While calm on the outside, inwardly Vairon's mind roiled. He had suspected for some time that this secret realm was not as simple as it appeared. The earlier trials and tribulations they faced only confirmed his doubts.
But hearing Kaelira confirm that this place had once belonged to a primordial race filled him with a gnawing sense of curiosity—and adventure. This was an opportunity like no other.
All the books he had read about the disappearance of the primordial races—the former rulers and tyrants of Genara—had turned Vairon into something of an adventurer more than a cultivator. If he was being honest, if not for the need for power to survive in their brutal world, he probably would have become a scholar for real.
Placing a hand to his chin, he tilted his head in thought. His mind raced, searching through his memories, trying to figure out which primordial clan this secret realm might belong to. His adventurous spirit ignited, he looked up, eager to question Kaelira—until his eyes fell on her shoulder.
The bloodied, dirty bandage that hid her grievous wound made the fire in his eyes simmer. He noticed her pale complexion and shallow breath. A flicker of guilt flashed through his gaze as he realized the severity of her injuries.
"I'm sorry. I should have inquired about your well-being first. That was insensitive of me. Does it hurt?"
Startled by the sudden apology, Kaelira turned to him with wide eyes. Following his gaze to her shoulder, her expression hardened.
"Don't."
Confused, Vairon blinked. "What?"
"Don't pity me. I'm not so weak that I need to be treated like some fragile maiden. I'm a warrior first and foremost. I understand that scars come with the—"
"What are you on about?"
Kaelira froze, staring at his confused expression. Realizing she had misunderstood him, she furiously blushed.
Seeing her embarrassment, Vairon's eyes lit with amusement, and he chuckled lightly.
"You really do love jumping headfirst into your own assumptions, woman."
A familiar pout crossed her face as she turned her head away to avoid his gaze. The sight made him smile again.
"I wasn't pitying you," he said softly. "I've experienced your bloodlust firsthand. A maiden is the last thing I'd think of you. But that doesn't mean you're immune to pain."
Kaelira's face relaxed before frowning again, sensing something strange in his tone but unsure what it was. Ignoring the impulse to slap him, she sighed.
"It's… healing slowly. The pill you gave me was helping, but during that last battle I reopened the wound. And it seems I also injured my soul slightly with that gamble."
Vairon frowned, searching his hazy memories—until it clicked.
"That move you used at the end… that was your incarnate, wasn't it?"
A hint of arrogance flickered across her graceful face as she crossed her arms beneath her generous chest.
"Hehe, this princess is amazing, isn't she? Don't think you're special just because you've got an apex incarnate—mine's even better!"
Ignoring the woman whose nose seemed content on reaching the ceiling, Vairon's eyes narrowed.
"You… you haven't fully awakened your incarnate yet, have you?"
Silence fell. Kaelira, unable to keep up her proud façade, turned her head away. Letting out a groan, Vairon held his head in his hands.
"Crazy. You really are a crazy woman. You could've torn your soul to pieces if even the slightest thing went wrong! Do you have any idea how reckless that was!?"
Kaelira met his gaze unflinchingly.
"And? Was there any other option? Without that risk, we'd be dead."
"But sti—"
"Don't think I didn't notice," she cut in. "Despite your composure when you summoned your incarnate, you didn't have full control over it—or yourself. The state of your body is all the proof needed."
Vairon fell silent. He could hear the unspoken meaning in her tone—she'd noticed his strange shift during the fight, and she definitely had questions he couldn't answer.
Seeing his silence, Kaelira sighed and changed the subject.
"In any case, we both took risks. We had to. Life and death situations don't give us the luxury of restraint. There are only victors and the vanquished."
Vairon exhaled quietly, grateful she didn't press further. She was right, of course—logic demanded risk in desperate moments. And Vairon was nothing if not pragmatic. Still, seeing her take such chances made him uncomfortably aware of… something.
And by that same vein, he realized how talkative he'd been lately. Something that would make the jaws of his entire clan drop.
'Could she be an illegitimate child of my father? Yes, that makes sense. After all it would explain the talent and her sociopathic tend-'
Pinch.
"OWW! THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"
Startled out of his thoughts, Vairon turned to her, eyes aggrieved.
"I don't know. Just felt like you were thinking something untoward," she said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
A trickle of cold sweat slid down his brow as he composed his face.
"You're imagining things…"
She narrowed her eyes, then finally released his bruised leg.
"Good. As long as my point's made."
A familiar twitch began on his brow before he steadied himself.
"Alright, I won't argue. But I need your help piecing together what happened after my… change during that battle with the serpent."
Kaelira gave him a knowing look before nodding, explaining the details of the battle between "himself" and the strange serpent beast, and the aftermath.
"You… your body was barely holding together. Your skin was cracked, and not a single inch was intact. If not for the wind qi passively drawn into you, I wouldn't have known if you were alive.
Luckily, you were prepared and had a healing pill grasped in your hand before you lost consciousness. If not for that pill, well…"
Vairon listened silently, relief blooming inwardly. Thank the heavens for giving me a grandmaster alchemist as a mother. His stash of pills could probably spark a realm war.
"After I fed you that pill," she continued, "I carried you toward the city. Thankfully, no more beasts attacked us. But that wasn't the strangest part."
Intrigued, Vairon's attention sharpened.
"Well, the city looked thousands of kilometers away, yet the more I walked, the closer it seemed. Every time I rested, it drew nearer. Before I knew it, I was standing before its gates."
Vairon frowned deeply.
'How is that possible? No beasts, and she crossed such a distance unknowingly? Unless…'
A realization struck him like lightning.
"Space…you were aided by the space laws of this dimension."
Kaelira raised her brows, mulling it over, then drew a medallion from her spatial ring—the same one they had used to enter this realm.
Once worn and rusted, the medallion now gleamed with an obsidian luster, its surface smooth and exuding an ancient, primal aura. A serpent carved in the shape of infinity devoured its own tail, its amethyst eyes faintly glowing.
As they studied it, Kaelira's spiritual sense brushed something inside the metal—and she froze.
"It's a soul. The serpent's soul… it was absorbed into the medallion!"
Vairon's eyes widened.
"That explains why no beasts attacked. They must have sensed the serpent's presence and mistook us for one of their own."
"Hahaha! So this thing does have more uses after all!" Kaelira grinned, gripping the medallion tightly. "It was worth getting hunted down for!"
"It's probably also the reason we were transported into the city," Vairon mused. "Some kind of identification tablet. Something the former residents used to gain entry."
Before either could ponder further—
GROWL, GROWL.
The loud rumbling of Kaelira's stomach broke the silence. Her cheeks turned pink.
Vairon sighed, lifting himself from the cot despite the ache in his body, and shuffled toward the fire.
"Hey, what are you doing!? You should be resting! Your body's still broken—and you're missing a finger, might I add!"
Kaelira darted to his side, looping an arm under his to help.
Ignoring her protests, but not her help, he grumbled,
"Do you want to eat the food I make, or choke down whatever unholy concoction you come up with this time?"
Her silence spoke volumes.
"That's what I thought."
Pinch.
"ARGHH! GODDAMNIT WHY!?"
"Humph!"