"What?" Noen exclaimed, his voice rising in disbelief as he looked around the cold, dark stone of the chamber. "You mean we're inside that... that flying thing?"
Nura nodded slowly, her chains clinking with the movement. "The people up here are the ones who decide how much water flows down to the cities below. Every city has an oasis, and everything up to—"
"—to the rim belongs to the children, and everything above it belongs to the adults. Yeah, I know," Noen interrupted, recalling the grim law of the desert.
Nura's eyes widened, shimmering in the faint light. "Since you're still counted as a child... you better brace yourself. Get ready for what's coming."
"Why? Get ready for what?" Noen pressed, his heart quickening.
Nura took a long, shaky breath. "That... I can't tell you. I had to go through the same thing. You won't die or anything, but... you look relatively strong for your age. What's your System Rank?"
Noen swallowed hard. The question hit him like a physical blow. "That's... it's too embarrassing right now. You go first!"
"Embarrassing?" Nura giggled softly, a sound that seemed out of place in the grim cell. "What are you, an SSS-Rank or something? Fine. I have a B-Rank System. My max stats are 10,000 across the board." She leaned closer, her gaze intensifying. "Now it's your turn. You have to tell me!"
Noen looked away quickly, his face heating up. He started to stutter, his words tripping over each other. "Well, I mean... I'm... forget it, I'll just say it. My System has minus stats. Everything is below zero. It doesn't even have a real class or anything. The class is just my name. It's literally the 'Noen-Class'."
Nura slid as close to him as her shackles would allow, her curiosity piqued. "What? Show me."
Flustered, Noen slid back a bit, but he finally sighed and summoned his interface. The blue light flickered into existence, casting a ghostly glow on their faces:
[System-Class: Noen]
[Title: The Absolute Zero]
[Role: 0]
[STR: -49.5 / 0]
[AGI: -46.5 / 0]
[END: -37.5 / 0]
[VIT: -46 / 0]
[FOC: -45 / 0]
[AFF: -47.5 / 0]
Nura stared at the screen, her mouth hanging open in pure astonishment. "WOW! Something like this actually exists? You are incredibly lucky, Noen!"
Noen turned his head, a bitter expression on his face. "Lucky? This thing has made my life a living hell!"
Nura looked at him, confused for a moment. "The lower the stats, the bette—" She cut herself off abruptly, her eyes darting toward the shadows outside the cell. She leaned in toward Noen's ear, her breath warm against his skin, and whispered: "I'm not actually allowed to say this."
She giggled again, a mysterious glint in her eyes, before pulling back and settling into her spot.
–She is so... pretty..– Noen thought, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. He shook his head violently, trying to clear his mind. –Focus! We're trapped here. There's no time for thoughts like that!–
He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. "So," Noen said, looking back at Nura. "Why are you actually back here if you've already been through this once before?"
Nura let out a long, weary exhale, her shoulders slumping against the cold chains. "I wanted to motivate the people in my city to fight back," she began, her voice tinged with bitterness. "To resist the people up here, to actually stand up for themselves! But it was useless. No one dared. That very same night—bam—I was kidnapped, just like when I was a child, and I landed right back here. What about you?"
Noen took a deep breath, looking at his shackled wrists. "Well, I'm here because... I don't really know. Probably because I said I wanted to have a serious word with 'the ones up there.' Then I went looking for you and that same night... whoosh! I was here too."
"Yeah, I mean, you literally just arrived," Nura noted, glancing toward the darkness outside the bars. "It's actually the middle of the night right now. I'm only awake because of you."
Noen looked down at the floor, his heart doing a strange little skip. "Because... because of me you're awake?"
Nura gave him a flat look, her expression deadpan. "Well, yeah, obviously. You were thrown in here and chained up like a sack of rocks. You don't exactly sleep through someone doing that right next to you."
Noen cleared his throat loudly, his face flushing red for the second time that night. "Uh... yeah. Right. Of course! Makes sense..."
Nura stares at him, her eyes widening as she tries to process his words. "Wait... you were looking for me?"
"Yes... that was the thing with the picture I mentioned," Noen explains, shifting slightly as the cold metal of the chains bites into his skin. "My System showed me a picture of the city from below. You were prominent on it, so I thought it must be some kind of hint from the Syste—"
"Wait, wait, wait," Nura interrupts him, her voice sharp with disbelief. "Your system showed you a picture?"
"Yes."
"Of me?"
"Yes."
Nura presses her eyes shut tightly, her brow furrowing in deep thought. This information clearly troubles her. "A system doesn't usually do that..." she muses, leaning her head against the stone wall. "Which city btw? Mine? Where im from?"
Noen looks at her, trying to recall the dusty streets and the heat of the place he had just left. "Well, I was in the city of the picture, and you were on it, so... probably yes."
Nura lets out a long, heavy yawn that echoes through the cold stone chamber. "Let's just sleep for now..." she says, her voice trailing off as she awkwardly turns her body within the constricting grip of the chains, trying to find a position that doesn't bruise her skin.
Noen remains upright for a moment, shifting his weight and tugging at his own shackles. He tries to lean against the rough sandy wall, attempting to make himself as comfortable as the cold iron and stone will allow, but it's a losing battle. Every move he makes is met with the sharp clink of metal and a new ache in his shoulders. It's useless.
"Good night!" Noen calls out softly.
"Good night," Nura replies.
After a short silence, Nura's voice cuts through the gloom again, barely a whisper. "Noen?"
"Yes?"
"Good luck with... tomorrow."
Noen feels a strange surge of warmth despite the chill of the cell. A confident grin spreads across his face in the pitch-black darkness.
"Thanks."