Morning arrived slowly over the ancient forest.
A thin veil of mist still lingered between the towering trees.
Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, spilling onto the damp earth like ribbons of gold, illuminating the cracks left behind by yesterday's battle.
The forest was beautiful once more.
But it was not whole.
Fallen trunks still lay scattered like the casualties of war.
The shattered ground had already begun to sprout fresh green shoots.
Birdsong returned cautiously, as though even nature feared breaking the silence.
The forest was healing.
And like everything that heals...
It still carried pain.
Near the wreckage of the Dominion vehicles, the Nutritional Guardians prepared to leave.
Supply crates were sealed.
Ropes were tightened.
Equipment was counted one final time.
There were no cheers of victory.
Only exhaustion.
Farhan sat on a large boulder with his laptop resting on his knees.
His eyes were red from lack of sleep.
"All of the Forest Core data has been secured," he said quietly.
Lila stood beside him, tablet in hand.
"The resonance is stable. Every trace of synthetic energy is gone."
Farhan nodded.
But as he reached to close the laptop, his hand trembled.
Lila immediately caught his wrist.
"You need to rest."
He forced a smile.
"Later."
Nearby, Bimo stretched his back—
Then instantly winced.
"Ah... bad idea."
Rani glanced at the freshly bandaged wound on his shoulder.
"You really need to stop pretending you're invincible."
Bimo snorted.
"I'm not pretending."
"I just happen to look handsome when I'm injured."
Dika chuckled.
"Even half-dead, you're still full of yourself."
"That's a talent."
A few weary smiles appeared.
The laughter lasted only a moment.
But it was enough to warm the heavy silence.
Sinta stood apart from the others.
Her eyes remained fixed on the depths of the forest—
toward the place where Ursa Vitalis had disappeared.
Her fists had not relaxed once.
Kai quietly joined her.
"You still haven't let it go."
Sinta didn't look at him.
"I almost lost him."
Kai remained silent.
She lowered her head.
"I kept giving orders."
"'Move.'"
"'Advance.'"
"'Faster.'"
"But if even one decision had been wrong..."
She swallowed the rest of her words.
"...I could have led everyone to their deaths."
Kai looked toward the endless trees.
"If it weren't for you..."
"...none of us would have made it this far."
A faint smile crossed Sinta's lips.
"That doesn't make the fear disappear."
A few steps away, Arga stood alone.
The MBG Lunchbox rested quietly in his hands.
He slowly opened it.
Sixteen glowing rice grains floated peacefully inside.
Normally...
Their light calmed him.
Not today.
He could still hear Ursa Vitalis' roar.
Still see the earth splitting apart.
Still remember the terrified faces of his teammates as chaos nearly consumed them.
His hands trembled.
"We won..."
he whispered.
His eyes reddened.
"...so why does it feel like I've lost something?"
He quickly closed the lunchbox—
As if afraid someone might see the cracks inside him.
But someone was already standing behind him.
Pak Rahmat.
For a long moment, the older man said nothing.
He simply watched the recovering forest.
Then he spoke quietly.
"An easy victory..."
"...is never a true victory."
Arga turned toward him.
Pak Rahmat continued,
"If your heart doesn't leave the battlefield wounded..."
"...then you were never protecting anything worth protecting."
Arga fell silent.
There was something in the man's voice.
Not advice.
Memory.
As though he had once paid the very same price.
Suddenly—
Farhan stood up.
"You all need to see this."
Everyone gathered around.
A world map filled the laptop screen.
Points of light glowed across the globe.
Mountain ranges.
Islands.
Forests.
Deserts.
The deepest oceans.
And one point in the far north—
Pulsed brighter than all the others.
Lila watched the rapidly changing readings.
"The energy level is rising far too quickly."
Kai narrowed his eyes.
"It's not just powerful."
He looked at Arga.
"It's calling."
The lunchbox in Arga's hands suddenly shook violently.
He nearly dropped it.
When he opened it—
The sixteen glowing rice grains released streams of white mist.
Not heat.
Cold.
An unbearable cold.
Frost spread across the edges of the lunchbox.
Rani instinctively stepped back.
"The temperature's dropping..."
Farhan stared at the sensors.
"Rapidly."
-5.
-12.
-21.
Bimo stared at his own breath.
"...I'm breathing smoke."
No one answered.
Because the air around them had truly changed.
Arga closed his eyes—
And the vision returned.
An endless frozen wasteland.
A black sky consumed by relentless blizzards.
Ice mountains the size of cities.
Gigantic fractures spreading across ancient snowfields.
And deep beneath thousands of years of frozen silence—
Something moved.
Massive chains of ice, each as large as a tower, tightened—
Then snapped.
CLANG!
A pair of brilliant blue eyes opened in the darkness.
They did not belong to an animal.
Nor to a monster.
They belonged to something furious...
Something enraged for having been awakened.
Arga's eyes flew open.
His entire body trembled.
"...It's awake."
Sinta immediately rushed over.
"Who?"
Arga stared at the glowing point in the north.
His voice was barely audible.
"The Guardian of the Polar Core."
Silence fell over the group.
Then Pak Rahmat spoke.
Only one sentence.
Softly.
Almost too softly to hear.
"If it has truly awakened..."
"...then we may already be too late."
Everyone turned toward him.
Farhan frowned.
"You know about the Polar Guardian?"
Pak Rahmat didn't answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed on the northern point.
For far too long.
Finally, he said only,
"Get on the helicopter."
No explanation.
And somehow...
That made the silence even heavier.
Several hours later—
They arrived at an open field near the edge of the forest.
A helicopter waited for them.
Its rotors slowly began to spin.
WHRRRRRRR...
Powerful winds swept dried leaves into the air.
One by one, they climbed aboard.
Arga was the last.
But just before stepping inside—
The ground behind him trembled.
BOOM.
He turned.
From between the ancient trees—
Ursa Vitalis appeared once again.
It did not roar.
It did not attack.
The colossal Guardian simply stood there, looking at Arga.
Then...
It lowered its head.
A small golden ember emerged from its chest.
A warm light, no larger than a clenched fist.
The glowing ember floated toward Arga.
Then disappeared into the MBG Lunchbox.
The lunchbox pulsed once.
Deep.
Heavy.
A burning warmth spread through Arga's hand.
A new symbol slowly appeared on his wrist—
A glowing mark shaped like the claw of a great beast.
Kai drew in a sharp breath.
"...A Guardian's Blessing."
Ursa Vitalis lifted its gaze toward the north.
Then quietly turned away.
Without looking back even once—
It disappeared into the forest.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Each step echoed like the heartbeat of the ancient woods.
The helicopter lifted into the sky.
The endless forest slowly shrank beneath them.
The vast green sea faded into drifting mist.
Before long...
Only clouds remained below.
Inside the cabin, almost no one spoke.
Farhan silently studied the incoming data.
Sinta stared blankly ahead.
Bimo had already fallen asleep in his seat, softly snoring.
Dika secretly snapped a picture of him.
Arga looked out the window.
Toward the north.
The sky there looked paler.
Darker.
Colder.
Across from him, Pak Rahmat sat in silence.
His lips moved ever so slightly.
As though whispering a name he hoped no one would hear.
"...Astra Borealis."
Arga looked up.
"What?"
Pak Rahmat met his eyes for a brief moment.
Then smiled faintly.
"It's nothing."
But Arga knew.
It wasn't nothing.
Far to the north—
At the heart of a blizzard that had raged for countless centuries—
A wall of ancient ice, as tall as a mountain, cracked from within.
CRAAAAACK!!
The colossal being imprisoned behind it stirred.
Frozen chains shattered one after another.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Then—
A single brilliant blue eye opened completely.
And across the frozen sky...
The entire storm changed direction.