For several minutes after Drako disappeared, no one moved to leave.
The ruined settlement had finally gone quiet. Smoke drifted between the broken buildings while small fires burned through collapsed roofs and piles of shattered wood. The pressure that had filled the streets for most of the night was gone, leaving behind an emptiness that almost felt unnatural.
Harven remained near Kel with the unconscious boy in his arms. Kel hadn't moved since Harven had deliberately overwhelmed him with Qi pressure, though his breathing had settled into a slow, steady rhythm. His injuries were still serious, but the constant movement of Internal Qi beneath his skin told Harven that his body had already started trying to repair what it could.
Solara sat nearby with her back against a broken wall. She looked exhausted enough to fall asleep where she sat, but her attention kept drifting toward Kel.
His Soul Qi was still there.
Faint.
Unstable.
But it hadn't disappeared.
Solara pressed two fingers against the ground to steady herself as she studied him.
"His Soul Qi is still flickering."
Harven looked down at Kel.
"Let it."
Solara frowned.
"Shouldn't someone stabilize it?"
"No."
She looked at him.
Harven adjusted Kel carefully.
"If it's awakening naturally, forcing it before he understands it could damage more than it helps. His body has already spent too long learning Internal Qi through instinct. I don't need him doing the same thing with his Soul."
Solara remembered Kel moving before Drako attacked, reacting to intent he shouldn't have been able to sense yet.
"He was feeling Drako before he moved."
Harven glanced toward her.
"Intent?"
Solara nodded.
"At first. Then it changed. After Keyla and the others arrived, he started noticing more than Drako. He could feel where attacks were going, emotions around him, even decisions before people moved."
That got Harven's attention.
"How accurately?"
"Not enough to control it."
Solara thought back to the fight.
"But enough to keep him alive."
Harven looked at Kel for several seconds.
"That's dangerous."
Solara's expression changed.
"For him?"
Harven shook his head.
"For whoever he's fighting once he learns how to use it."
Keyla approached from behind them.
"There's the Harven I remember."
Harven didn't look at her.
"You remembered too much."
"I remember you calling me little bird too."
"You were smaller then."
"I was seventeen."
"Exactly."
Keyla stared at him.
"You're lucky you're carrying an injured kid."
Harven almost smiled.
Red and Blue came back from checking the outer edge of the settlement. Neither had found any sign of Drako returning, but both kept their bows close.
Red looked toward the darkness beyond the village.
"He's definitely leaving."
Blue nodded.
"His presence is getting farther away."
Keyla looked at Harven.
"Then we have a little time."
Solara's eyes shifted toward her.
"There's something I still don't understand."
Keyla already knew what was coming.
"The package."
Solara nodded.
"Drako knew it reached Transmorra."
Harven looked toward Keyla.
"He said that?"
"He knew the mission had already failed," Solara said. "He stopped caring about the package after Roku got away."
Keyla folded her arms.
"That part worries me too."
Red leaned against the remains of a stone wall.
"Drako has people everywhere."
Solara shook her head.
"Not that fast. Roku had only just reached Transmorra before you came back."
Keyla didn't disagree.
Roku had delivered the package directly into Running Rebel hands before telling her what had happened. She had ordered it into deep storage and left almost immediately with Red and Blue.
Drako shouldn't have received confirmation that quickly.
Unless he hadn't needed confirmation.
Blue seemed to reach the same conclusion.
"Maybe he could feel it."
Solara looked toward him.
"The package?"
Harven's expression hardened slightly.
"Possible."
Keyla looked toward him.
"You know what it was."
Harven gave her a flat look.
"You brought it through the Badlands. I'd hope somebody told you."
Red laughed quietly.
Keyla ignored him.
Solara looked between them.
"No one told Roku or me."
That silenced the group.
Keyla's expression softened slightly.
"You were safer not knowing."
Solara stared at her.
"That worked out wonderfully."
Red looked away, hiding a smile.
Keyla sighed.
"Fair."
She crouched closer to Solara.
"The shipment came from Adent Wells."
Solara recognized the name.
"The mining settlement?"
Red shook his head.
"That's what most people think it is."
Blue looked toward the distant mountains.
"That's what most people are supposed to think."
Solara waited.
Keyla continued.
"Adent Wells sits above one of the deepest natural fractures we've found on the continent. Mining started there generations ago, but eventually they discovered something much more valuable underneath the ore."
Harven finished for her.
"An Ether vein."
Solara stared at him.
"Ether Qi?"
Keyla nodded.
Solara had heard the term before, usually buried inside old lessons that treated it like something distant and rare.
"I thought Ether Qi couldn't be transported."
"Raw Ether usually can't," Harven said.
Red raised a finger.
"Not without something going very wrong."
Blue nodded.
"Which is why it has to be refined first."
Solara thought about the sealed case Roku had carried.
"So that package contained refined Ether Qi."
Keyla nodded.
"A small amount."
Solara stared at her.
"That was small?"
"For Ether."
That didn't make her feel better.
Harven looked toward Solara.
"Don't think of Ether as another Qi path. Internal, External and Soul are still the three paths a warrior develops through their own cores."
Solara nodded.
"Then what exactly is Ether Qi?"
"Natural energy," Harven said. "Very old. Very dense. It gathers in certain places deep beneath the world where the conditions are right."
Keyla continued the explanation.
"When it's refined properly, it can be used as a power source. Barriers. Large formations. Specialized weapons. Research. Things that would drain ordinary Qi users too quickly."
Red looked toward the road.
"And things you really don't want certain people getting."
Solara understood immediately.
"The Alchemist."
No one answered at first.
Transmorra was controlled by the Alchemist, even if the Running Rebels were allowed to operate within the city.
Solara frowned.
"Why bring refined Ether Qi into Transmorra if the Alchemist controls it?"
Keyla's expression became more serious.
"Because Transmorra has one of the few facilities in the region capable of safely storing it."
"Controlled by the Alchemist?"
"Not the chamber we're using."
Red smiled.
"That part belongs to us."
Blue corrected him.
"For now."
Keyla gave him a look.
"Helpful."
Solara leaned her head back against the wall.
"So Drako wasn't chasing Roku and me."
"He was chasing what you were carrying," Keyla said.
Solara closed her eyes.
That explained why hiding themselves hadn't worked until they hid the package too.
It also made what happened to the settlement feel worse.
"If Roku and I never brought it through here..."
Harven cut her off.
"Don't."
Solara opened her eyes.
Harven looked directly at her.
"Drako made his choices. The people controlling whatever operation brought those Abyssal beings here made theirs. You carried a mission you were ordered to carry."
Solara looked toward Kel.
"And he got caught in it."
Harven followed her gaze.
"He chose to help civilians."
"He didn't know why any of this was happening."
"No."
Harven's expression softened slightly.
"But knowing wouldn't have changed his decision."
Solara thought about Kel telling her exactly that.
He would've stayed anyway.
Keyla sat on a broken piece of stone nearby.
"Drako staying after the package left is what matters now."
Red nodded.
"He stopped caring about the mission."
Blue looked toward Kel.
"And started caring about him."
Harven's jaw tightened.
Solara saw it.
"He felt something in Kel."
"I know."
"Do you know what?"
Harven looked down at the unconscious boy.
"No."
Keyla raised an eyebrow.
"That's not very convincing."
Harven glanced toward her.
"It's the truth."
She studied him for a moment.
"All of it?"
"No."
Red laughed.
"At least he's consistent."
Harven ignored him.
Solara looked at Kel again.
She now knew Harven was his uncle.
Kel didn't.
Harven clearly intended to keep it that way.
That secret sat strangely beside everything else she'd learned tonight.
She looked at Harven.
"How long are you going to keep it from him?"
Harven's expression hardened.
"That's between me and Kel."
"He doesn't know there's something between you and Kel."
Keyla smiled slightly.
Harven gave her a warning look.
She shrugged.
"She's right."
Harven exhaled.
"Not tonight."
Solara understood enough to stop pushing.
Harven looked down at Kel.
"He's got enough happening inside his head already."
Red looked toward Kel.
"Assuming he remembers any of tonight."
"He'll remember Drako," Solara said.
Blue nodded.
"And us arriving."
Harven looked at her.
"Not me."
Solara understood.
"You made sure of that."
"Yes."
Keyla folded her arms.
"Very subtle."
"It worked."
"Until one of us tells him."
Harven looked around at all four of them.
"No one tells him."
Red immediately looked at Blue.
Blue spoke before he could.
"Don't."
"I wasn't going to say anything."
"You were thinking about it."
Red sighed.
"This group doesn't respect privacy."
Despite everything, Solara laughed quietly.
The sound surprised her.
For the first time since the attack started, she realized she was sitting somewhere without expecting another enemy to come through the smoke.
Harven noticed her exhaustion.
"How much Soul Qi do you have left?"
"Almost none."
"Can you travel?"
Solara hesitated.
"Probably."
"That's not an answer."
She sighed.
"Yes. Slowly."
Keyla looked toward the distant road leading west.
"We don't all need to travel together."
Harven looked at her.
"I was thinking the same thing."
Solara frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Harven carefully lowered Kel onto a folded piece of cloth Red had placed across the ground.
"I'm taking him back to Durnfield."
Solara looked surprised.
"Not Transmorra?"
"No."
"Why?"
Harven crouched beside Kel.
"Because when he wakes up, he needs rest first."
He looked at Kel's bruised hands.
"Then training."
Solara understood immediately.
"Drako."
"Drako is part of it."
Harven's voice became firmer.
"Kel awakened Internal Qi recently. Now his Soul Qi is answering before he's properly learned the first one. If I let him keep growing through emergencies, he'll build bad habits that'll get him killed."
Keyla nodded slowly.
"You're going to train him yourself."
Harven looked at her.
"I already was."
Solara remembered Kel mentioning Harven's lessons before.
"More seriously now?"
Harven's expression answered before he did.
"Much more seriously."
Solara looked toward Kel.
She wondered what he was going to think when he woke up back in Durnfield after everything that had happened.
Keyla stood.
"Then I'll take Solara back to Transmorra."
Solara looked toward her.
"Roku."
"He's there."
Relief crossed Solara's face.
"How bad?"
Keyla smiled faintly.
"Angry, exhausted and pretending he's neither."
Solara almost laughed again.
"That's Roku."
Red pushed away from the wall.
"We'll go with them."
Blue nodded.
"We need to report what happened anyway."
Keyla looked toward Solara.
"And we need to get word to Dyrain."
The name immediately changed Solara's expression.
"About Drako?"
"Everything."
Keyla counted it off without using her hands.
"The Ether shipment being targeted. Drako appearing personally. Actual Abyssal beings operating this deep in the Badlands. Kel awakening Soul Qi during the fight. Drako's warning."
Harven looked toward her.
"And nothing about Kel's family."
Keyla stared at him.
"You realize Dyrain is going to figure that out the moment he sees how you're acting."
Harven's face stayed flat.
"He can figure out whatever he wants."
"That isn't the same as keeping a secret."
"It is if he keeps his mouth shut."
Solara looked between them.
"You two really have known each other a long time."
Keyla smiled.
"Unfortunately."
Harven ignored that.
Solara looked toward Transmorra's direction.
"What do you think Dyrain will do?"
Keyla's expression became thoughtful.
"Depends what he already knows."
Red nodded.
"And whether he thinks this was one attack or the beginning of something bigger."
Blue looked toward the ruined settlement.
"It's bigger."
No one disagreed.
Harven thought about Drako's warning again.
If what's coming finds him like this...
Get him stronger.
Or he will die.
Harven didn't trust Drako.
He never had.
But there had been no reason for Drako to make that warning if all he wanted was the Ether shipment.
Something else had moved behind this attack.
And whatever it was, Drako believed Kel would eventually be standing in its path.
Harven looked down at his nephew.
The boy wasn't ready.
Not even close.
Solara watched him.
"You meant what you said before."
Harven looked toward her.
"About what?"
"Me, Roku and Kel."
Harven remembered.
The future.
He nodded.
"Yes."
Solara waited.
Harven stood.
"You three have more potential than you understand right now."
He looked toward the road Roku had taken.
"Roku has talent, discipline and instincts that are going to become dangerous once he stops trying to carry everything by himself."
Solara smiled faintly.
"Good luck telling him that."
"I have."
"And?"
"He ignored me."
"Sounds right."
Harven looked back at Solara.
"You have control most warriors your age don't. You stood in front of Drako exhausted and still found ways to redirect him."
Solara looked down.
"He still destroyed us."
"Exactly."
She looked back up.
Harven's voice hardened.
"That's what you need to remember."
He nodded toward Kel.
"Kel survived because everyone kept buying everyone else time. You helped him. He helped Roku. Roku finished the mission. Keyla brought reinforcements. Then I came."
Solara understood what he meant before he finished.
"Too many people had to save each other."
"No."
Harven shook his head.
"Saving each other is what you're supposed to do."
He paused.
"The problem is that none of you could stop Drako."
Solara's expression hardened.
Harven continued.
"If you, Roku and Kel really are part of what's coming next, then surviving warriors like Drako can't be the goal."
Solara waited.
"You need to beat them."
She looked toward the smoke where Drako had disappeared.
A few hours ago, that idea would've sounded impossible.
Now it sounded necessary.
Harven stepped closer.
"Get stronger."
Solara nodded.
"We will."
Harven shook his head.
"Don't promise me."
Solara remembered.
Her tired smile returned.
"Prove it."
Harven nodded once.
"Exactly."
Keyla stood beside Solara.
"Come on. Roku's probably driving everyone in the compound insane by now."
Solara slowly pushed herself to her feet.
Red moved closer in case she fell.
She noticed.
"I'm fine."
Red smiled.
"That's what Kel said."
Solara glared at him.
"Don't start."
Blue picked up the remaining supplies.
"We should move before sunrise."
Harven lifted Kel again.
The group walked together until they reached the edge of the settlement, where the road divided through the Badlands.
One path led back toward Durnfield.
The other continued toward Transmorra.
For a moment, they all stopped there.
Keyla looked toward Harven.
"Try not to disappear for another hundred years."
"I'll consider it."
"That's not reassuring."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
She shook her head.
Then she looked down at Kel.
"Keep him alive."
Harven's expression became serious.
"I intend to."
Solara stepped closer to Kel.
He remained unconscious.
She hesitated before speaking.
"When he wakes up..."
Harven waited.
Solara looked at him.
"Tell him Roku made it."
Harven nodded.
"I will."
"And tell him I'm okay."
Harven nodded again.
Solara looked down at Kel one last time.
"And tell him thank you."
Harven studied her for a moment.
"For what?"
Solara's tired expression softened.
"He'll know."
Harven didn't push.
"I'll tell him."
Solara stepped back.
Keyla turned toward Transmorra.
"Ready?"
Solara nodded.
"Yeah."
Red stretched his shoulders.
"I've been ready."
Blue started walking.
"No one asked you."
Red followed.
"You really don't appreciate me."
Their voices faded slowly as the four headed toward Transmorra.
Harven remained at the crossroads with Kel in his arms.
He watched until Solara, Keyla, Red and Blue disappeared into the darkness.
Then he turned toward Durnfield.
Kel shifted faintly against him but didn't wake.
Harven looked down at him.
"You've made my life difficult."
Kel obviously didn't answer.
Harven started walking.
"But if Drako's right..."
His expression hardened.
"...we don't have much time."
Behind him, one road carried Solara back toward Roku and the Running Rebels, where Dyrain would soon receive word of everything that had happened.
Ahead of him, another road led home.
To Durnfield.
To answers Kel still wasn't ready to hear.
And to training that could no longer afford to be gentle.
For the first time that night, the paths of Kel, Roku and Solara separated.
But all three were moving toward the same thing.
Whatever came next, they would need to be stronger when they met again.
End of Chapter 45 — The Weight of Ether