We eventually made our way back to their military base, which was less of a proper fortress and more of a heavily reinforced camp awkwardly wedged between towering piles of fossilized bones.
Someone who made this tried to make it look organized with barricades, watchtowers and supply lines, but there was only so much you could do when your building materials were literally the ribs of creatures that had probably once eaten mountains for breakfast.
Still, it was sturdy. Soldiers were tending to wounds. Others were dragging Krepsuna carcasses into designated burn pits, and a few were just sitting on the ground, staring blankly at nothing with that hollow, exhausted look only one could get after surviving something they weren't sure they should have.
We were led into a central camp area where a large command tent had been erected. As soon as we stepped inside, the atmosphere shifted from battlefield tension to that strange, almost awkward calm that came after victory,
Xander glanced around the tent, taking in the maps, the scattered reports, the stacks of weapon crates, and the makeshift tables covered in tactical markings. He let out a soft, almost nostalgic sigh.
"This feels familiar."
I plopped down onto one of the chairs.
"Familiar how? You miss the smell of blood and damp bone or something?"
He huffed out a small chuckle and shook his head.
"No. I mean this exact situation. During the First Epoch Cycle, we ended up in almost similar circumstances."
That caught my attention. I leaned forward, resting my chin on my palm.
"Oh? Story time, then. I love embarrassing old war stories."
Nelle—who I was now absolutely calling Nelle because it was shorter and way more fun to say—groaned softly but didn't interrupt him.
"Back then, Nelle and I were tasked with forming a temporary military base. A human king provided us with soldiers, and we were supposed to kill the Raukerai. It was chaotic, disorganized, and none of us really knew what we were doing."
"So it's basically the same as now, but with worse fashion."
He ignored that and kept going.
"Then Veneri appeared out of nowhere. He just walked into our camp like he'd been there the whole time. He wasn't alone either. He came with Peccavi after escaping the Frozen God."
That made the tent go a little quieter. Even now, the Frozen God was not exactly a topic people joked about casually.
"And then," Xander continued, "a few days later, Phaenora appeared. That was the first time she manifested a proper physical body."
"Ah yes, my glorious debut. I remember it like it was yesterday. I looked amazing."
Nelle's face immediately twisted into a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.
"You looked… fine."
"Fine? Nelle, I was ethereal perfection given form."
She covered her face with one hand and groaned.
"I was a teenager and stupid, okay? And you just suddenly appeared all beautiful and confident and walking around like you owned the place. Of course I didn't like you."
I blinked at her, then burst out laughing.
"Wait. Was it actually because you thought I was prettier than you?"
Her face turned bright red.
"No! I mean—yes! I mean—ugh! I was self-conscious about my body shape, alright? I was still growing and you showed up looking like some seductress. I was insecure!"
"Nelle, you were jealous of me? That's adorable."
She pointed a finger at me accusingly.
"You kept teasing me back then too!"
"Because it was funny. It's still funny now."
Veneri, who had been quietly watching this exchange, shook his head slightly.
"That was a long time ago. We were all teenagers back then. Now we're Divines leading our own Dynasties."
That simple statement made the tent go quiet again but this time it was a softer silence, filled with a strange mix of nostalgia and disbelief. It was honestly kind of surreal when you thought about it. Back then, we had been a bunch of overpowered, emotionally confused teenagers running around pretending we knew what we were doing. Now, we were still emotionally confused but with entire races depending on our decisions.
Nelle flopped down onto a nearby chair with a dramatic groan.
"I hate being the Supreme Commander. All I get is responsibility and the occasional chance to fight monsters that refuse to die properly. Meanwhile, my brother and my sister-in-law are off defending the Therianthropes trapped in other zones."
Xander nodded sympathetically.
"She's right. My sister forced me to come here too. Though in hindsight, it was the right call. If we hadn't come, this place holding a lot of Therianthropes would have collapsed completely."
"Yeah, yeah, still doesn't mean I have to enjoy it."
Nelle suddenly snapped her fingers as she remembered something.
"Oh! Speaking of which, Veneri, your personal army Insignia were sent to the Second Epoch Cycle along with us."
Veneri's eyes widened.
"They were?"
"Yeah. And honestly, if it wasn't for them, millions of Therianthropes would be dead right now. Well… more millions than already died when we were all teleported here."
The casual way she said that wasn't shocking anymore. The Second Epoch Cycle hadn't exactly been kind to anyone, but hearing the numbers spoken so bluntly always hit differently.
"Insignia were some of the first units to establish defensive perimeters and evacuation routes. They held the line in multiple locations while we were still trying to understand what was happening."
Veneri absorbed the information well, but I knew him well enough to recognize the faint tension in his expression. He cares about those soldiers more than he ever admitted out loud. After a brief pause, he asked.
"What happened after you arrived in this realm?"
Xander exhaled slowly and leaned back against the table behind him.
"We fought every day. From the moment we appeared here, the Krepsunas were already swarming. It was like they'd been waiting for us. They weren't normal Krepsunas either. For some reason, the ones in the Graveyard of Bones have insane regeneration. Even Sunderer Rank and Warped Rank Krepsunas heal faster than the ones back in Spheraphase."
Veneri nodded as he yawned.
"Yeah, we noticed. It's like this place is feeding them or something. Probably some ancient curse or whatever horrible thing ancient civilizations loved leaving behind."
Xander turned toward the map spread across the table.
"Eventually, we managed to push them back far enough to take control of a city they had been using as a hive. But that was a nightmare in itself. The entire place was saturated with the K-Virus."
"It took months to purify the city," Nelle cut in. "We had to burn entire districts, flood others with cleansing arrays and keep rotating the soldiers in and out so no one stayed exposed for too long. But we did it. Now the survivors are taking shelter there. It's not perfect, but it's stable enough that people can live there without turning into Krepsuna food or viral hosts."
"Which means, with the Graveyard of Bones finally cleared out, we should be able to start moving them back to safer territories."
I let out a low whistle and leaned back in my chair, folding my arms behind my head.
"So basically, you two have been running an apocalyptic refugee crisis while also fighting immortal corpse monsters and dealing with a soul-eating virus."
Nelle shot me a flat look.
"When you say it like that, it sounds way worse than it felt."
"That's because it is worse than it felt," I replied cheerfully. "You just got used to it."