The village of Still Heart did not go to sleep quietly, it settled like a dying fire, glowing with the warm embers of the day's joy. The lanterns along the river had drifted out of sight, consumed by the mist at the valley's edge, but the smell of burnt wax and sweet rice wine lingered in the cool night air.
Arthev sat on the sloping roof of the guest hut. His knees were drawn up to his chest, his black traveler's cloak wrapped tight against the dropping temperature.
To any observer, he looked like a carved guardian, still, watchful, a part of the architecture.
Inside his mind, however, the usual tactical scrolling text was quiet. He wasn't calculating wind speed. He wasn't estimating the structural integrity of the chimney. He was just watching the moon.
"You're going to catch a cold up there."
The voice came from below. Arthev didn't flinch, he had heard her footsteps the moment she left her house three doors down.
Lian stood in the grassy lane, looking up at him with a blanket draped over her shoulders. She held two steaming mugs.
"Physiologically unlikely," Arthev replied, though his voice lacked its usual sharp edge. "My Spirit Power circulation maintains a constant body temperature."
"blah, blah, Spirit Power," Lian mimicked him, rolling her eyes. She expertly grabbed the eaves of the roof and pulled herself up.
For a village girl with no formal combat training, she was surprisingly agile. She scrambled up the thatch and sat beside him, handing him one of the mugs.
"Drink. It's hot tea with honey. Good for the brooding type."
Arthev took the mug. The warmth seeped into his cold fingers. "I'm not brooding. I'm keeping watch."
"From what? The crickets?" Lian laughed, pulling her blanket tighter. She looked out over the sleeping village.
"It's peaceful, isn't it? Tomorrow is the main ritual. The Stone will glow, the mist will clear completely for an hour, and we'll dance until our feet fall off."
Arthev took a sip of the tea. It was overly sweet, just the way kids liked it. "You really love this place."
"It's my home, Arthev," she said simply. "It's where my memories are. Where else would I go?"
"The world is big," Arthev said, looking at the jagged silhouette of the mountains that caged them in.
"There are Empires. Spirit Beast Forests. Oceans that stretch forever. Don't you want to see them?"
Lian hummed thoughtfully, tilting her head. "Maybe. But... if I leave, who helps Mrs. Li with her garden? Who makes sure the kids don't fall in the river? Big worlds are nice, I guess. But a small world where everyone knows your name? That's rare."
Arthev fell silent. A small world where everyone knows your name.
'Names have power,' Isobu whispered from the depths of his seal. 'It is nice to be known. But it hurts when you leave.'
Lian shifted, getting comfortable. She began to hum.
It started as a mindless tune, something to fill the silence. A soft, rhythmic melody that drifted on the night breeze.
Hm-hmm, hm-hm-hmm...
Arthev's hand tightened around the ceramic mug.
'Arthev?' Matatabi's ears perked up in the mindscape. 'Your heart rate just dropped significantly. Are you in distress?'
The melody shifted. It wasn't complex. It was a simple, repetitive lullaby structure. A rise in pitch, a gentle fall, a comforting resolution.
Hm-hmm, da-da-da...
Arthev stopped breathing.
The sound hit him with the force of a physical blow. The tea in his cup rippled as his hand began to tremble.
It wasn't just a tune. It was the tune.
Back on Earth, years ago. A rainy afternoon. His sister, Sarah, sitting on the edge of his bed when he was sick with fever. She had hummed that exact melody while cooling his forehead with a damp cloth. She had made it up. She had told him it was the "Magic Song to Chase the Monsters Away."
He hadn't heard it in two lifetimes.
"Lian," Arthev choked out. His voice cracked, stripping away the composure of the Level 33 Spirit Elder.
Lian stopped humming. She looked at him, concerned. "What? Is the tea too hot?"
Arthev turned to her. His eyes searching her face desperately. He looked for a sign, a flicker of recognition, a hint that she was Sarah reborn.
"That song," he whispered. "Where did you learn it?"
Lian blinked, confused by his intensity. "The song? I... I don't know. I think I just made it up when I was little. Or maybe my mom sang it? I just hum it when I'm happy."
Made it up.
'This human...' Shukaku murmured, his voice lacking its usual malice.
'She sounds like the memories you keep locked away in the black box, kid. The ones that smell like rain.'
He looked at her profile, the curve of her nose, the way her eyelashes caught the moonlight. She wasn't Sarah. He knew that. Sarah was gone. But looking at Lian, sitting here on a thatched roof in a hidden valley, humming the song that had once made him feel safe...
It felt like the universe was offering him an apology.
Arthev lowered his head, hiding his face behind the rim of the mug. He took a long, shuddering breath.
"It's a nice song," he managed to say, his voice thick.
Lian smiled, oblivious to the storm inside him. She leaned her head on his shoulder. It was an innocent gesture, one of comfort.
"You look tired, Wolf-boy," she whispered.
"Your eyes... they're always looking for danger. Even when you smile, you're calculating something."
"It keeps me alive," Arthev repeated the mantra, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears.
"Maybe," Lian said softly. "But you don't have to survive here, Arthev. You just have to live. There's a difference."
She pointed a finger at the center of the village, where the dais stood.
"Tomorrow, after the ritual, ask Elder Mu. Ask him to let you stay. Not as a guest. But for real."
Arthev looked at the dark outline of the village. He imagined waking up tomorrow and not packing his bag.
'Stay?' Isobu asked hopefully. 'The water here is clean. And the people are soft.'
'It makes us vulnerable,' Shukaku grumbled, but half-heartedly. 'But... I suppose a nap wouldn't hurt.'
The knot of tension that had lived in his solar plexus for twelve years began to loosen.
"I..." Arthev started. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I think I will."
Lian beamed, pulling away to look him in the face. "Really?"
"Really," Arthev nodded. A genuine, unguarded smile touched his lips. "I'm tired of walking, Lian. I think... I think I found the stop."
"Yes!" Lian punched the air, nearly spilling her tea. "I knew it! I'm going to teach you how to fish properly. You tried to spear one with a knife earlier, that was embarrassing."
Arthev chuckled. "It was efficient."
"It was distinctively un-fish-friendly."
They laughed. For a moment, the world was perfect. The moon was bright, the tea was sweet, and the future was a warm, golden road stretching out before them.
Then, Arthev's right eye twitched.
It was a subtle sensation. A microscopic vibration in the atmosphere. Like a spider walking across a web.
His laughter died instantly.
'Arthev!' Matatabi's voice cut through the mindscape like a siren. 'Sector 4. Elevation 3200 meters. Anomaly detected!'
The instinct took over. Soul Power flooded his optical nerves. The world shifted into the monochrome schematic of the Shinragan.
Ping.
There.
Three kilometers up. On the jagged peak of the eastern mountain, known as the 'Dragon's Fang'.
For a split second, his enhanced vision caught a distortion. It wasn't a physical object, it was a gap in the magnetic field. Like something, or someone, was actively suppressing their presence so heavily that it created a void in the background radiation.
'It is a stealth cloak technique,' Matatabi analyzed rapidly. 'High level. It masks thermal and soul power signatures. But it cannot mask the displacement of space itself. Someone is watching.'
'Enemy?' Shukaku growled, waking up fully. 'Shall we kill it?'
Lian noticed his sudden stiffness. "Arthev? What is it?"
Arthev stared at the mountain peak. His mind raced.
'Anomaly detected, Threat level, Unknown.'
He should go check. He should leave right now, scale the mountain, and verify the target. That was the protocol. That was what kept him alive.
But then he looked at Lian. She looked worried. If he left now, the moment would break. If he ran off to chase a shadow, he was just being the "Wolf-boy" again. Paranoid. Broken.
'It's probably a Spirit Beast avoiding the Stone's barrier,' Arthev rationalized, forcing the thought over the Tailed Beasts' warnings.
'The valley repels strong creatures. Nothing can get through the Stone's field without alerting Elder Mu.'
'Arthev, that is illogical,' Matatabi warned. 'The distortion pattern is too uniform for a beast. You must verified.....'
'Quiet,' Arthev commanded, shutting the mental gate. 'Not tonight. Just... let me have tonight.'
He forced his eyes to deactivate. The monochrome world returned to the soft colors of the night.
He turned to Lian, forcing a relaxed expression onto his face.
"Nothing," Arthev lied. "Just thought I saw a bat."
"You jump at bats?" Lian teased, relieved.
"And here I thought you were brave."
"I'm terrified of them," Arthev deadpanned. "Deadly creatures."
Lian giggled and finished her tea. "Come on. We need sleep. Tomorrow is the big day. You need energy if you're going to help carry the ceremonial drums."
She slid down from the roof, landing in the grass with a soft thump. "Goodnight, Arthev. See you in the morning!"
"Goodnight, " Arthev called down.
He watched her walk back to her house. He watched the light in her window turn off.
He looked back at the mountain peak one last time. The distortion was gone. The night was still.
'You are making a mistake,' Matatabi whispered sadly.
'Shut up,' Arthev told her, lying back on the cold thatch. 'This place is safe. For once, just trust the peace.'
He closed his eyes and let the silence of the valley lull him to sleep, unaware that by ignoring the warning, he had just sealed the fate of the only home he had ever found.
To be continued...