The fire had burned down to little more than ash, faint trails of smoke curling into the stale dungeon air. The silence was different now not the predatory hush before an ambush, but the kind of awkward silence, after seeing someone you rejected.
Zane shifted, his muscles stiff, though his body bore no trace of the wounds he remembered. That fact alone set unease gnawing at the edge of his mind.
Across the dying fire, Adrian hadn't moved an inch. His eyes locked on Zane, steady and searching, like he was trying to read the truth straight from his soul.
Zane met his gaze but said nothing.
"You should start talking," Adrian said at last, his voice quiet, but the weight behind it cut sharper than a blade. "Whatever that was back there… it wasn't normal."
Zane kept his expression calm, but inside, the words gnawed at him. He didn't know what to say. Didn't know if saying anything was even safe.
Adrian leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. "I saw you tear through three D-ranks like they were training dummies. You don't get to shrug that off as dumbluck."
Zane stayed silent.
"Your hair changed. One eye turned blue. You grew wings, wings Zane. And then there was that damn crown of light … a crown. Light bending around you like you weren't even human anymore." Adrian's voice cracked slightly, frustration spilling out. "And then you collapsed like it ripped everything out of you."
The words hung in the air, too heavy to dismiss.
Lyra pushed herself upright, the blanket slipping from her shoulders. She blinked groggily, then froze when she noticed the tension between them. Her eyes flicked from Zane to Adrian, and finally lingered on her twin.
"…Zane?" she asked softly, voice almost fragile.
Zane's throat tightened. He wanted to reassure her, to deflect, to bury it all — but the memory of her scream, the sight of her arm torn away, the moment he'd lost himself, burned too fresh in his mind.
Adrian didn't let the silence stretch. He pressed harder, his tone sharper now."I've known you for a month, and you've always been strange. Stronger than you should be. Too calm when everything's going to hell. But this? This was something else. And if you don't tell us what's going on, I can't—" He stopped, jaw tight, then spat the words out anyway. "I can't trust you."
That stung more than Zane wanted to admit.
The fire popped softly, a coal collapsing into dust.
Finally, Zane exhaled slowly, his gaze falling to the embers. "…Where are we?"
Adrian blinked. "What?"
"How long was I out?" Zane clarified, his tone carefully even. "And how were we healed?"
The deflection was clear, and Adrian's scowl deepened. But after a beat, he answered anyway. "A day. Maybe less. When I woke, our wounds were gone. No scars, no pain. Like nothing happened. I don't know how." He leaned in again, eyes narrowing. "And don't think I didn't notice how conveniently you're dodging my question."
Zane didn't look up. He couldn't.
Lyra's eyes lingered on him, worried and searching. But she didn't press. Not yet.
Adrian stared at him for a long moment, his jaw working as if he were chewing on every word Zane hadn't said. The firelight made the shadows under his eyes look darker, sharper.
"You're really not going to tell us anything, are you?" he said finally, voice flat but laced with heat. "You almost die in front of us, grow wings and a crown like some… goddamn angel, and then you act like it's none of our business?"
Zane's fingers curled loosely against his knee. He didn't rise to the bait, didn't defend himself. His silence was answer enough.
Adrian let out a harsh laugh that carried no humor. "Unbelievable." He stood, running a hand through his tangled hair, sparks snapping faintly across his skin. "You know what pisses me off the most? It's not the secrets. It's that you don't even try to lie. You just sit there, stone-faced, like we're supposed to accept it."
Lyra glanced between them, tension thick in her eyes. "Adrian—"
"No," Adrian cut in, pointing at Zane. "He's hiding something huge. We all saw it. And if we keep pretending nothing's wrong, it's going to get us killed." His gaze burned into Zane's, sharp and unyielding. "So tell me why I shouldn't walk away right now."
For a long stretch of silence, Zane didn't move. His heartbeat thudded in his ears, but his face stayed calm. Then, finally, he lifted his eyes.
"…Because I don't know."
The words were quiet. Almost too quiet. But they carried weight.
Adrian froze. His mouth opened, closed again. The anger didn't fade completely, but something in his posture shifted. He raked a hand down his face, muttering, "Damn it." Then he exhaled hard, shoulders slumping.
"Fine. Keep your secrets. For now. But if things go south again, I expect answers. Got it?"
Zane gave the faintest nod.
Adrian didn't look satisfied, but he didn't press further. Instead, he turned toward the cave mouth, and started moved. "Come on. Sitting here won't do us any good."
Lyra rose more slowly, her hand brushing Zane's arm briefly, almost hesitant. Her eyes said what her lips didn't she believed him, or at least wanted to.
The three of them stepped out of the shadows and into the light.
Zane blinked against the sudden brightness. The stale air of the dungeon gave way to the crisp bite of morning wind. Trees stretched skyward in all directions, their leaves glistening with dew, birds calling faintly overhead.
Adrian stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes darted around, disbelief etched across his face. "No way."
Lyra gasped softly, hand flying to her mouth.
Because it wasn't some unknown wilderness.
It was the forest. The same one they'd entered before descending into the damning ordeal. The moss-covered stones. The broken arch still standing crooked among the roots. Even the faint trail of bootprints they'd left behind was still there, leading back toward the dungeon gate.
They hadn't escaped. Somehow, impossibly…
They were back where they started.
---
Adrian turned in a slow circle, scanning the trees, his jaw tight."This doesn't make sense," he muttered. "We were buried gods-know-how-deep. Fighting for our lives. And now…" He gestured at the forest around them, the familiar mossy arch, the dappled sunlight breaking through leaves. "It's like we got spat back to the beginning."
Lyra knelt near the stone arch, her fingers tracing the grooves along its surface. Her voice was quiet, but steady."It is the beginning. This is where we came in." She glanced at her twin, her eyes sharp. "But that means the dungeon… let us go?"
Zane stood at the tree line, his gaze fixed on the shifting mist at the edges of the clearing. It clung to the shadows, restless, refusing to vanish completely."No," he said. "Not let go. It brought us back."
Adrian's head snapped toward him. "Brought us back? Why?"
Zane didn't answer. Truth was, he didn't know. He only felt the same weight in the air, the same silent pressure as in the desert. The dungeon wasn't finished. It was watching. Waiting.
Lyra rose to her feet, brushing dirt from her knees. "Either way, standing here won't give us answers. We should leave. At least outside we can breathe."
Adrian gave a humorless laugh. "Leave. Right. And pray the door magically leads out of this hell."
For a moment, none of them said anything. The forest was still, the only sound the faint rustle of leaves overhead.
Finally, Zane stepped forward, placing one hand on the worn stones of the arch. His expression didn't change, but his voice carried a quiet finality.
"Whatever this place wanted, it isn't over. But if there's a way out… we should take it."
Lyra nodded once and fell in step beside him. Adrian hesitated, casting one last glance at the mist curling along the treeline. Then he shook his head and followed."Fine. But if the floor shifts again and we end up deeper, I'm blaming you."
Together, the three of them crossed the mossy threshold.
And for the first time since they entered the dungeon, they saw the faint shimmer of light that marked the end of the tunnel.