Andreas still lay on the ground while the black-haired soldier carefully bandaged his wounds.
His view of the sky was blocked by Kaelin's beautiful face. A slightly bloodied bandage wrapped around her forehead, and her emerald green eyes met his brown ones.
"Hey, handsome."
"Hey..."
"So, I hear you finished off that avatar. You're really strong, aren't you?"
Andreas squinted up at her.
"I guess so."
"Come on, you have to be happier than that. It's not every day a soldier becomes a hero."
"I am happy," he said quietly. "But there's a lot of new information I have to process."
"Really? And what kind of information would that be?"
"Seriously? Another interrogation?"
"When did I ever interrogate you?"
"Very recently."
"That wasn't an interrogation. We were just getting to know each other."
"Oh? Then how come I know little to nothing about you?"
Kaelin sighed. "That's because you didn't bother to ask your questions."
A short distance away, Rico and Vance stood watching the two of them talk.
Rico's expression was tense, as if he were silently contemplating something weighty about Andreas.
Vance shifted his weight, glancing at Rico's strained face.
"It seems that someone might be a little too angry. Why do you think that is, Rico, my friend?" Vance murmured.
Rico didn't take his eyes off Andreas. "We should kill him," Rico said, suppressing the tremor in his voice.
"You think he's that much of a threat?"
Rico exhaled slowly. "You know much better than I do that what happened isn't possible. An ordinary soldier can't just beat down one of the idols of the dead."
Vance followed Rico's gaze. Andreas was still lying there, speaking softly to Kaelin as if he hadn't just survived something unimaginable.
"Well, what he did is indeed considered impossible to an extent, but we should observe him for a while. Who knows, maybe he'll help put an end to those things."
Rico's jaw tightened. "There's no fucking extent where an unawakened beats down a creature like that. Something about him doesn't add up. He's too calm, and he broke that thing's spine like it was nothing. If he fought something alive, he would have killed it with just that kick."
Vance scratched the back of his neck. "Damn, you're making it hard to convince you."
He exhaled slowly, voice low and tight. "Then if the genius Vance can't convince me, there is nothing else to do but kill him."
Vance glanced away, unable to argue further. A sour weight settled in his gut.
Before Vance could answer, a sudden blast of wind tore across the clearing, flattening grass and rattling the loose bandages.
A figure blurred into existence a few paces away, the air around him shimmering from displaced heat and speed.
Sabeth straightened slowly, dust and loose leaves swirling off his shoulders. His long coat settled against his legs as he turned to face them, expression unreadable.
Sabeth's golden gaze swept over them, but as he stepped closer, Vance noticed something strange. A thin line of shimmering liquid trickled down from a cut high on Sabeth's temple. It wasn't blood—at least, not any kind a man should bleed. It was a faintly glowing, molten-gold liquid that caught the dim light.
Despite the wound, his white suit remained immaculate. Not a single speck of dirt clung to it, as though the dust and blood in the clearing refused to touch him. Even the hem of his coat, which should have been ragged from moving at such speed, hung crisp and perfect.
Rico bowed low, one knee touching the grass. "Commander Sabeth."
Sabeth inclined his head a fraction. "Rico, tell me, why is it that you wish to kill Andreas?"
"My Lord, it is because he holds unnatural strength for someone who is yet to awaken. He was able to fight alongside me and Kaelin and even dealt the final blow."
Vance swallowed and stood straighter as Sabeth turned that unblinking gaze and unnerving smile on him.
"You," Sabeth said, his tone calm but carrying the weight of command. "Make preparations. As of this moment, Andreas is to be entered into your rolls of the Awakened."
Vance blinked. "The…Gilded Knights?"
"Yes." Sabeth raised one gloved hand to brush the gold liquid from his temple. It smeared across his skin, bright as liquid sunlight, before it vanished into the white fabric of his glove without a trace. "We can't afford to ignore a human so interesting. Even if it makes some of you…uneasy."
Rico kept his eyes lowered. "Understood."
Sabeth turned to watch Andreas lying in the grass beside Kaelin, the two still murmuring to each other as if the rest of the world had been pushed aside.
"Whatever he is... he will make fine prey," Sabeth murmured, almost to himself.
He looked back at Vance, his golden eyes catching every detail.
"See that the paperwork is done before we reach the city. And have a medic check his condition. I won't have a newly minted Gilded Knight dying of infection on his first day."
Vance swallowed again and nodded. "Yes, Commander."
Kaelin rested her hand lightly on Andreas's chest, feeling the slow, steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her palm. He looked up at her with those tired brown eyes, so calm it was almost annoying. She couldn't help smiling.
"You're supposed to look more triumphant, you know," she teased, her voice soft. "You did save all of us."
His lips twitched in what might have been the ghost of a smile.
She felt a tiny stab of guilt for teasing him while he was like this, but he just made it too easy. He was fascinating—too calm, too quiet, too much of a puzzle. A part of her liked that more than she should.
He blinked slowly, lashes lowering. "Today was a loooong day," he whispered, voice slurred by exhaustion.
His eyes closed for the last time, his breathing deepening. She watched him a moment longer, curiosity and something gentler stirring in her heart. What are you? What's hiding under all that calmness?
A shimmer of pale light swept over the grass as the retrieval ship descended. Its hull was a smooth curve of silver marked with flowing sigils that glowed like starlight. The engines thrummed low and even, filling the air with a vibration she felt in her bones.
Behind her, Rico was giving clipped orders. Vance tapped briskly on his glass slate, no doubt recording Andreas's induction into the Awakened. Kaelin almost rolled her eyes—leave it to Vance to make paperwork feel like a holy rite.
She glanced past them, searching the treeline for Sabeth. But the commander was gone, leaving behind nothing but the lingering hush of disturbed air. Typical, she thought. Slip in, unsettle everyone, slip out again.
Two soldiers approached with a stretcher. Kaelin helped guide Andreas onto it, brushing a bit of grass from his cheek as she did. His face looked softer in sleep, as though the mask of indifference he wore while awake had finally slipped.
"He'll be fine," she murmured. The words were mostly for herself, but Rico glanced over, his expression unreadable.
The ramp of the ship extended with a muted hiss. She walked up beside the stretcher, holding Andreas's jersey in one hand and, in the other, two blue books.
She glanced toward the soldiers carrying the stretcher and placed a single finger on her lips.
She cast a final look over the clearing—the trampled grass, the stray scraps of cloth and blood—and felt a flicker of anticipation. There was so much about this man she intended to uncover. Gilded Knight or not, he wouldn't stay a mystery forever.
The ramp retracted. The ship rose in a smooth column of air and soundless force, carrying them toward the waiting city. Kaelin felt the faintest smile tug at her lips as the ground fell away beneath them.
Whatever came next, she thought, at least it wouldn't be boring.