The night air smelled of campfire smoke, roasted herbs, and despair.
Mostly Ember's despair.
Nyxar stood over his pan, flipping something golden and sizzling with the stoic precision of a battlefield surgeon.
Vespera stood beside him now, silent as always, peering over his shoulder with that unblinking spider-eyed intensity that made even the food nervous.
Vespera: "That leaf is in the wrong place."
Nyxar: "Where?"
Vespera: "There." [Points vaguely at the pan.]
Nyxar: "Ah." [Moves the leaf one inch.]
Vespera: "Better."
Ember sat by the fire watching this.
Her expression was… hard to describe.
Imagine someone watching their child graduate culinary school at age five.
A single tear slid down her cheek again.
Ember: "…She's correcting him."
Sylas: [Suppressing laughter so hard it hurts.] "Heh—y-yeah, that's… tragic."
Ember: "She's helping him cook, Sylas."
Sylas: "Mhm." [Lip twitching.]
Ember: "She's making the food better."
Sylas: [Now wheezing slightly.] "Mhmhmhm."
Ember: "They're… they're improving together."
Sylas: [Loses it.] "Pfft—okay, I'm sorry, I can't—"
Narrator: "And somewhere deep inside, Ember's ego fell over, rolled into the fire, and was never seen again."
Meanwhile, Belos was on a personal side quest: Sneak Around Camp Without Getting Caught™.
Tiny footsteps.
Tiny giggles.
Two mini steel bears rolling beside him like little armored potatoes of mischief.
He rummaged through Bug's bag, stole a shiny pebble, tripped over a log, got caught in Vespera's webbing (which she hadn't noticed she'd left there), and still somehow escaped with a biscuit.
The bears celebrated by clanking their heads together in solidarity.
Narrator: "Truly, the criminal underworld had found its newest prodigy."
Back in the field kitchen of nightmares, Nyxar and Vespera had done it.
Against all odds—and literacy—they had produced food that looked exactly like the picture.
Steam rose in perfect swirls. The colors were balanced. Even the garnish looked smug.
Vespera: "It matches."
Nyxar: "Almost."
Vespera: "Perfection is for prey."
Nyxar: "True."
Narrator: "Was that wisdom? Was that a threat? Unclear."
Ember, watching, whispered:
Ember: "I regret living."
When the food hit the fire circle, conversation stopped.
Everyone froze mid-breath as the smell hit them.
Bug: "...Is that… buttery?"
Spirit: "I smell roasted herbs. And dignity."
Sylas: "I smell… competence. I'm scared."
They all took a bite.
Silence.
Then a collective, reverent "holy crap."
Driver: "This… this tastes like pay raise."
Sebastian: [Visibly impressed but pretending not to be.] "Acceptable."
Ember: [Flatly.] "It's divine."
Narrator: "And with that, Ember's culinary reign was officially over. Rest in pepper flakes."
As the others devoured their dinner, Nyxar sat quietly, eating slower. His attention drifted to the black, bell-shaped mark on his hand — the one that bound him to Bella, the massive Bell Beast now resting nearby, her chime-like breaths rising and falling with the rhythm of night.
He stared at the mark a moment, then at Belos.
The boy sat by the fire, happily feeding crumbs to his mini bears, giggling as they clinked their tiny metal paws together.
A thought stirred.
Nyxar raised his hand, and the summoning book appeared, floating before him, its pages glowing with dark light.
Nyxar (quietly): "Can I give a summon to another individual?"
The book paused. Then slowly, on the page, glowing letters formed:
Book: "¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe. A contract like how you got Bella might work."
Nyxar: "…Helpful."
And so began what could only be described as one man's late-night texting session with a magical grimoire.
He kept flipping pages, asking questions in his usual deadpan monotone while the book responded with all the enthusiasm of an underpaid customer service worker.
Nyxar: "Would the summon remain stable?"
Book: "Maybe."
Nyxar: "Would it hurt the contractor?"
Book: "Hopefully not."
Nyxar: "…Clarify."
Book: "No."
Narrator: "It was, all things considered, a disturbingly productive conversation."
By the time everyone had finished eating and drifted toward sleep, only four remained awake: Nyxar, Vespera, Sebastian, and Belos.
Sebastian was setting up a small bed for Belos, tucking in blankets with precision that screamed "noble upbringing."
Vespera had returned to her spider form, coiled protectively near Sylas's bedroll, all eight eyes open, absolutely not sleeping.
Narrator: "Because apparently spiders don't need rest—they just silently judge you in eight dimensions at once."
Belos was drowsy now, clutching his mini bears, eyelids fluttering.
Nyxar watched him for a moment, then stood, summoning the book again.
Nyxar: "Belos. Come here."
Belos: [Yawning.] "Mm? Why?"
Nyxar: "Give me your hands."
Belos blinked but obeyed, stretching out both little hands.
Nyxar gently took them, then dismissed the two mini steel bears with a flick of his wrist. They vanished in puffs of dark light.
Belos: "Aww, man."
Nyxar: "Do you want to be their master?"
Belos: [Confused, sleepy.] "Uh… I mean, we're friends, so sure?"
Nyxar: "Okay."
The book flared open. Black ink began to lift from its pages, twisting like smoke, the words "2x Steel Bear" fading and streaming toward Belos's palms.
The mist swirled, sank into his skin, and left behind two marks — one on each hand — stylized black bear sigils ringed with faint metallic shimmer.
Belos: [Half-asleep.] "...What?"
[Promptly falls asleep mid-magic.]
Nyxar: "Book. Is the contract done?"
Book: "Seems like it. You don't have the Steel Bears anymore. His marks are active. One on each hand."
Nyxar: "Good."
He lifted the sleeping boy gently and carried him to where Sebastian had just finished setting up the bed.
Sebastian looked up, smiling faintly at the sight of Belos sleeping peacefully in Nyxar's arms… until he saw the marks.
Sebastian: "What are those symbols on his hands?"
Nyxar: "Something that might be very good. But that's for tomorrow."
Sebastian: "...That's not reassuring."
Nyxar: "Too tired to reassure."
Sebastian's smile faltered, his suspicion flaring again.
He still didn't trust these people — especially not the ones who spoke like prophecies and broke physics before bedtime.
Vespera's eight eyes flicked toward him.
She didn't say a word.
She didn't need to.
Narrator: "Sebastian wisely decided not to question the sentient murder-spider watching him from across the camp. Excellent survival instincts."
Once Belos was tucked in, Nyxar walked quietly back to the main campfire.
Ember was already asleep, curled under her cloak.
Without a word, Nyxar lay beside her and wrapped one arm around her — protectively, almost mirroring the way Vespera circled Sylas.
Narrator: "And thus, our night ended: the healer guarded by a spider, the fire mage held by a killer, the butler suspicious of everyone, and the kid who just got two bears tattooed onto his soul. Family goals, probably."
The fire crackled low.
Bella's bells chimed softly in the distance.
The stars watched in silence — perhaps because even they weren't sure what was happening anymore.
End Scene.