More than a month had passed since they left the waterfall behind and claimed victory over the Conga King.
The journey had settled into a relentless rhythm. Every morning began with meditation. Every afternoon brought combat drills, hunts, or long marches through unfamiliar terrain.
Every evening ended with survival lessons beside a campfire.
Along the way, they avoided major threats whenever possible, though every few days Hound deliberately guided them toward a Level 2 or Level 3 Ethereal to test their progress and gather Ether-cores.
The results were becoming impossible to ignore.
Zyon could now maintain his golden light for nearly an hour after sunset, though denser constructs still drained him quickly.
Lorenzo's illusions had become convincing enough to fool most creatures at a glance, and even Hound seemed different. The road had stripped away years of routine, slowly bringing back the alertness and instincts of the adventurer he used to be.
They were moving through a particularly dense stretch of jungle when Hound suddenly raised a hand.
The group stopped instantly.
About two hundred meters ahead, hidden among the trees, sat dozens of structures woven high into the canopy.
Tree houses.
Platforms of dark wood and braided vines wrapped around enormous trunks while rope bridges stretched between homes like spiderwebs suspended among the leaves. Moss and broad jungle plants covered the roofs so thoroughly that many of the buildings seemed to grow directly from the trees themselves.
Lorenzo's eyes immediately lit up. "People!"
He practically bounced in place. "Actual people."
His gaze swept across the settlement. "What do you think their powers are?"
Unlike Lorenzo, Hound wasn't smiling. "What do you hear?" he asked quietly.
The excitement vanished.
Both boys listened.
Nothing.
No conversations.
No children.
No footsteps.
No sounds of daily life.
Zyon's brow furrowed. "A village this size should be loud."
Hound nodded. "Exactly."
Something else caught Zyon's attention. Squinting toward the settlement, focusing on something. "There." He pointed.
Hound followed his gaze. "What?"
"A faint glow." Zyon pointed toward the village once more. "It looks like some kind of barrier or veil. Purple in color."
Both Hound and Lorenzo narrowed their eyes but saw nothing.
For a brief moment, surprise flickered across Hound's face.
The older man infused Heka into his eyes and stared toward the village.
A few seconds later, he slowly nodded. "Well done."
Lorenzo immediately looked offended. "You can see that from here? I didn't even know there was something to see."
Hound chuckled. 'This boy keeps surprising me.'
Hound tapped Lorenzo on the shoulder. "Lorenzo."
The boy immediately straightened. "Yeah?"
"I'm going to show you a new light technique."
That got his attention, eager to learn something new.
"This technique is called Mirage. You won't use it to win fights, but if you need to hide, scout ahead, or spy on someone without being noticed, it's incredibly useful."
Hound stepped into a patch of sunlight where beams of light filtered through the canopy. A faint glow spread across his skin, making him appear brighter rather than stealthier.
Lorenzo tilted his head. "Master... Wasn't this supposed to help us spy on people? Because right now, I can see you even better."
Hound smiled.
Then stepped backward into the shadows while keeping one arm extended in the sunlight.
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The arm vanished.
Completely.
Lorenzo's jaw dropped.
Hound took another step.
As more of his body entered the sunlight, his form gradually disappeared until only the faintest distortion remained in the air.
Like heat rippling above desert sand.
"Whoa." Lorenzo stared. "Master, every time you use one of these tricks, I wonder how anyone calls light powers weak."
Hound's voice drifted from seemingly nowhere. "Because this isn't useful in a direct fight."
A faint shimmer shifted between the trees. "Strong Ethereals won't be fooled, and experienced fighters can still track movement if they're paying attention or add Heka to their sight."
The distortion stopped. "But for scouting?"
The invisible figure shrugged. "It's excellent."
"Stay here," the master commanded.
Without another word, Hound moved toward the village.
The distortion drifted through patches of sunlight, becoming almost impossible to follow.
Almost.
Zyon managed to keep track of him much longer than Lorenzo.
Eventually, even he lost sight of their teacher.
Neither noticed the eyes watching them from above.
High within one of the hidden tree houses, a hooded figure stood motionless on a balcony.
Their grip tightened around the railing. "...Has he returned?"
The whisper barely rose above the wind. "I won't lose this time."
Several minutes passed.
The waiting became uncomfortable.
Lorenzo shifted from one foot to the other. "Hey."
Zyon glanced over. "What?"
Lorenzo stared toward the distant village. "What do you think our goal actually is now?"
The question lingered between them.
For a while, Zyon simply watched the treetops sway overhead before speaking. "I don't know."
His voice was quieter than usual. "After the village..."
His hand slowly tightened into a fist. "At first, I just wanted to survive."
Lorenzo nodded. "And then?"
"Then I wanted revenge." The words came out harder than he intended. "I still do."
For a moment, neither spoke.
The memory of the Night Void remained fresh.
Too fresh.
Lorenzo eventually let out a long breath. "I think about my parents every night."
The joke-loving boy suddenly looked older. "Sometimes I imagine what I'd say if I saw them again." He laughed softly. "I never come up with anything good."
Zyon didn't know what to say.
Fortunately, Lorenzo kept talking. "You know what I keep thinking about?"
"Tell me, brother?" Zyon said while he wrapped an arm around Lorenzo's shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"The village. Master Hound built a place where light users could live without hiding."
His gaze lingered on the distant tree houses. "Maybe one day we could do something like that."
Zyon blinked. "Build another village?"
"Maybe." Lorenzo shrugged. "Something better."
A grin slowly returned. "We could call it the New Dawn Kingdom or something cheesy. We can still work on the name."
The thought ignited something inside him.
Not revenge.
Not survival.
Something greater.
A future worth building and a dream worth protecting, just as Hound had done all those years ago.
For the first time in weeks, the future felt larger than simply making it to tomorrow.
"Maybe." Zyon spoke firmly.
Lorenzo raised an eyebrow. "Maybe?"
Zyon looked toward the hidden settlement. "Maybe that's worth fighting for."
A faint distortion suddenly appeared nearby.
Hound.
His Mirage faded as he stepped fully into view.
The expression on his face immediately erased any warmth from the conversation.
"What happened?" Lorenzo asked.
Hound remained silent for several seconds.
Then he gestured toward the village. "Come."
The single word was enough, and they marched toward the village.
The closer they got, the worse it felt.
Crossing through the purple barrier sent a strange sensation across their skin.
It wasn't painful.
It wasn't welcoming.
It simply existed.
The village beyond looked abandoned. Thick vines crawled over homes, roots burst through platforms, and broken bridges swayed gently between the trees as the jungle slowly swallowed the settlement whole.
Then the bodies came into view.
Lorenzo stopped walking, and Zyon felt his stomach tighten. They were everywhere. Some lay sprawled across the ground, others remained upright where they had died, frozen in eerie, lifelike poses. Arms, legs, heads, and entire portions of bodies were missing, while the remaining wounds were so clean and precise that they looked less like injuries and more like pieces that had simply been erased.
But there was something strange going on.
Around every missing piece floated strange black energy surrounded by glowing purple edges. Tiny stars seemed to drift within the darkness.
Beautiful yet wrong and terrifying.
Zyon's stomach twisted. "This..."
His voice shook. "This was the Night Void, wasn't it?"
Lorenzo looked sick. "They tore them apart."
Hound slowly shook his head. "No."
Both boys turned toward him.
"This feels different." He stepped closer to one of the victims. "Look carefully."
The boys swallowed and obeyed.
Lorenzo was the first to speak. "The purple glow, what could it be?"
Zyon moved a little closer.
His eyes narrowed.
Then widened. "They aren't..."
All of a sudden, they heard a scream. "DON'T TOUCH THEM!" A figure dropped from the canopy.
Fast and furious.
Even Hound reacted a fraction too late. "What the... I didn't feel any bloodlust."
The attacker landed right between the group. Their palm, covered in black-purple energy, slammed into the Ironback backpack on Hound's back.
The explosion launched the older man several meters across the village square.
The backpack shattered.
Purple-black energy crackled across the impact site before vanishing completely.
Zyon and Lorenzo were thrown in opposite directions by the shockwave.
Before either of them could recover, the attacker pivoted toward Zyon and burst forward. The second attack came even faster than the first, a powerful kick wrapped in the same black-purple energy that shimmered like a miniature galaxy around his leg.
Zyon's eyes widened. He barely managed to raise shields of solidified light around both forearms before crossing them in front of his chest. A heartbeat later, the kick slammed into his guard with explosive force.
Then everything stopped.
Dust drifted through the air.
When the dust finally cleared, the stranger lay motionless on the ground.
Part of his right hand was missing.
His lower right leg was gone.
Yet there was no blood.
No exposed flesh.
Only the same black-purple energy surrounding the missing areas.
Like tiny pieces of another universe had replaced his wounds.
Zyon slowly lowered his weapon. "Wait. I don't think he was trying to kill us."
For a brief moment, the stranger's eyes met Zyon's. He heard the words, seemed to relax slightly, and then slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
"He was protecting this place." Hound limped forward, still rubbing his ribs. "That power..."
A frown crossed his face. "I didn't sense him at all."
Even now, it felt wrong. Like the man wasn't fully there.
Lorenzo pointed toward the missing limbs. "And his attacks look exactly like whatever happened to the village."
Nobody argued.
A few minutes later, Master Hound secured the unconscious stranger to a nearby support pillar using solidified light restraints.
Now there was nothing left to do but wait.
And hope he had answers.