When he awoke, hours had passed. Light filtered through the reinforced windows, weak and slanted, catching dust motes in a golden shimmer. Lior blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the fog in his head.
"Ash…?" he croaked, hoarse and desperate.
A figure sat across from him at one of the long wooden tables. She was small, about his sister's height, her features delicate, but no, it wasn't Ashley. Her panda-print T-shirt and shorts gave her a childlike air, and the way she fidgeted with her hands immediately reminded him of someone familiar.
His heart skipped. Ashley?
"Lior?" The girl looked up, her voice hesitant. Her wide eyes met his, and for a moment, the relief that surged in him made his chest ache. But then he noticed something, slight differences in her face, the way she carried herself, and his heart sank with a bitter pang of disappointment.
This was not Ashley, it was is neighbor that had given him and his sister food yesterday before the disaster. , a weak, almost embarrassed smile tugging at his lips. His chest heaved as the tension of the past hours pressed down on him.
The girl noticed his exhaustion immediately. "You're awake," she said softly, rising to her feet. "I thought… I didn't think you'd make it through last night."
I was so worried, she sighed.
Confusion and curiosity weaved in Lior mind. "You… you were here?" he asked, still catching his breath.
She nodded, her small hands clenching the hem of her shirt. "I saw you near the entrance you had already fainted so I decided to bring you here and treat your wound, N-No. No worries I didn't pull off your shirt or anything."
"I just treated the place that it seemed you were injured"
The evacuation center buzzed faintly around them, though still calmer than the chaos outside. Other survivors murmured softly, tended to by medics and volunteers. The smell of disinfectant mixed with the faint, lingering scent of the earlier smoke waft throughout the entire shelter.
Lior shifted uncomfortably, then placed his hand into his pocket and brought out the orb from yesterday, he still doesn't understand what it is aside from the fact that it saved him yesterday.
Just so that this his neighbor wont look at him weirdly for admiring a orb, he gathered enough strength to sit upright, leaning slightly on the edge of the table. His gaze softened as he looked at the girl beside him.
"Wait… I never asked," he said, his voice still rough from exhaustion. "What's your name?"
The girl blinked, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. She hesitated for a moment, then smiled shyly.
"I… I'm Korrin," she replied. "Korrin Shae."
"Korrin…" Lior repeated, letting the name roll around in his mind. It fit her, small, quiet, yet unexpectedly strong.
"Alright, Korrin… thanks." He hesitated, struggling to find the right words.
"For… everything. You saved me.", Korrin shook her head, a face all bashful and red, with a knowing smile on her lips. "Don't thank me anybody would have done that."
Korrin eyes flickered to the orb in Lior hand. The soft glow reflected in her pupils, curiosity sparking across her face.
"What is that…?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Lior tightened his fingers around it instinctively, holding it close to his chest. For a moment he considered lying, saying it was just a crystal ball he picked up. But consdering the fact that he probably owe his life to her he said"…I don't know," he admitted. "But it saved me. If it weren't for this thing, I'd be dead."
Korrin bit her lip, as if sensing the storm behind his words. "Then maybe… maybe it wasn't just luck. Maybe it chose you."
Lior glanced up sharply, meeting her wide eyes. "Chose me?"
She nodded quickly, fumbling with her words. "I-I mean… there are stories, right? About relics, about dungeon creatures leaving behind… fragments.
Things that bond with people. Not just anyone, but someone specific. Maybe that's what it is."
Her words lingered in his head but then he felt skeptical . Bonded? With him?
Before he could reply, the heavy doors of the evacuation center opened. The noise rippled through the survivors like a shiver, conversations cutting off as everyone turned to look at the door. A squad of armored guards entered, their boots striking the floor with practiced rhythm. At their center walked a man in a long coat, his presence sharp as a blade. His eyes swept the room with
cold efficiency before locking onto the cluster of medics at the far table.
"Roll call," he barked. "We need a headcount of the survivors immediately. The Federation wants a report on what happened to Settlement C before dawn."
Murmurs spread among the refugees. The Federation rulers from the upper floors. It wasn't often they paid attention to the lower settlements.
Lior grip on the orb tightened. Something about the man's presence put him on edge. It wasn't just authority, there was something predatory in the way his gaze scanned the crowd, as though he was searching for something… or someone.
just as the man's eyes swept in his direction. For a heartbeat, their gazes met.
Lior felt the weight of it press down on him, a sharp, suffocating
pressure that made his chest tighten. This man. He was also a ascendant, then the man moved on, questioning the medics instead.
Lior exhaled slowly. He had no idea what this was all about…
The night passed in uneasy silence. The evacuation center, though reinforced, creaked under the weight of too many people packed into too little space.
Children whimpered in their mothers' arms, the injured groaned as medics tried to tend to wounds with supplies dwindling at a surprising rate, and the smell of
smoke still clung to everything, seeping in from outside.
Lior barely slept. Each time he closed his eyes, he saw Ashley, sometimes crying, sometimes calling his name, sometimes swallowed by the monsters he hadn't been able to stop. Every time, he wakes up with his chest burning, the orb in his pocket still faintly pulsing like a heartbeat.
By morning, the air inside the shelter was heavy. Nobody spoke much, only whispers and prayers could be heard among the survivor. Even the guards who had stood tall the night before seemed subdued, their armor dulled by ash and weariness.
Then, just as the light of the crystals shifted to mimic dawn, the Federation officer from before stepped forward. His voice carried across the center, sharp but tired.
"The wave has passed. The beasts have been driven back. It is safe… enough… to
leave."
Safe enough.
The words landed like stones thrown into a calm lake. No one moved at first. Then slowly, like people marching to their own graves, the survivors began filing toward the gates.
When the great iron gates opened, the survivors of Settlement C stepped out together.The air outside was thick with the acrid scent of smoke and blood. The once always buzzing alleys were now charred husks, blackened wood, collapsed stone, and streets smeared with ash. Homes reduced to rubble, markets torn apart, walls splintered like paper.
The Settlement wasn't a place anymore, it was a grave. A sob broke somewhere in the crowd. Then another. Soon the air was filled with weeping, the sound raw and heavy. People collapsed to their knees, clutching the earth where their homes had once been. Others wandered in dazed circles, calling the names of family members who would never answer.
Korrin stood beside Lior, her small hands pressed tightly to her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
Lior himself said nothing. His throat was too tight, his chest too heavy. He stared at the wreckage of Settlement C, at the ashes drifting like snow through the air
"He had first lost his parent, then he lost their home, he doesn't know if Ashley is alive or dead. Isn't life playing a cruel joke on him"..he muttered to himself while clenching his fist so hard that blood began to drip.