The world lurched.
Char's stomach twisted as the light of the portal flared, blinding white and tinged with streaks of violet and blue. His breath caught in his throat, his limbs felt weightless, as if he were being dragged through space itself.
Then—
Solid ground.
His boots hit the dirt hard. The impact sent a sharp jolt up his legs, and he staggered forward, barely catching himself before he collapsed.
The light faded.
The roaring sound of magic settled into the quiet rustle of trees. The scent of damp earth and pine filled the air. No more blood. No more fire.
They were somewhere new.
Char's breath came fast and shallow, his fingers clenching into fists. He tried to gather his thoughts, tried to focus, tried to remind himself that they had made it.
But all he could think about—
Was Benjamin.
The crimson light. The way his body had been cut down from every side. The way he had stayed standing, even as his blood soaked the cavern floor.
The way he had told Char to go.
A deep ache settled in his chest, an unbearable weight pressing down on him. He swallowed, forcing himself to take a step forward, then another.
"Where…" Mira's voice was shaky. She turned, eyes wide, scanning their new surroundings.
The forest stretched endlessly around them, thick with towering pines and patches of silvergrass that glowed faintly in the shadows. And beyond the trees—
The mountains.
Jagged peaks rising high into the clouds, their dark stone broken up by veins of glowing blue crystal, pulsing softly like trapped lightning.
The Jaffalex Range.
They had made it.
Merrick let out a breath and slumped onto his knees. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
Mira turned, her face still pale, but she forced herself to move toward her brother. "Deep breaths. You're okay. We're okay."
Char barely heard them.
His mind was still in that cavern.
Still standing in the middle of the bodies.
Still staring at Benjamin as the portal closed behind them.
His jaw clenched, his breathing uneven.
It didn't feel real.
Benjamin had been too strong to die.
He had been unshakable.
Every part of Char had expected him to somehow keep going, to emerge from the blood and bodies and tell Char to quit looking like a kicked dog.
But there was no coming back from that.
Benjamin was gone.
And Char was still here.
The thought made his throat tighten, his whole body going rigid. He turned away from Mira and Merrick, taking a slow step forward, then another, his boots crunching against the damp forest floor.
The mountains stood just ahead, watching, waiting.
But all Char could think about—
Was how much blood had been left behind.
*
Char's feet felt heavy, like he was walking through water, but he wasn't moving at all.
His breath came in short, shallow bursts, his fingers curled so tightly into fists that his nails bit into his palms. It wasn't fair. None of it was. Benjamin had been the one who knew what he was doing, the one who had survived war, who had guided Char through the wilderness, who had taught him how to fight and how to endure.
And now he was just—
Gone.
Char clenched his jaw, the back of his eyes burning. The mountains loomed ahead, dark and unforgiving, but they weren't what he saw.
He still saw the cavern. The blood pooling beneath Benjamin's boots. The blades sinking into his body, one after the other, like they were trying to see how much he could take before he finally fell.
Char had left him there.
Had watched him disappear behind the portal's light.
Had run.
The thought turned his stomach. He had wanted to become stronger, to stand at the same level as people like Ardent, to carve out his own place in this world—but how could he ever stand tall when he couldn't even save the people who mattered?
His legs buckled.
Before he could fall, something warm wrapped around him.
Arms.
Mira.
She pulled him into a tight, desperate embrace, her fingers gripping the back of his tunic like she was afraid he would vanish if she let go.
"Stop," she whispered against his shoulder, voice wavering. "Don't do that to yourself. I can see it on your face—you're blaming yourself. You think you should've done more. That it should've been you."
Char tensed. He hadn't said a word, but she had seen right through him.
Mira held him tighter.
"It wasn't your fault."
The words dug into him.
He wanted to argue. To tell her that he should have stayed, should have fought, should have done something other than run away while Benjamin bled out on the floor.
But he couldn't speak.
The lump in his throat wouldn't let him.
Mira pulled back slightly, just enough to look up at him, her eyes gentle but firm. "I know what it feels like to lose someone, Char. You know I do." Her fingers gripped his sleeves. "But if you get lost in it, you'll drown."
His vision blurred.
For a moment, he wasn't here.
He was back in the cavern.
Back in a world filled with blood and death and the weight of failure sitting like a stone in his chest.
Then—
Warmth.
Soft, fleeting, and completely unexpected.
Mira's lips pressed to his, light as a feather, but it shattered through the fog in his head like a hammer against glass.
Char's eyes widened. His whole body went rigid.
And just as quickly as it happened, it was gone.
Mira pulled back, cheeks burning. She averted her eyes, clearly flustered but trying to keep her voice steady. "That… was just a thank you. For everything."
Char still couldn't move. Couldn't think.
His mind had been spiraling down into something dark, something suffocating—and she had yanked him back out with no warning.
She shifted awkwardly, arms crossing over her chest. "I… I don't regret leaving Hallow's Rest," she admitted, voice softer now. "That town wasn't where I was supposed to live my life. I don't know what comes next, but I—" She hesitated. "I know I'm not going back."
The words lingered between them.
Char swallowed, his head finally starting to clear. He hadn't fully processed the kiss, but he knew what she had been trying to do.
Pull him back to the present.
Keep him from drowning.
His fingers loosened from their fists. His chest still ached, his thoughts still reeled, but—he wasn't trapped in the cavern anymore.
The mountains stood ahead. And this time, he actually saw them.
Char exhaled sharply, his hands tightening around the hilts of his daggers. The metal felt cool and familiar in his grip, but his heart still pounded. Not from fear. Not from uncertainty. From the weight of everything that had come before this moment.
Benjamin was gone.
Oryn-Vel felt a world away.
And ahead of them, stretching into the sky like jagged spires, was Jaffalex.
The mountains gleamed beneath the morning sun, veins of blue crystal-like ore running through the stone like cracks in glass. The sight would have been breathtaking—if Char weren't already focused on what lay within.
The Ascension Stones.
Somewhere in those mines, buried deep beneath the rock, was a stone that could unlock his mana nodes. That could finally give him the strength he needed to survive in this world.
And if he was lucky—he'd find more.
Merrick and Mira stood at his sides. The magician had barely spoken since the teleportation, exhaustion written all over his face. Mira, meanwhile, had her arms crossed, glancing between Char and the mountains.
"So," she said. "What's the plan?"
Char turned to her, finally pushing aside everything else. Right now, he couldn't afford to be lost in thought. He needed a strategy.
"From what I know, there are multiple entrances to the Jaffalex mines, right?"
Mira nodded. "Yeah. Some are official, some are hidden. And some, well… let's just say the people who go in don't always come back out."
Char frowned but didn't let the comment distract him. "If we storm in recklessly, we'll get ourselves killed before we even find a single stone. We need to be smart about this."
Merrick sighed. "Well, I doubt I'll be much use in a fight. My illusions work better as distractions rather than direct combat." He shot Char a wry look. "Unless you expect me to start throwing fireballs."
"I mean, that'd be nice," Char muttered.
Merrick snorted but shook his head. "Not happening."
Mira rolled her eyes. "Alright, so we go in stealthily first." She gestured toward the mountains. "There's an old mining tunnel to the east. It's collapsed in places, but there's a chance we can squeeze through without getting noticed."
Char nodded slowly. That was their best bet. "Fine. We move carefully. We get in, grab what we can, and get out before anyone realizes we were there."
Merrick raised an eyebrow. "And if we run into trouble?"
Char's grip tightened on his blades.
"Then we do what we have to."
A heavy silence followed his words.
He wasn't going to hesitate anymore.
He had already made that mistake too many times. In Oryn-Vel. With the bandits. With Benjamin.
This time, he was going in ready.
Mira was watching him closely, and for a moment, he thought she might say something—maybe about the cavern. But instead, she just gave a firm nod.
"Alright, then," she said. "Let's get moving."
Char glanced back one last time.
One last moment of hesitation.
One last moment to think of the people back in Oryn-Vel. Of Tess and the others in the gang. Of Edmund Ardent, who was getting stronger while Char was still struggling to catch up.
And of Benjamin.
His knuckles whitened.
Then he turned back toward the mountains—toward Jaffalex—and took the first step forward.