He drew in a slow, pained breath and pushed himself forward. The ruins were bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, painting the broken stones in a golden glow as he limped toward the captive, who had shifted against a broken pillar.
Before Kael was within ten feet, two eyes snapped open, gleaming in the dim light with a disturbing lack of fear. They watched his approach with cool, analytical amusement.
"Took you long enough," the captive said, his voice smooth and laced with dark playfulness. "For a moment, I thought I'd have to watch you get split in half. That would have been dreadfully boring."
Kael ignored the barb, jaw tight with pain and fatigue. "The lock. How do I get it off?"
The captive laughed softly, the sound more unsettling than loud. "Always straight to business, aren't you? No 'thank you for saving my life'? No 'are you alright'?" His head tilted. "Though, I suppose I should be asking you that. You look terrible."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Thank you? Aren't you the one who should be thanking me?"
The boy leaned forward slightly, the grey bands on his wrists seeming to drink in the golden light. "Maybe. However, your plan was full of holes. All that noise to lure them, only for them to hesitate? It would have failed. It only worked because I was there to… persuade them." His smile widened, teeth catching the last glow of dusk. "You didn't lure them into a trap, my savior. You just rang the dinner bell. I made sure they were hungry."
Kael's frown deepened. What the hell is he talking about?
"And how exactly did you do that? Aren't your powers… related to space?"
The boy's grin sharpened, eyes glinting with something unreadable. "Space?" He chuckled, low and dismissive. "My, my. It seems you're mistaken." He leaned back, voice dipping into playful mockery. "I'm grateful, truly. But I'm not naïve enough to go around revealing my cards. Not yet."
Kael studied him. "So… you're saying you somehow made them take the bait."
"You bet I did." The captive's grin widened, sharp and knowing.
Kael's stomach knotted. Now that I think about it… they were careless, far too careless. Suspicion weighed heavy in his chest. This wasn't just a dangerous boy—he was unpredictable. This is dangerous.
"I don't trust you," Kael said flatly.
The captive's lips curled into that unnerving grin. "Good. That means you're not completely stupid. Trust gets people killed." He stretched his shackled arms with casual ease. "Now hurry up and take these off. Since we've got a guest on the way."
His gaze flicked past Kael, glimmering with mischief. "And it would be terribly rude of me to greet them while still chained, don't you think?"
Kael scoffed, anger seeping past his exhaustion. "You're talking about rude? Bastard, you haven't even told me your name. Whatever you did, I was the one who did the heavy work—yet you're making it sound like I was the one who needed saving. I could have just left you!"
The captive leaned back, utterly unbothered. His eyes glittered. "Could you, though?"
'What!? Does he know why I saved him? ',The thought rattled Kael, but he kept his face cold, refusing to give anything away.
Before Kael could think further, the boy smirked. "You don't strike me as the type. Besides…" His voice dipped into mocking sweetness. "You still haven't introduced yourself either. Tsk, tsk. Very discourteous of you, my savior."
Kael let out a quiet breath he hadn't realized he was holding. 'Seems like he doesn't know. That's a relief.'
"Fair enough," he said dryly. "Ash. That's my name. Now show some courtesy."
The boy's grin curved sharper. "Courtesy? Hah. How quaint." He let the silence stretch, then said, "Very well. If you insist… you can call me—Null."
The name seemed to echo in the ruins, cold and heavy, as if the stones themselves disapproved.
Null rattled his shackles, the faint clink echoing. "Now, now, let's get me out of these chains, shall we?" His smile thinned into a razor-edge. "I'd hate to rely on you any longer. You look like you might fall over at any second. Imagine the embarrassment—my great savior, dying before my eyes like a half-crushed rat."
Kael's teeth ground together, a flare of anger tightening his chest. "Keep talking like that, and I'll leave you to rot here."
Null's eyes lit with mock delight. "Oh, delightful. Empty threats from my savior. You sound just like them, the ones who chained me. All bark, no bite." His grin turned intimate, cutting. "But you won't leave. You can't. You need me far too much."
Kael's patience cracked. "Just tell me what to do," he gritted out.
"Of course." Null nodded toward Jeron's corpse, lying twisted nearby. "The Divinity lock is bound to a Command Ward. The big one should have it. Blackened iron, carved with a closed eye. Bring it here."
Suppressing disgust, Kael staggered over to the body. His legs shook beneath him, every step reminding him how close he was to collapse. He rifled through the giant's pouch, fingers brushing against something unnaturally cold. The shard of iron gleamed faintly, its carved symbol a staring eye forever shut.
He limped back and held it out.
"Excellent," Null purred. His playfulness turned sharp. "Press it to the lock. But tell me, savior what makes you think I won't just kill you after I'm free?"
Kael exhaled through his nose. "Why would you? Besides, I don't exactly have a choice. The monster's close, and my best bet is you. If you kill me, then so be it."
Null chuckled, low and delighted. "Honest. I like that."
Kael pressed the shard against the shackles. They hummed with a low, unnatural resonance before splitting apart with a hiss of steam. The broken chains clattered to the stone.
Null flexed his wrists, rubbing at raw skin. For a moment, the grin slipped,his expression turning still, hollow, unreadable. The air itself seemed to tense. Then he pulled back his hood and Kael caught his first clear look at the Null's face.
He looked Kael's age, lean and wiry, with pale ash-colored hair that fell messily around a narrow, foxlike face. His skin was too clean for a prisoner, untouched by ruin. And his eyes grey with fractured black rings,shifted like shattered glass, playful one moment, void the next. When the grin returned, it was slower, more deliberate, as though he were savoring the first taste of freedom.
"Much better," Null murmured, stretching with catlike ease. "You have no idea how suffocating those things were. I could kiss you, savior. Though I suspect you'd rather put a bullet between my eyes."
Kael's hand tightened on his revolver. "Don't tempt me."
Null chuckled, brushing past him. He stopped over Jeron's corpse, peering down at the slack face with disdain.
"All that strength, all that size…" His voice dipped, quiet and cutting. "And still just another corpse."
He bent, grasping Jeron's greatsword. The blade was taller than Kael, chipped and blackened with battle, yet Null hefted it with ease, balancing it across his shoulders like a toy.
Kael's stomach tightened at the sight, Before he think any further, a low, guttural roar tore across the ruins,making the ground tremble. Dust rained down from broken walls. The sound was distant, but drawing closer.
Null's grin sharpened, his eyes gleaming with a predator's delight.
"Ah, finally," he whispered. "Our guest has arrived."