The tremor rolled through the ground beneath their feet - subtle at first, then building in intensity. Ash jumped and scattered across cracked stone.
Cel's body locked tight. His heart hammered against his ribs as memory crashed through him with visceral clarity - the ground collapsing, darkness swallowing the crimson sky, concentric rows of teeth snapping shut.
Another tremor. Stronger.
The earth began to crack perhaps twenty steps ahead, spiderwebbing outward from a central point. Dust billowed upward in thick clouds as stone split apart with grinding protest.
Something vast pushed through.
The maw emerged first - that circular opening ringed with teeth, each one taller as a man. The massive body followed, segments of obsidian-black armor catching the dim light as it rose higher. And higher.
The creature towered above them, its body still mostly buried, but what showed was enough to block out a significant portion of the sky.
Cel stumbled backward before his consciousness caught up. His left hand moved on pure instinct, reaching for Silent Moon.
Moonlight threaded through the air as the chokutō materialized in his grip. Four crescents ignited along its length, casting pale radiance across the gray wasteland.
His breathing came shallow and rapid. Every muscle coiled tight, ready to run, to fight, to do anything except stand helpless before the thing that had nearly killed him.
He glanced sideways at Raven.
He stood perfectly still. His posture was relaxed - weight evenly distributed, arms loose at his sides. Those crimson eyes fixed on the massive predator without fear, without tension, without any reaction at all.
Like he was watching clouds drift past.
Seconds crawled by.
The worm remained motionless above them, its eyeless head tilted slightly as if sensing their presence through the vibrations they created.
Cel's grip on Silent Moon tightened until his knuckles went white. His legs trembled with the urge to bolt.
But the creature didn't move.
Didn't attack.
Just... waited.
Cel's gaze tracked upward, following the segmented body to that circular maw. The teeth caught the light in jagged patterns—
His breath stopped.
A gap.
Right there, along the outer ring. A section where teeth should have been but weren't. The space was unmistakable - too wide, too deliberate.
The same gap he'd carved with his own hands while trapped in its throat.
This was the same creature. The one that had swallowed him whole, that he'd escaped from through desperate violence and impossible luck.
But the worm made no aggressive motion. Its massive form simply loomed over them, segments shifting slightly as it maintained its balance.
Time stretched.
Then, with the same grinding deliberation it had used to emerge, the creature began to sink.
Stone closed around its body as it descended back into the earth. The segments disappeared one by one until it vanished completely.
The cracks sealed behind it like water closing over a dropped stone.
Silence crashed down.
Cel stood there, blade raised, chest heaving. His eyes remained locked on the spot where the creature had been, half-expecting it to erupt again at any moment.
"It's gone," Raven said quietly.
Cel didn't lower Silent Moon. Couldn't. His entire body was locked tight with fear that refused to dissipate simply because the immediate threat had vanished.
"Celvian." Firmer this time.
The sound of his name cut through the paralysis. Cel's breathing gradually slowed, and he forced himself to lower Silent Moon, though his hand remained tense around the hilt.
Raven was already walking forward, resuming their previous pace as if nothing had happened. As if they hadn't just stood before something that could have devoured them both without effort.
Cel stared at the young man's retreating back, then at the sealed ground where the worm had vanished. His mind churned, trying to make sense of what he'd witnessed.
The very same creature that had swallowed him whole had simply retreated now.
Why?
He dismissed Silent Moon with a thought, watching the blade dissolve into moonlight threads. Then he hurried to catch up with Raven, his boots crunching against ash-covered stone.
They walked in silence again. Cel's mind refused to let the question go, circling it from every angle.
The worm hunted through vibrations. Both he and Raven had been walking, creating the exact signals that should have triggered an attack. Yet the creature had done nothing.
Was it because of Raven's presence? Something about the Cursed that drove rift-creatures away?
The thought sparked something in Cel's mind. If that were true - if the corruption of the Cursed somehow deterred these creatures - then they'd be invaluable. Humanity could use them to protect settlements, to hold defensive lines, to close rifts.
But that didn't happen. The Cursed were exiled, hunted, killed by the very people who could benefit most from their existence.
Which meant... what? That his theory was wrong? Or that humanity was too consumed by fear and revulsion to recognize the value even when it could save lives?
Both seemed equally possible.
Cel's gaze tracked to Raven's back. The young man walked with the same confident stride, no hesitation in his movements despite the predator that had just loomed over them.
Like he'd done this countless times before.
The pieces didn't fit together cleanly. Raven had said nothing would attack them with absolute certainty. The worm had proven him right. But the why remained elusive, wrapped in whatever dark knowledge came with being Cursed.
Hours bled together in gray monotony. The wasteland stretched endlessly before them - ash, cracked earth, scattered obsidian stones jutting at irregular angles. The crimson sky remained unchanged, offering no measure of time's passage beyond the steady throb of his wounds.
The mountain crept closer with painful slowness. What had seemed within reach from a distance revealed itself as leagues away, the perspective warped by the Ashlands' endless flatness.
They walked without pause.
No creatures emerged. No tremors shook the ground. Just silence, ash and the crunch of their boots in a steady rhythm.
Stone walls cut across the horizon. Ruins.
The structure was larger than the one they'd left behind. Stone walls rose perhaps twice his height in places, though gaps and collapsed sections showed where time had claimed its due. An archway gaped like a missing tooth, leading into shadowed interior spaces that promised shelter from the exposed wasteland.
Raven approached without hesitation, his boots crunching through debris scattered around the entrance. Cel followed, scanning the broken walls for movement, for any sign they weren't alone.
Nothing stirred.
Inside, the ruins opened into what might have once been a courtyard. Columns jutted at odd angles, some still supporting fragments of a ceiling that cast irregular shadows across the ash-covered floor.
Raven moved to the far wall and settled against it with practiced ease, his posture relaxing slightly.
Cel remained standing, his gaze tracking across the broken space. The light filtering through gaps in the ceiling had shifted to a deeper red now. Night was approaching.
"I'll take first watch," Cel said.
Raven's eyes opened, fixing on him with quiet assessment.
"You slept earlier. I didn't." Cel gestured toward the entrance. "It's only fair."
Raven studied him for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
"Wake me if anything happens."
"I will."
Raven's eyes closed, his breathing evening out with the speed of someone who'd learned to sleep anywhere, anytime. Within minutes, the steady rise and fall of his chest suggested he'd slipped into actual rest rather than mere waiting.
Cel moved to position himself near the archway where he could see both the interior space and the wasteland beyond. He settled into a crouch, back against cold stone, and let his eyes adjust to the deepening shadows.
The silence pressed in around him, broken only by the whisper of settling ash and Raven's quiet breathing.
Time crawled.
Cel's thoughts drifted despite his best efforts to stay alert. The worm. The way it had risen before them and simply... left. Raven's absolute certainty that they were safe despite all logic.
The pieces refused to form a complete picture.
A sound broke his thoughts.
Soft. Indistinct. Coming from where Raven lay.
Cel's attention sharpened, his hand moving instinctively toward where Silent Moon could manifest.
But no threat emerged. Just Raven, shifting slightly against the wall, his face twisted in something that might have been pain.
"...shouldn't have..." The words came barely audible, slurred with sleep. "...not my..."
Cel remained still, watching.
Raven's breathing quickened. His hands curled into fists at his sides.
"...please..." Quieter now, broken. "...don't..."
The raw anguish in that single word made Cel's chest tighten. Whatever nightmare held Raven, it was pulling him deep.
Then Raven went quiet again, the moment passing as quickly as it had come. His breathing evened, though tension remained in his shoulders.
Cel looked away, fixing his gaze back on the entrance. Whatever demons haunted Raven's sleep were his own. Witnessing them felt like trespassing on something private, sacred in its pain. Cel's own nightmares had taught him that much - the vulnerability of being dragged back to your worst moments, powerless to stop it. No one deserved an audience for that.
More time passed. The crimson light filtering through gaps dimmed, and something else replaced it - moonlight. The change rippled through Cel's body as Lunar Vigor awoke.
Movement made him glance back.
Raven's body had gone rigid. His breathing came in sharp gasps now, hands clawing at nothing.
"Why—" Louder this time, urgent. "No—can't—"
His eyes snapped open.
For a heartbeat, Raven stared at nothing, chest heaving. His crimson eyes held something raw and terrible - not quite panic, but close. The look of someone who'd been somewhere they never wanted to return.
Then awareness filtered back. His gaze found Cel watching him, and something shuttered behind those red irises. The vulnerability vanished, replaced by that familiar neutrality.
Neither of them spoke.
Raven pushed himself upright slowly, one hand dragging across his face. When he dropped it, his expression was carefully blank.
"Your turn," he said, voice rough.
Cel nodded and rose, his joints protesting the movement after hours of stillness. He moved to where Raven had been, settling against the wall that still held residual warmth.
Raven took up position near the entrance without another word, his back to Cel as he surveyed the wasteland beyond.
Cel closed his eyes, but sleep felt distant. His mind churned with too many questions, too many observations that refused to form complete thoughts.
The Cursed. Raven's certainty. The worm's behavior. The nightmare that plagued him.
All of it connected somehow. He was certain of that. But the pattern remained hidden, obscured by gaps in understanding he couldn't bridge alone.
Selina would know.
The thought arrived with sudden clarity. She was a Divine Oracle - the highest authority beneath the gods themselves. If anyone could explain what being Cursed truly meant, what it did to a person beyond the physical mark, it would be her.
Cel reached inward, toward the space that existed within him.
The world shifted, reality bending as his consciousness slipped from the physical realm.
The cracked earth of his soul's landscape materialized beneath him. Mist swirled in gentle currents. And there, standing as if she'd been waiting, was Selina.
Her white robes caught the moonlight streaming from above. Below the silver mask, her lips curved in that familiar, serene smile.
"Welcome back, Chosen One."