The path north wound along a crumbling cliffside, where shattered stone teetered on the edge of oblivion and the sky bled violet. The clouds above churned with void energy, casting fractured shadows over the trio as they advanced toward the stronghold.
Each step carried the weight of their encounter with the Falzath scouts. The land itself groaned beneath them, corrupted rocks twitching with unnatural life. Tendrils of dark matter slithered across the broken ground like roots seeking warmth, reacting to their presence, no, to their emotions.
"Don't get too angry," Shin warned, his eyes scanning the terrain. "They feed on that. The void... it listens."
Zera, limping slightly from her earlier wound, gave a dry chuckle. "That's going to be difficult. This place is infuriating."
Laverna reached for her jamadhars, eyes narrowed at the cliff's edge where shadows danced with too much intent. "It's watching us again. Like it did back at the temple."
One of the tendrils snapped forward, aiming for Zera. She tried to dodge, but the rocky ledge shifted beneath her feet. The tendril snared her ankle and began to pull.
"Zera!" Laverna shouted.
Shin was gone in an instant, a flash of foxfire marking his teleporting slash. His blade severed the tendril with a clean hiss of burning corruption. The limb writhed and fell away, dissolving into mist.
Zera exhaled shakily, brushing dust from her cloak. "Thanks. Again."
Shin didn't answer immediately. His tails flicked, glowing faintly red in the gloom. His aura crackled with a restrained rage, but it wasn't directed at her.
"I should've seen that coming," he muttered. "This place… it's trying to break us."
They moved again, more cautiously now. The cliff narrowed into a jagged trail winding between void-infested boulders and deep fissures. Strange whispers echoed from below, like broken memories.
"This corruption," Shin said, not looking at them, "It's like what happened to my clan."
Laverna glanced at him. "You've never talked about it."
He paused. Then, as if the weight of the air demanded it, he spoke.
"In the days of old, people feared the name Soma. My clan was royalty in a hidden nation—guardians of balance at the realm's edge. My father, Murasabe Soma, was a noble leader wielding powerful magic, and my mother, Ahsoka, the swift and silent blade once known as 'The Shadow of the Mist.' Together, they commanded both honor and fear. But power invites envy. And one night, we were betrayed."
Zera slowed her pace.
"On the day of my 16th birthday," Shin said, his voice distant, "everyone I loved gathered to celebrate. Laughter, music, food... and betrayal. While I was greeting guests, the Hi Okami Clan—our closest allies—struck. They poisoned the feast, nullifying our abilities. My kin… slaughtered without mercy."
His eyes dimmed, shadows dancing in their depths.
"My parents hid me in the basement. I watched through the cracks—watched them die. Heard the screams, the laughter of the traitors. For three days, I stayed hidden, starving, while the sounds of torture echoed above. When I emerged, there was nothing left but corpses… and a crystal orb clutched in my mother's hand."
He looked up, jaw clenched. "That orb gave me everything—memories, powers, pain. The last of my clan's soul, melted into me. I passed out from the surge. When I woke, the world I knew was ash. But I found a letter… from the Hidden Temple in Yueshui. My father once trained there. So I left, alone, carrying my sword and my ghosts."
A silence followed, broken only by the crunch of stone beneath their boots.
Laverna reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to carry that alone."
Zera looked at him, her voice quieter now. "You want vengeance."
"I did," Shin admitted. "But it's not enough. Vengeance is hollow. I want something more. To rebuild. To protect those who walk beside me."
He glanced between them, eyes lingering a little longer on each. "A new family. Not of blood—but of choice."
Laverna flushed slightly, but her smile held steady. "Well, you're off to a decent start. Even if your bedside manner's terrible."
Zera scoffed. "And your sense of humor is nonexistent."
Shin smirked faintly. "I'm working on it."
The trail widened again, opening to a plateau of broken columns and fractured statues. Once, this had been a shrine. Now, void corruption had consumed it. Cracked effigies of forgotten gods lay half-swallowed by shadow.
Laverna stepped forward, extending both hands. Wind gathered around her, coalescing into glowing threads that wrapped around a fallen pillar. With a cry, she released the magic, blasting the debris aside and clearing their path.
Shin watched her carefully. "Your magic… it's improving."
She nodded, a glimmer of pride in her eyes. "I don't need incantations anymore. It's like the power's responding faster."
"Instinct," he murmured. "Your Kitsune side is waking up."
As they passed deeper into the ruins, more tendrils writhed, but kept their distance. Shin's presence, his aura sharpened by pain and memory, repelled them. But each step forward felt like walking into a storm of unseen blades.
Zera moved beside him. "The Hi Okami… they took everything from you. And you still fight."
"Because someone has to," Shin replied. "And because I promised myself I wouldn't become like them."
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "My people used to say something similar. That duty wasn't about revenge—it was about who you protected after the fire."
He turned to her. "You were a knight, weren't you?"
Her lips twitched. "And a princess. Once."
Laverna blinked. "Wait, what?"
Zera chuckled softly. "I said it doesn't matter who I was. Truth is… I don't even know for sure. I just remember murals—visions, like echoes of another life. Faces, names, battles… but no clear memories. Only instincts."
Shin studied her carefully. "Time here isn't linear. This land… it feels like it folds in on itself. Past, present, and future all bleeding together."
"You think I'm from the past?" she asked, not quite denying it.
"I think you're a fragment of it," he said. "And somehow, you're still here for a reason."
Their eyes met, and for a moment, something unspoken passed between them.
Laverna cleared her throat. "Well, I guess that makes us a royal trio. The last princess, the last prince, and the last tether to whatever balance we have left."
"Don't forget the wind witch," Zera added, smirking.
"Wind whisperer sounds better," Laverna said with a wink, swirling her fingers to summon a breeze without a single word. "I've been practicing silence. It makes the magic hit harder."
They shared a rare laugh. The tension, just for a moment, broke.
But above them, the sky rumbled—distant thunder from the bleeding spire ahead.
The void knew they were coming.
Shin looked at them both.
"This is our path now. We don't walk it alone."
And they pressed forward, three souls bound by shattered faith, stepping through the darkness toward the next war.
Not as victims.
But as survivors.
And maybe, just maybe—hope's last vanguard.