see what you become." The final words that figure let slip before it vanished into the darkness, interested enough to leave them all alive.
That boy should've died. But he didn't.
*I need answers.*
She opened her eyes.
"If someone's body… fixed itself. Without potions. Without magic. Without them even realizing it had happened—"
She paused.
"—would you call that a blessing?"
"What do you mean by that?" Now the drowsy eyes were full of emotions that screamed *what is this girl in front of me saying?* Her mind couldn't process it.
Elara pulled the cloth out. Placed it on the counter.
"I need your help."
***