The ruins grew stranger the deeper they went.
Pillars leaned at impossible angles, as if the world itself had grown tired of standing straight. Their surfaces were etched with half-erased spells that flickered like dying fireflies—arcane scars left by mages long dead or worse. The air hummed faintly, carrying the sharp tang of ozone and scorched mana. Old magic. Poorly grounded. Dangerous.
Levi moved at the front, spear held low, shadows folding around his steps like a second skin. Aria followed a few paces behind, fingers resting on the hilt of the small dagger she'd scavenged days ago. Three days since the chamber. Three days since the Protocol had lost control of him.
And it was hunting.
Patrols had grown thicker. Faster. Smarter.
They needed distance. Supplies. And—if the Abyss allowed it—alliances.
A soft click echoed ahead.
Stone on stone. Deliberate.
Levi froze instantly. Aria brushed lightly into his back. He raised a fist.
Silence stretched.
Then a voice cut through it—dry, amused, sharp around the edges.
"If you're Protocol dogs, you're terrible at stealth. If you're scavengers, you're far too clean. So tell me—what are you?"
A figure stepped from behind a fractured archway.
She was thin, almost gaunt, with sharp features and eyes the color of storm glass. Her robe bore the black of the Void Serpents—once fine, now patched and fraying at the hems. A cracked focus orb hung at her belt, its inner light pulsing weakly. Mage-class. Mid-C rank, maybe lower now. No visible weapon.
But violet script coiled lazily around her fingertips, eager to snap into violence.
Levi didn't lower his spear. "Passing through."
The mage snorted. "Everyone's just passing through until they end up screaming." She tilted her head. "Name's Mira. And you're the ones who killed an Administrator two sectors over. Word travels. Even down here."
Aria stiffened.
Levi felt it instantly.
Mira's gaze lingered on him—too long, too sharp. Her eyes traced the angles of his face, the way his shadows breathed instead of clung.
"Free Shadow," she murmured. "Didn't think I'd live long enough to see one. Thought you lot were bedtime stories for disobedient apprentices."
Levi's voice was calm, steady. "We're not here for trouble."
"Good," Mira said, and the script faded from her fingers. "Because I hate trouble."
A beat.
"But I hate dying alone even more." She spread her hands slightly. "Truce?"
The standoff stretched.
Levi weighed her quickly—no immediate hostility, exhaustion etched into her posture, hunger in the hollows of her cheeks. Exiled. Hunted. A mage with nowhere left to run.
He lowered the spear a fraction. "Truce."
They made camp in a half-collapsed scriptorium, its broken walls still holding enough residual wards to muffle sound. Mira produced dried fungus strips and water from a hidden cistern. In return, Aria offered cleaned cloth for bandages.
Mira's left arm was burned badly. Fresh.
Conversation came slowly, like coaxing a flame from damp wood.
"I refused quota," Mira said at last, staring into the soft glow of their orb. "Void Serpents demand twenty souls a cycle for crafting. Illusions, wards, toys for the higher ranks. I said no." Her lips twisted. "Said harvesting sentient echoes just to make prettier lies was wasteful."
Aria's voice was gentle. "That's… brave."
Mira laughed—short, bitter. "They called it heresy. Exiled me with a geas that burns if I try to leave the mid-ruins." She flexed her fingers absently. "Been dodging their hunters ever since."
"That's awful," Aria said. "But it means you're not like them. There's still good in—"
"Good?" Mira cut in, eyes sharp. "Sweetheart, the Abyss doesn't run on good. It runs on power and bargains. Idealism just tells the butcher where to cut."
Levi watched in silence.
Aria's hope was fragile—but real. Mira's cynicism was familiar armor.
He didn't interfere.
Morning brought scouts.
Three drone constructs drifted into the ruins—floating orbs ringed with unblinking eyes. Protocol design. Standard patrol sweep.
Mira swore under her breath. "They'll ping our signatures."
Levi was already moving. "Veil us."
She blinked, then smirked. "Bossy."
Her hands moved in sharp, practiced arcs. Illusion settled over them like cool mist—colors dulled, edges blurred, existence slightly… less. The drones drifted past within arm's reach, blind.
Aria exhaled shakily. "That was incredible."
"Minor trick," Mira said, though pride flickered briefly in her eyes. "Still better than dying."
The alliance solidified in fragments.
Hidden routes. Shared rumors. Serpent infighting. Protocol tightening security after the Administrator's fall. Whispers of a coming containment sweep.
Levi cleared wraiths that wandered too close, harvesting quietly, efficiently. His strength deepened by careful degrees. His voice gained weight—a low resonance that made Mira glance at him more than once.
The skirmish came without warning.
A narrow causeway between leaning towers. No cover. No time.
Two Serpent outriders on spectral mounts. Four Protocol drones.
Levi stepped forward. "Stay behind me."
"Yes, sir," Mira muttered—and flanked left, illusions splitting them into a dozen flickering ghosts.
Aria moved right, dagger drawn, disruptive script crackling weakly but true.
The fight was fast. Brutal.
Levi's spear became a blur—shadow-step collapsing distance, fused technique carving through armor. One outrider died screaming as his mount unraveled beneath him. The second turned to flee.
Levi didn't hesitate.
He flickered forward. The spear punched through the man's back. No scream. A clean harvest.
Essence flowed into him, cold and steady.
Mira stared at the corpse. "He was routing."
"Wounded enemies report," Levi said, wiping the blade clean. "Dead ones don't."
There was no anger in his voice.
That frightened her more.
Aria looked away.
The tunnel collapsed without warning.
Old wards failed. Stone thundered down.
Mira stumbled as debris struck her shoulder.
Levi moved on instinct.
Shadows surged from him, weaving into temporary pillars—raw will made solid. He caught Mira around the waist and dragged her forward as the tunnel sealed behind them in a roar of dust and stone.
Silence fell.
Mira coughed, then laughed—shaky, disbelieving. "You… saved me."
Levi released her. "You're useful."
She studied him, then smiled faintly. "That the only reason?"
"For now."
She rose, brushing dust from her robe. "Fair enough. Guess I'm with you, then, Free Shadow."
Aria helped her steady herself, offering a small, hopeful smile. "We'll try not to get you killed."
The three of them moved deeper into the dark—
Mira's illusions erasing their trail.
Aria's quiet hope flickering stubbornly.
And Levi between them, spear in hand, ambition burning steady and cold.
Three now, where there had been two.
And somewhere far above, the Abyss noticed.