The air in the Upper Chamber had grown thick, heavy with the kind of tension that pressed against the bones. Aaren walked with clenched fists, each step heavier than the last. His thoughts flickered between training drills and the gnawing absence of one name: Koro.
Lenara, skipping beside him with a half-smirk, seemed utterly unaffected by the oppressive mood. She had a habit of whistling off-key in moments like this, the sound so absurdly out of place it almost broke the atmosphere.
> "You know," she said, twirling her dagger like a baton, "if you keep walking like that, people are gonna think you're carrying a boulder under your shirt. Or worse, that you're constipated."
Aaren shot her a sideways glare. She grinned wider.
---
Meanwhile, far from them — Koro's path
Koro was not missing. Not exactly. He had been sent ahead — though "sent" was not the right word.
Two nights earlier, during the quiet hours after Aaren's training, Levitine had called Koro aside. No theatrics, no audience. Just the steel-eyed former king handing him a rolled parchment sealed with wax.
> "The Veiled Market," Levitine had said, voice low. "It drifts along the fracture lines of the Upper Chamber. Only opens when the wind smells like copper. Find the one called Vethis. Don't return until you've secured what we need."
Koro had understood immediately: this was not a mission for brute strength. It was for his eyes, his ears, his quick tongue — the talents he honed before meeting Aaren. The parchment contained a sketch: a glass vial of swirling black liquid. Beside it, in Levitine's precise handwriting: Serpent's Breath.
And so, while Aaren slept, Koro slipped away with only a knife, his coin pouch, and a cloak dyed to blend into the shifting lights of the Chamber.
---
The Veiled Market was nothing like the bustling trading hubs of the Lower Chamber. It was carved into a cliffside, the stalls hanging from chains over an abyss where faint violet mist churned like an ocean. Lanterns swayed from long poles, their flames blue and cold. Every merchant wore a mask — bone, porcelain, or stitched leather — and spoke in voices that seemed to come from behind a wall.
Koro had been here once before, years ago, though he doubted anyone remembered. This time, he moved with more caution. The place wasn't dangerous because of its blades; it was dangerous because of its deals. One wrong word and you could trade away more than coin.
He found Vethis in a corner stall draped with hanging charms and strips of paper covered in tiny prayers. The merchant's mask was shaped like a fox, but its eyes glowed faint green.
> "Serpent's Breath," Koro said, keeping his voice even. "Levitine sent me."
The fox mask tilted.
> "Then you know the price," Vethis replied.
Koro did not know the price. But he smiled anyway.
---
Back with Aaren and the others
> "He's not dead," Lenara said suddenly, her tone almost too casual.
Aaren stopped walking. "What?"
> "Koro. You've been acting like the Chamber swallowed him whole. But trust me—" she flicked her dagger toward the horizon "—he's just off doing something… probably sneaky."
Her grin softened slightly. "And if it makes you feel better, he's annoyingly hard to kill."
Aaren didn't reply, but his jaw loosened. Lenara, satisfied, went back to spinning her dagger and humming tunelessly.
---
Koro's why
Vethis had finally named the price. It wasn't coin. It wasn't a trade of goods.
> "One truth," the fox mask had said. "Not about the Chambers. Not about your companions. A truth about you."
Koro hesitated. He had spent years keeping those truths buried — the ones about his family, the ones about the night he left his home in flames. But this was for Aaren, and for the strange, impossible journey they were now bound to.
> "Fine," he said. "When I was thirteen, I sold my father's sword for enough coin to buy a ticket out of the Lower Chamber. I never went back."
Vethis bowed once, then reached under the stall. When the vial of Serpent's Breath appeared in the lantern light, its black mist swirled like living smoke.
Koro took it, wrapped it in cloth, and turned back toward the path. His part was done. Now he just had to survive the return trip.
---
Far away, unaware of the deal struck on his behalf, Aaren looked at Lenara and muttered,
> "When he gets back, he's explaining everything."
Lenara only smirked. "Good luck making him talk. Koro's got more secrets than this Chamber has shadows."
And somewhere in those shadows, Koro was already moving — vial hidden, mind heavy with the truth he'd just sold.