The air shifted.
Thick. Still. Charged with something that made the hairs on Shoto's neck rise.
He stood at the edge of the Hollowed Ring, his hand instinctively twitching near his side. The sky overhead hadn't stopped moving — clouds still churned in that slow, unnatural spiral. But it wasn't the sky that had his attention.
It was the forest.
"It's not just wind," he muttered.
Elizabeth stood beside him, her healing light flickering softly around her fingertips. "You feel it too?"
Shoto nodded once.
Something — someone — was coming.
⸻
From the tree line… footsteps.
Then more.
And then two figures emerged from the dark woods, walking side by side — battered, dust-covered, but unmistakably alive.
Pate.
Gage.
Shoto froze.
Elizabeth gasped. "Pate?"
Pate didn't smile.
Not yet.
He looked older. Sharper. Light flickered across his knuckles like the sun itself had settled in his veins.
Behind him, Gage let crimson mist rise lazily from his fingertips, eyes scanning the Hollowed Ring like he could feel the heartbeat in the earth itself.
They stopped just before the clearing.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then—
"Damn," Gage muttered, cracking a grin. "You didn't die."
Pate stepped forward. "Neither did you."
⸻
Brandon was the first to drop his guard, resting his hand on KJ's shoulder. The tension began to ease.
KJ said nothing, but his expression shifted — a flicker of relief.
Then—
"Who the hell are they?" Gage asked, pointing at the three survivors near the edge of the camp.
Shoto's tone was low. Guarded. "New arrivals. From Earth."
"They showed up just after you left," Elizabeth added. "With marks. Just like KJ."
Gage's eyes narrowed slightly.
Pate crossed his arms. "You trust them?"
"No," Brandon said.
"But we haven't had a reason not to," Shoto finished.
⸻
A beat of silence.
Then Pate walked up to Shoto, stopped inches away, and locked eyes with him.
Neither flinched.
Then—
Pate smirked. "Still dramatic, huh?"
Shoto let out a breath — half laugh, half sigh. "You've got no idea."
They shook hands. Firm. Hard. Like brothers who'd seen hell on opposite sides of the world.
⸻
The group was together again.
Not whole.
Not yet.
But closer than they'd been in a long time.
And somewhere in the north…
That thing that had fallen into the world…
…was still moving.