The first tremor was small.
Barely noticeable.
Just a whisper beneath their feet.
Then—
The ground lurched violently, a deep rumbling reverberating through the decayed walls of their temporary shelter.
A loose chunk of rubble collapsed from above, smashing into the floor with a jarring crash.
Nefer's eyes snapped open instantly, her body shifting into a defensive posture as instinct took over. Beside her, Massa awoke with a startled gasp, her fingers instinctively curling as if ready to summon a Memory.
Hope was already standing.
He had never slept again after waking from that unsettling dream.
The moment the tremors began, he knew what was coming.
Nefer sighed heavily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before muttering, "The landscape is shifting. We have to move."
Hope didn't argue.
Instead, he bent down, grabbed the slab of meat from the ground, and followed them outside.
—
The cracked moon loomed overhead.
It hung low in the sky, its surface shattered into fragments that floated eerily around it—a silent testament to the chaos of this world.
And then, the change began.
The barren wasteland around them shuddered, tearing apart as fissures split open, revealing the unknown depths beneath.
Hope gulped.
The ground before them broke apart, and from the gaps rose structures that had not been there before—ancient sculptures, half-buried ruins, towering monoliths whose origins were lost to time.
In the distance, mountains began to shift, their very forms twisting and reshaping as if they were living things.
Caves yawned open, their entrances leading into black voids, whispering with the promise of horrors unseen.
It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
Hope had seen it once before, but experiencing it again still sent a shiver crawling down his spine.
Then—silence.
The world stopped shifting.
Everything became still once more, as if nothing had happened.
Nefer stepped forward first. "Let's find a place to stay."
—
After some time, they came across a cave entrance, carved into the side of a newly formed rock face.
The inside stretched deep into the unknown, disappearing into impenetrable darkness.
None of them dared to venture too far in.
The Ashlands had already taught them a cruel lesson—some places were better left unexplored.
Hope dropped the slab of meat, letting out a slow exhale as he settled down.
The cave was pitch black, but that didn't bother him.
He could see in the dark.
And he could see them.
Nefer sat against the cave wall, her eyes narrowed slightly, deep in thought. Massa was a little more relaxed, but her hand never strayed far from her staff.
For a while, no one spoke.
The silence stretched thin—not as oppressive as before, but still heavy.
Hope finally broke it.
"Since we'll be with each other for some time, why don't we share our powers and flaws?"
His voice echoed slightly against the stone walls.
Nefer's gaze flickered toward him, but she said nothing.
Hope continued, "It'll help us when battling foes. If we know each other's strengths, we can fight more efficiently. And if we know each other's weaknesses… we can aid each other in times of trouble."
It was a logical idea.
But that didn't mean it would be well-received.
Most people—especially Awakened—guarded their flaws carefully.
Because a weakness known was a weakness exploited.
Still, Hope wasn't just saying this for their sake.
He needed them to trust him.
To lower their guard just enough.
He wasn't naive enough to think they had fully accepted him yet. Nefer still watched him with suspicion, and Massa… Massa had been strangely neutral so far.
That meant he had to take the first step.
"I'll start," he said, making his voice sound earnest, confident.
Hope knew how to sell a lie—or at least, a carefully controlled truth.
His real flaw—the thing lurking inside him, whispering in his dreams—was not something he intended to share.
But this?
This would be enough.
"My awakened ability gives me a connection to darkness."
He said it casually, as if it wasn't a dangerous ability that could be used in countless unpredictable ways.
Then he added the second part, the bait—his flaw.
"And sometimes, I'm… unlucky. It may affect others."
That part was true enough.
Hope had seen it happen more than once.
The misfortune that clung to him like a second skin—the way those around him always seemed to suffer.
Nefer's eyes narrowed further, watching him closely.
He could tell she was trying to determine if he was lying.
Then, slowly—she nodded.
"Well… he's telling the truth."
Hope grinned slightly.
"Haha, why would I lie?" he said smoothly, leaning back. "I trust you guys to do the same."
In reality, it didn't matter if they shared their flaws or not.
What mattered was that he had just planted a seed.
A seed of trust—or at least, the illusion of it.