Chapter 93 — Warmth in the Dust
For the first time since the pyramid swallowed them, the air was calm.
The ruined village no longer echoed with screams or the clattering of broken chains. The corrupted tribe lay silent, their dark aura fading out of existence as the pyramid reclaimed their forms. Only the crackle of fire broke the night-like quiet — a small flame Sera had coaxed into life with a few sparks of her healing magic and a careful arrangement of dry reed scraps.
The scent of meat sizzling drifted through the clearing.
Sera hovered over the Razorback Lizard carcass — the huge, armored beast they'd slain before their disastrous battle with the tribe. She wasn't a warrior by nature, but she had steady hands and a quiet love for cooking that made her strangely meticulous now. Seasoned herbs Volgrat had kept in his pouch danced across the meat, releasing a cloud of savory steam that made all their stomachs twist with hunger.
Volgrat sat nearby, bruised, battered, and scribbling notes in his small iron-bound journal, occasionally raising his nose to sniff the air.
Mara was repairing her shield, reinforcing the cracks with earth essence. Blake lounged against a broken hut wall, venom mist curling lazily around him — harmless unless he willed otherwise.
And John…
John sat closest to the fire, staring into it as if studying something far beyond flame.
Tamara took the seat beside him without hesitation.
Their shoulders brushed as they sat close together.
Sera finally stepped back from the fire, wiping her forehead.
"…Okay," she sighed, "it's done."
Volgrat practically teleported to her side. "Sera, you're a goddess. I swear you put some sort of culinary enchantment on this—"
She flicked his forehead. "Hurry up and eat."
They passed out plates made from pieces of broken hut-wood. The meat was tender, smoky, with a faint tang of the Razorback's natural fiery essence. Even John — who had gone days without eating, who was still covered in dried blood — took a slow bite and exhaled softly.
"Damn," Blake muttered between mouthfuls, "Sera, if this cultivation thing doesn't work out, you could open a restaurant."
"That's a fair point," Mara added with a look of amusement.
For a while, they simply ate.
The pyramid had tried to kill them with poison, illusions, nightmares, corruption, and raw brutality. For this fleeting moment, it offered nothing but silence.
Tamara watched the quiet settle over them.
She'd missed this — people she trusted, people who she stood side by side with in battle, people who didn't look at her like a pawn or a runaway. She'd missed John most of all, though she hadn't admitted it out loud.
She nudged him with her elbow. "You gonna tell us what happened to you?"
John swallowed, wiped his mouth with a strip of cloth, and finally looked at the group.
"It's… a long story."
"Good," Blake said. "We've got time."
John hesitated.
Then began.
"The trial I took… wasn't what I expected," he said, staring again at the fire. "It looked like a garden. Peaceful. But the pressure in there…" His hand twitched involuntarily. "It wanted to crush me. Kill me. Break me."
Mara frowned. "You mean a mental test?"
"It was a test of willpower more then anything." John's jaw flexed. "I only survived because I was forced to rely on the eclipse heart. ."
Tamara's gaze sharpened.
"Your heart," she whispered.
He didn't deny it.
"The darkness tried to push its way through," John said. "But I pushed back. Barely." He flexed his fingers. "The pressure forced a breakthrough in my physical cultivation."
Volgrat's eyes went wide. "Physical cultivation?! At your stage?"
Blake let out a low whistle. "Damn, man. That's insane."
Alaric's voice slipped through John's mind then, amused and proud:
"Break the Mortal Realm before D rank is an insane achievement."
John continued aloud:
"My physical body… it's different now. Stronger than it should be. Strong enough to take on Step Sevens bare-handed."
Tamara smiled — small, warm.
"I noticed."
He coughed awkwardly but didn't look away.
Blake leaned forward, swirling mist off his fingertips.
"If we're sharing… I guess it's my turn."
The others turned to him.
Blake took a slow breath, his expression darkening.
"I fought… memories." His voice cracked for a second. "It showed me something I lost. Someone I lost. But I survived. Barely."
John didn't speak, but his shoulder brushed Blake's again — silent reassurance.
"And there was an egg on the ground after the challenge was done." Blake went on, "it wasn't an egg. It was a core seed that evolved my poison."
Volgrat's quill froze above his notebook. "You mean—?"
"I have a dual-aspect core now," Blake said quietly. "It's poison and mesmer. It's still new to me but from what I feel. It's just raw power and I can feel my cultivation growing rapidly.
Blake's eyes shifted — projecting a faint, hypnotic violet-green shimmer.
Even Mara stiffened.
"That trait hasn't existed since the old poison clans," Volgrat whispered.
"That's amazing." Sera asked exclaimed
Blake looked at her.
The mist around him swirled… then faded.
Tamara nodded, satisfied.
"Looks like our team just got a lot stronger."
Blake blinked — startled by the simplicity of her acceptance.
John smirked. "We still have a long way to go."
Blake threw a bone at him. John batted it aside without looking.
The group laughed.
And the tension cracked like brittle stone.
Eventually, the conversation shifted.
Mara nudged a massive stone shield closer to the firelight.
"This," she said proudly, "came from our treasure room."
John leaned in. "What does it do?"
"It doubles my defense," Mara said with a grin. "I could probably tank a dragon."
"No," Volgrat muttered, "you absolutely could not—"
Sera lifted her healing tome. "Mine is simple. It amplifies restorative magic a lot. It also gives skills that I was able to learn. A healing skill that can bring you back from the brink of death. Then a swiftness skill."
John nodded. "That'll keep us alive."
Volgrat cleared his throat smugly. "And I have something far better. A Tier Three Rage Pill recipe."
John whistled.
"Those can turn a weak cultivator into a monster for a few minutes."
Volgrat beamed.
Tamara merely lifted her sword — the same one she had always used.
"I still have my sword."
"What about Lysa?"
The fire crackled.
Blake's jaw tightened.
"She's gone," he said simply. "And she betrayed us. She was with the dark masters all along. She was a spy sent to watch us all along."
John's hand hovered near Blake's shoulder, grounding him, but didn't press further.
Tamara's eyes dimmed. "She was?."
"Yeah," Blake replied. "She teleported away with a relic."
They all looked a little shaken from the news. Mara and sera more then anyone. They had been with her for a very long time.
"I guess you can never know who someone really is." Mara said while looking down at the ground.
One by one, exhaustion began to creep into them.
Volgrat fell asleep leaning against ember.
Sera rested her head on Mara's shoulder.
Blake dozed sitting up, daggers crossed in his lap like a sleeping animal guarding its territory.
The fire grew smaller. The air quieter.
And John remained awake.
Tamara noticed.
She slid closer.
"You're not sleeping?"
John shook his head. "Too much on my mind."
"…Me too," she whispered.
She hesitated, then leaned gently against his arm.
John didn't move.
He only shifted slightly so her head could rest against his shoulder more comfortably.
They sat in silence like that, surrounded by the soft breaths of their friends and the crackling embers.
Finally Tamara whispered:
"That genie… he said the item waiting for me in the next room would be something I'd love."
John tilted his head to look at her.
Her cheeks were faintly pink in the firelight.
"And now?" he asked.
Tamara exhaled shakily.
"I guess we will see."
She rested her head fully against him, her hair brushing his cheek.
John's chest warmed.
His hand hovered for a moment… then gently rested over hers.
Tamara's eyes softened.
The fire crackled softly.
And the dust-filled night of the pyramid felt, for the first time, warm.