Escape?
Yuri stared at Ravi, trying to process the word. It didn't fit. Nothing about this place suggested danger. Not yet.
"What do you mean, escape?" Yuri asked. His voice wavered despite his best effort to steady it.
"Ravi… what are you saying?" Mayori added, her concern sharp enough to cut the air.
Ravi's entire demeanor shifted in a heartbeat. The trembling vanished. His breathing evened out. He straightened with unsettling calm, like someone pulling a mask back onto their face.
"My apologies," he said. "I don't know what came over me. My bad."Then he walked past them without another word and headed toward a door at the back of the shop. "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll be right back."
Yuri watched him go, still rattled. He slowly turned to Mayori. "What… was that?"
She rested a hand on his shoulder, gentle and grounding. "Don't worry," she said. Her voice was warm but tired. "Ravi is… complicated. Hard to read. But I promise you won't find anyone smarter."
Yuri let her reassurance settle in, even if part of him wanted to argue. He'd met someone darker, snarkier, and possibly smarter. But that guy was a whole other problem.
A few minutes later, Ravi returned. The three of them gathered at the long wooden counter of the shop. The silence between them pressed down like wet cloth.
"I swear I can hear radio static," Ravi muttered, finally shattering the tension. "Look, let's start from the beginning, alright?"He straightened a little. "My name is Ravi Sharma. Owner of this shop. If it even counts as a shop."
He paused before continuing. "Now, before I give you my Rank and my Essence, I'd like to know yours. If you don't mind."
Yuri blinked. "What?"
Ravi and Mayori exchanged a look so sharp it might as well have been a slap.
"Rank," Yuri repeated. "You're the third person to mention that, and I still don't know what it means. And Essence…?"
Both of them gasped.Not little gasps.Full shock.
"Yuri," Mayori said softly, "you really don't know?"
The way they stared at him made his stomach twist. "Uh… is that bad?"
Ravi leaned in. "Hold on. What skills have you been using up until now?"
"Well… skills. Zeek mentioned that. But he said I only had the basics." Yuri rubbed the back of his neck. "I've been testing my body since then. Looks like I can heal about twice as fast as normal. And I guess I'm… pretty strong?"
They didn't blink. Didn't breathe. They looked at him like he'd spoken an alien language.
Ravi whispered under his breath, "How…? How could he have crossed the Red Desert without even knowing what Essence he wields?"
His jaw tightened.
Then he looked up at Yuri, slow and deliberate.
"Hey, Yuri," he said. "Tell me something. Back in the old world… where were you when everything ended? During the Endless Night."
Yuri froze. He searched his memory, piecing everything together. "I was… asleep. When I woke up, I had to fight a Shifter. It nearly killed me. And I was out cold afterward for maybe two or three months."
Mayori and Ravi exchanged another look — but this one was different. Their fear softened into realization.
"Oh!" Mayori said. "That makes more sense. You must've been one of the deep sleepers. And then another few months on top of that because of your injuries."
Ravi nodded slowly. "Maybe… but that still doesn't explain how he crossed the Red Desert."
His voice trailed off.
A new thought hit him. Hard.
He turned back to Yuri, eyes narrowing."Unless…" he whispered."Unless he wasn't alone."