Dawn reached Welther in streaks of pale gold.
The city was already beginning to wake when Roku and Solara left the temple. Merchants pulled open wooden shutters along the market streets, guards changed positions on the walls, and caravans groaned into motion as travelers tried to get an early start before the Badlands heat became unbearable.
Roku barely paid attention to any of it.
The sealed case rested beneath his coat, strapped tightly against his side where he could reach it quickly. He had checked the straps twice before leaving and then checked them again at the temple gate.
Solara noticed.
"You planning on checking that thing all the way to Transmorra?"
"Maybe."
"That's going to get annoying."
"You'll survive."
She smiled.
Roku looked toward the eastern road.
Their commanding officer had deliberately given them a route no priority shipment had used in nearly a month. It ran away from the larger trade roads and through rougher territory where settlements became smaller and farther apart.
Unexpected.
That was the idea.
It also meant fewer people nearby if something went wrong.
Solara stepped beside him.
"You ready?"
Roku rested one hand near the handle of a dagger.
"Yeah."
They started running.
---
Welther disappeared behind them faster than either expected.
The maintained road lasted only a few miles before breaking into older paths carved through the Badlands by generations of travelers.
Sand shifted across cracked earth. Jagged stone formations rose from the horizon in uneven shapes, casting long shadows across the morning desert. Dry brush clung stubbornly to whatever patches of soil could support it.
Roku and Solara kept a steady pace.
They could have moved faster.
Neither wanted to.
This wasn't a race. Speed meant nothing if they exhausted themselves before something important happened.
Dyrain had taught them that years ago.
The mission decided the pace.
Not pride.
Solara ran beside Roku without speaking for several minutes before glancing toward the case beneath his coat.
"You still trying to figure out what's inside?"
"No."
"You're lying."
"I'm trying to figure out why somebody would risk four priority teams for things like this."
"That's different?"
"Yes."
"It really isn't."
Roku ignored her.
Solara smiled to herself.
Their route curved between two low ridges.
The wind changed.
Roku slowed.
Solara noticed instantly.
"What?"
He raised one hand.
She stopped beside him.
For a few seconds there was nothing except sand moving across the cracked road.
Then Solara felt something.
Not killing intent.
Not exactly.
A presence.
Wrong in a way she couldn't immediately explain.
"Right side," she whispered.
Roku already had one dagger in his hand.
A figure came running over the ridge.
At first glance, it looked human.
A man.
His clothes were torn from days of wandering the Badlands, and his face was dry and sunken from the desert heat. There were no claws, horns, twisted limbs, or obvious signs that he had become some kind of beast.
Then Roku saw his eyes.
Empty.
Not unfocused.
Empty.
Another person appeared behind him.
Then two more.
Four humans came down the ridge.
None spoke.
None breathed heavily despite how quickly they were moving.
And none reacted to Roku or Solara like frightened travelers.
They simply attacked.
The first man rushed Roku.
Roku shifted aside and caught the man's wrist with one dagger held backward against his forearm.
Something immediately felt wrong.
There was no hesitation in the attack.
No fear when Roku's blade touched his skin.
No instinct to protect himself.
The man tried to drive his forehead straight into Roku's face.
Roku shoved him away.
"What the hell?"
A woman lunged at Solara.
Solara redirected her arm and stepped inside her guard.
Her palm touched the woman's chest.
She was preparing to release a controlled Soul Qi pulse when she froze.
Nothing.
Solara's eyes widened.
The woman swung again.
Solara barely slipped the strike.
"Roku!"
He blocked another attack.
"What?"
"They're not infected like the others."
Another man rushed him.
Roku's shadow caught the attacker's ankle for half a second. Roku stepped behind him and drove the pommel of his dagger into the back of his neck.
The man crashed face-first into the sand.
He immediately began pushing himself back up.
Roku stared at him.
"Then what are they?"
Solara caught the woman's wrist again.
This time she focused.
Her Soul Qi reached inward.
Normally, touching someone this closely gave Solara something.
Fear.
Anger.
Pain.
Confusion.
A person's presence was always there, even if it was weak.
This woman had nothing.
No human Soul.
No human emotions.
No frightened consciousness trapped beneath whatever had happened to her.
The person was gone.
But the body wasn't empty.
Something else stared back at Solara from inside it.
Cold.
Foreign.
Deep.
Abyssal.
Solara ripped her hand away.
Her stomach turned.
"There's no one in there."
Roku ducked beneath a punch.
"What?"
"Their Souls are gone!"
The woman charged again.
Solara redirected the strike, swept her leg, and slammed her onto her back.
"These aren't people being controlled."
Solara looked down into the woman's empty eyes.
"Something replaced them."
The body beneath her smiled.
It wasn't a human smile.
Solara jumped back.
A pulse of Abyssal Qi moved beneath the woman's skin.
"Abyssal Soul," Solara whispered.
Roku heard her.
His expression hardened.
Another body rushed him.
This time Roku stopped treating the fight like a rescue.
He caught the attacker's arm between his daggers, twisted, and drove his knee into the man's ribs.
The body bent awkwardly.
No cry of pain.
No reaction except another attempt to grab him.
"You're sure?" Roku asked.
Solara avoided another strike.
"I can't feel the original Souls at all."
She struck the woman's chest with a short Qi burst and sent the body skidding across the sand.
"Whatever these people were..."
Solara swallowed.
"They're already gone."
That changed everything.
Roku looked at the four bodies surrounding them.
Human faces.
Human hands.
Human clothes.
But no humans inside them.
Only Abyssal Souls wearing what had been left behind.
One of the bodies tilted its head.
Then all four smiled at the same time.
Roku drew his second dagger.
"That's disturbing."
Solara raised her hands.
"Very."
The four bodies attacked together.
Roku moved first.
Shadow spread beneath his feet as he slipped between two of them. One dagger caught an incoming arm and dragged it off line while the second blade cut across the body's side.
Blood sprayed across the sand.
The body didn't even look down.
It kept attacking.
Roku's eyes narrowed.
No pain.
Fine.
He stopped fighting as though pain mattered.
The second body came from behind.
Roku stepped into the shadow beneath the first.
For an instant, his lower body disappeared into darkness.
He emerged from the shadow cast by a nearby boulder.
The attacker spun too late.
Roku's dagger drove through the back of its neck.
The body collapsed.
This time it didn't get up.
Across from him, Solara had two of them pressing her at once.
She didn't try to overpower either.
She flowed between them.
A hand reached for her throat.
Solara turned her shoulder and guided the arm past her.
The second attacker swung.
She stepped inside.
Its forearm slid along hers as she redirected the strike into the first body.
The two collided.
Solara struck.
Palm to the chest.
Elbow beneath the chin.
Heel against the knee.
Her Foss Flow Wing Chun wasn't about meeting strength with strength. She let their attacks create her openings, then punished every mistake.
One body lunged again.
Solara caught its wrist.
She felt the Abyssal Soul inside it.
Cold.
Wrong.
Nothing human remained.
That realization removed her hesitation.
Soul Qi surged through her palm.
She struck directly over its chest.
The pulse traveled through the body.
Something inside screamed.
Not the mouth.
The Soul.
The body dropped.
Solara froze.
She had felt it.
The Abyssal Soul had reacted directly to her Soul Qi.
"Roku!"
He ducked beneath another strike.
"I noticed!"
The final two attacked from opposite directions.
Roku's shadow stretched across the sand.
One attacker stepped into it.
Darkness wrapped around its ankle.
It stumbled.
Solara moved instantly.
She redirected its arm, turned her hips, and sent it directly toward Roku.
He understood.
One dagger flashed.
The body dropped.
The last Abyssal-possessed human turned toward Solara.
It smiled again.
Then its jaw opened.
Too far.
A rough voice pushed through the dead person's throat.
"Un... caged."
Solara stopped.
Roku did too.
The word hit harder than any attack.
The Caged will be Uncaged.
The body lunged.
Solara's palm struck its chest.
Soul Qi exploded through it.
The Abyssal Soul shrieked.
Roku appeared behind it.
His dagger ended the movement.
The body collapsed between them.
Neither spoke.
Wind moved through the ridge again.
Solara stared at the corpse.
"It knew."
Roku cleaned his dagger against the dead man's clothing.
"Yeah."
"The Rebel said the same thing."
"I know."
Solara looked at the other bodies scattered across the sand.
"Roku..."
He understood.
This wasn't random anymore.
Not after Hellfire.
Not after the ruins.
Not after the seal.
Not after the infected humans.
And definitely not after this.
Roku searched the bodies.
No Hellfire markings.
No weapons.
No supplies.
One carried the remains of a trade permit.
Another had a small family bracelet around her wrist.
Ordinary people.
Or they had been.
Solara stared at the bracelet longer than she should have.
Roku noticed but didn't say anything.
Eventually she stood.
"We need to report this."
"We will."
"When?"
"When the package is delivered."
Solara looked at him.
"What if more of these are out here?"
"There probably are."
"That's exactly why—"
"And if whoever is behind this is targeting priority shipments, stopping here doesn't help anybody."
Solara didn't like it.
Roku could see that.
He didn't like it either.
But the mission hadn't changed.
"We remember where this happened," Roku said. "We report everything at Transmorra."
Solara looked once more at the bodies.
Then nodded.
"Fine."
They moved on.
---
By midday, the Badlands heat had become brutal.
The air shimmered above the road.
Roku used his Shadow Soul Qi only when necessary. Under the open sun, shadows were shorter and harder to work with, and there was no reason to burn through his reserves when they still had hours ahead of them.
Solara conserved her Qi too.
Neither mentioned the morning encounter for a long time.
Eventually Solara broke the silence.
"You think those Souls came through the seal?"
Roku kept running.
"Don't know."
"Hellfire?"
"Don't know."
"The Caged?"
"Definitely don't know."
Solara gave him an annoyed look.
"Very helpful."
"Keyla would be proud."
That got a small smile out of her.
It disappeared quickly.
Hours passed without another attack.
That should have been reassuring.
It wasn't.
Roku kept checking high ground.
Ridges.
Abandoned buildings.
Half-collapsed watchtowers.
Anywhere someone could observe the road without being noticed.
Eventually Solara said, "You're doing it again."
"What?"
"Looking like every rock personally offended you."
"They're suspicious."
"They're rocks."
"Exactly what they'd want you to think."
Solara laughed.
Roku almost smiled.
Then the wind stopped.
Both of them froze.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
The Badlands were almost never completely still during the day.
Roku drew a dagger.
Solara's smile disappeared.
She closed her eyes.
Nothing.
No killing intent.
No human Soul presence nearby.
No obvious External Qi disturbing the environment.
But something felt wrong.
Roku looked ahead.
A ruined settlement sat between two hills.
Most of the buildings had collapsed years ago.
Their route passed directly through it.
Solara opened her eyes.
"I don't feel anyone."
Roku stared at the ruins.
"That's what worries me."
Solara understood.
After this morning, no Soul presence didn't necessarily mean empty anymore.
They moved toward higher ground instead of entering directly.
From the ridge they could see most of the settlement.
Empty streets.
Broken walls.
A dried well.
No movement.
Roku crouched.
Solara studied the ruins beside him.
Then she noticed it.
"Roku."
Near the center of the settlement, dust moved in a slow circle around the abandoned well.
Everywhere else was completely still.
Roku's eyes narrowed.
"External Qi?"
"Maybe."
Neither liked that answer.
Roku checked the sealed case beneath his coat.
Solara stared at him.
"Seriously?"
"If something happens, I want to know where it is."
"It hasn't moved."
"Good."
They descended carefully.
Not through the main street.
They circled east and approached from behind the ruined buildings.
Roku drew both daggers.
Shadow gathered close to his feet.
Solara kept her hands loose.
Every step brought them closer to the well.
Nothing attacked.
Nothing moved.
Then Solara stopped.
"Tracks."
Roku crouched beside her.
Several sets of footprints crossed the dust.
Boots.
Human.
Fresh.
The tracks entered from the northern side of the settlement.
Then disappeared.
Roku brushed his fingers across the ground.
"Someone covered them."
"Wind Qi?"
"Could be."
Solara looked around.
"So somebody was here."
"Maybe still is."
A metallic click sounded behind them.
Roku spun.
Both daggers came up.
Nothing.
Another click.
This time from the well.
Something small sat on the stone edge.
A piece of dark metal.
Solara stared.
"Was that there?"
"No."
The object clicked again.
Then split open.
Roku reacted.
"DOWN!"
Shadow surged as he grabbed Solara and pulled her behind the remains of a wall.
The device exploded.
Not fire.
Sound.
A brutal pulse ripped through the settlement.
Stone cracked.
Old windows shattered.
Pressure slammed into Roku's skull.
For one second, his hearing disappeared completely.
Solara hit the ground beside him.
Dust swallowed the street.
Roku forced himself onto one knee.
His vision blurred.
A high ringing slowly replaced the silence.
Solara grabbed his shoulder.
Her mouth moved.
He couldn't understand her.
"What?"
She shouted.
"THE PACKAGE!"
Roku's hand immediately went beneath his coat.
Still there.
Then movement appeared through the dust.
One figure.
Three.
Five.
More.
People stood on rooftops.
Inside windows.
Behind broken walls.
They hadn't entered after the explosion.
They had already been there.
Hidden.
Roku rose slowly.
Both daggers in his hands.
Solara stood beside him.
Her Foss Flow stance settled naturally into place.
None of the strangers attacked.
Not yet.
One stood atop the remains of an old building.
Its face was covered.
No recognizable insignia.
No obvious affiliation.
The stranger looked directly at Roku.
Then toward the exact place beneath his coat where the sealed case was strapped.
Roku saw it.
So did Solara.
His grip tightened around his daggers.
Solara's Soul Qi gathered through her palms.
The stranger slowly raised one hand.
Roku's shadows spread across the broken street.
They had taken a route no priority shipment had used in a month.
Five decoy teams had left Welther carrying identical cases.
Only four people inside Command were supposed to know Roku and Solara carried the real one.
Yet someone had still been waiting for them.
The raised hand dropped.
Every hidden fighter moved.
The mission had barely begun.
And someone already knew they had the real package.