"Up, stranger," Renn's gruff voice sounded.
"We're moving out. Got a job to do."
The morning air was crisp, as Kain stirred from his borrowed bedroll.
The fire from last night is ash now.
After a moment, Kain adjusted, brushing dirt from his robes, "Where to?" he asked, still very much sleepy.
Lira answered, her tone calm but firm. "A place we've been tracking. It's a long walk, more than half a day. You can come with us if you want to, but it's best you stay outside when we get there."
"Outside?" Kain tilted his head, curiosity piqued. "What kind of place are we talking about?"
"It's extremely dangerous," Garr said, his voice carrying a greedy edge. "It's not something you can handle, so it's best you wait, keep low, and we'll handle it."
Thom's quieter voice chimed in, almost gentle.
"It's safer for you out there than coming with us."
Kain shrugged, too tired to argue. "Oh, that's really fine." He didn't catch the glance they shared.
To him, it made sense, he was blind, and barely surviving, he wasn't cut out for whatever they were chasing. They had fed him, clothed him, and hadn't knifed him in the night.
That was enough to follow, at least for now. Besides, where else was he going? Back to the mud and hungry? No thanks.
The group set out with Kain trailing behind.
Their chatter was sparse but lively, Garr boasting about a past haul, Lira snapping at him to focus, Renn grunting orders, and Thom muttering about bad omens.
Kain stayed quiet, his thoughts drifting to comic book heroes who'd face epic quests.
"This is some side-character energy," he thought, chuckling to himself. "Where's my power-up man?"
After a really long walk, the air shifted and the atmosphere changed.
The ground vibrated faintly under Kain's feet, and the tattoo on his chest pulsed harder.
He frowned, rubbing the spot, but said nothing.
"We're here," Renn said, his tone tight. "Kain, you stay put. Right here. Don't move."
Kain nodded, sensing the tension in their voices. "Got it. I'll just… stay here." He sat on a mossy rock.
The nexus ground loomed before them, though Kain couldn't see it. To the scavengers, it was a jagged tear in the world, a towering arch of black stone, cracked and pulsing with aether.
The entrance shimmered, a rippling curtain of energy that warped the air, sending ripples of heat and cold in waves to the surrounding.
As the air in the atmosphere buzzed with chaotic aether, the tattoo on Kain's chest pulsed even stronger, a warm, almost comforting throb, like a mother's embrace calling him closer.
He didn't understand it, didn't trust it, but it felt right, like a piece of him belonged in there.
He stayed still, hands clenched, fighting the urge to move.
The scavengers took a deep breath.
Lira's voice was steady. "Let's not forget to stick to the plan."
With a final glance at Kain, they stepped inside.
Kain sat alone, the hum growing louder, the tattoo pulsing like a drum.
It wasn't just eager now. It was tugging at him, urging him forward.
He shook his head, muttering, "Nope, not falling for it. I'm not the 'walk into certain death' guy." But the pull grew stronger, like an invisible thread tied to his chest.
His hand reached out, almost on its own, brushing the air where the entrance hummed.
"This is the best I can do." He muttered.
Then, as if yanked by a hidden force, he stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the nexus.
The moment he entered, the world shifted.
He was still blind, but a new perception bloomed, a tingling awareness of aether flowing around him.
It was like stepping into a home he'd forgotten.
He sensed the people ahead, their aether affinities glowing in his mind. Twin flames from Lira and Renn, a rippling wave from Garr, a sharp chill from Thom. The tattoo on his chest thrummed, excited, alive, as if it had been waiting for this place.
The nexus felt like it knew him, like it wanted him here.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Garr's voice snapped, sharp with shock. "You were supposed to stay outside!"
"Do you want to get yourself killed?"
Before Kain could answer, Lira's voice rang out. "Garr, focus! It's coming!"
The nexus ground stretched before them, a shallow, fog-ridden swamp that shimmered then they struck, Mirror Swallows, nexus-born birds with screeches loud enough to make ears bleed.
Their feathers glinted like the swamp's glow, and mid-flight, they split into mirrored copies, each as deadly as the original, darting in unpredictable swarms.
A dozen became two dozen, then three, their razor-sharp beaks flashing like daggers, eyes blazing with aether that warped the fog into mirages.
Their wings trailed distorted light, weaving trails that twisted the senses, making it impossible to tell real from copy.
The scavengers braced as one, weapons raised, their aether affinities flaring in a desperate, unified surge to survive the onslaught.
Lira and Renn unleashed their Flame Aether in a synchronized blaze.
Lira's crimson flames erupted in a spiraling vortex, lighting the swamp in a searing red glow that burned away the Swallows' mirages, revealing their true forms.
"Kill them!" she shouted, her hands weaving a fiery whip.
The whip lashed out, coiling around a flock of copies and incinerating them in a burst of ash, but real Swallows dove through the flames.
Renn countered, he slammed his staff and a molten wave surged, colliding with Lira's whip.
Blood sprayed, soaking his cloak, and he cursed, swinging his staff to unleash a fireball that exploded mid-air.
"They're too fast!" he growled.
Garr's tide Aether surged, he swept his arms wide, and the swamp's pools churned. "Let's drown these freaks!" he roared, thrusting his hands forward to unleash a crashing wave that caused the ground to ripple.
A flock of swallows dove, but the slippery surface threw them off.
Thom's Frost Aether flared in a desperate chill, his hands trembling as he summoned a freezing mist that glittered in the glow of Lira's flames.
"I can't keep up!" he shouted.
Renn's fireball roared past, igniting the frozen shards, the battle was pure chaos, the swallows relentless, their mirrored copies turning every move into a deadly gamble.
Lira and Renn combined their flames into a roaring firestorm.
"Keep it tight!" Lira shouted, ducking a swallow's dive as her fire whip coiled with Renn's blazing arc to form a fiery tornado.
The tornado shredded a flock, but more split, their copies diving from every angle.
Garr laughed, blood dripping from his shoulder, as he summoned a churning whirlpool that merged with Thom's freezing mist.
Lira's flames ignited the trap, turning it to a steaming explosion that blasted birds into the trees. Thom gritted his teeth and froze the air around a diving Swallow, trapping it mid-strike, only for Renn's fireball to shatter it into glowing ash.
The swallows pressed harder, their screeches splitting the air, copies swarming and dashing forward.
The nexus itself seemed to fight them, the fog thickening, as if it was mocking their every move.
A Swallow's beak grazed Lira's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood, and she snarled, unleashing a fireburst that lit the area and revealed the swamp that seemed to be closing in.
Garr countered, his hands weaving as he pulled water from the swamp's roots, forming a massive wave that crashed through Renn's flames, creating a scalding mist that burned a dozen copies.
Thom's ice spikes shot up, impaling slowed birds, but a real Swallow broke through, its claws raking his arm.
He yelped, freezing the ground beneath it, and Lira's whip finished it.
The swamp pulsed, aether humming louder, as if the nexus was angered by their defiance.
Kain stood frozen, the nexus's aether flooding his senses like a wave.
He couldn't see the fight, but he felt it in vivid pulses of energy clashing in his mind, painting a chaotic masterpiece.
"End this!" Renn roared raw as he slammed his staff down, unleashing a massive fireball that roared like a dragon, merging with Lira's vortex to form a blazing maelstrom.
Garr swept his arms, summoning a tidal wave that surged through the flames, Thom, panting, poured his last strength into a frost cage, trapping the remaining Swallows.
Lira's whip lashed through, igniting the cage in a final, explosive blaze that burned the last birds to aetheric dust.
Meanwhile, the tattoo on Kain's chest stirred wildly, thrilled at the atmosphere he was in. It was mesmerizing.
They were battered now, Renn's arm bled, Lira's cloak was soaked, Garr's shoulder oozed with blood, and Thom limped from his leg wound.
But their faces glowed with victory, eyes bright with the thrill of survival.
Lira wiped sweat from her brow, grinning.
"Told you we could do it." She said.
Then their gazes snapped to Kain, standing in the swamp. Garr's voice was loud, confused. "What the hell are you doing here? You were supposed to stay outside!"
Renn's tone was instead filled with worry. "You trying to get killed, kid? Why'd you come in?"
Kain didn't answer, his head tilted, towards the side of the nexus. The aether flowed around him, warm, inviting, like a home he'd never known.
The tattoo pulsed harder, urging him deeper, as if something waited in the core, a pull he couldn't explain.
He took a step forward, drawn by the nexus's call, "There… There is something in that place."
Before they could press him, Thom's voice cut through. "The crystals now! We don't have time!" They nodded, limping toward the swamp's heart, where the aether grew thicker, the air humming with power.
Kain followed a few steps behind, the tattoo's pulse even more excited with each passing moment.
They soon got to the area, the ground glowing with faint violet light. A cluster of aether crystals jutted from the mud, each glowing and very much filled with energy.
Lira stepped closer, awe softening her features. "There they are…" she whispered, reaching out, her fingertips catching their silver light.
Then a scream tore through the swamp, raw and inhuman. The ground shuddered, the crystals wailing like struck glass.
Garr spun toward the sound, his face draining of color. "No… no way…" he stammered, eyes locked on something beyond the crystals.
Lira flinched, flames sparking instinctively in her palms. "What? What is it?"
The world held its breath.
Garr's voice broke, a whisper like a prayer gone wrong. "He-Herald."