Chapter 3: The Price of Providence
The first thing Cian felt was the silence. It was a heavy, artificial quiet that didn't belong in the Bastion of Thorns. Usually, the air was a chaotic symphony of pickaxes, roaring furnaces, and the distant, hungry howls of the Abyss. Now, there was only the steady drip-drip of water hitting a stone floor and the faint, rhythmic hum of a mana-lamp.
Cian tried to sit up, but a bolt of white-hot agony shot through his chest, forcing him back onto the straw mattress.
[System Warning: Physical Overload.]
[Status: Heavily Fatigued. Stamina: 4/150.]
[Note: Using a Valkyrie's mana with a Dross body is like pouring a waterfall through a tin straw. Don't do it again soon.]
"You're awake," a voice said. It was cool, steady, but lacked the sharp edge of command it had held in the pit.
Cian turned his head slowly. Sitting on a wooden stool by his bed was Elara. She was no longer wearing her shattered silver plate.
Instead, she wore a simple white tunic and trousers, her hair unbound and falling over her shoulders like a curtain of spun gold. Without her armor, she looked younger—and far more vulnerable.
She was holding a wet cloth, which she had clearly been using to wipe the grime from his face.
"The healers said you wouldn't wake for three days," she said, her blue eyes scanning him with an intensity that made his heart skip. "It's only been six hours. Your body... it heals at a rate that defies the Ledger's laws."
[System: Affinity Increase! 12 \rightarrow 14]
[Reason: Target 'Elara' is impressed by your resilience.]
"The girl..." Cian croaked, his throat feeling like he'd swallowed hot coals. "The one in the pit. Did she..."
"She's safe," Elara interrupted, leaning forward to press the cool cloth to his forehead. "Because of you. Because a man with no mana potential decided to fight a Tier 4 Executioner with a broken hilt."
She went silent for a moment, her gaze dropping to his hand—the one he had sliced open to forge the Link. It was wrapped in clean white bandages, but a faint silver glow still pulsed beneath the cloth.
"The soldiers are calling it a miracle," she whispered. "But the Overseers... Hargon and the others... they are calling it heresy. They say you stole power from the Bastion's core. They want to put you in iron for questioning."
Cian felt a surge of cold dread. He knew how the Kingdom dealt with anomalies. They didn't study them; they dissected them.
"And you? What do you say, Captain?"
Elara stood up and walked to the small, barred window of the infirmary. Outside, the fires of the Bastion were still being extinguished.
"I felt it, Cian," she said, her back to him. "When you grabbed my hand, it wasn't just mana. I felt your thoughts. I felt your... desperation to keep me alive. In the Royal Guard, we are taught that emotion is a distraction. But that light... it was the strongest thing I've ever felt."
She turned back to him, her expression hardening into a look of fierce resolve. "Hargon came for you an hour ago. I told him that you are under my personal protection. I told him you are my... Squire."
[System Notification: Rank Up!]
[Social Standing: Dross \rightarrow Knight's Squire (Temporary)]
[Benefit: You can now enter the Upper District without being arrested.]
"A Squire?" Cian managed a weak grin. "I don't even know how to ride a horse."
"You'll learn," Elara said, moving back to his bedside. She sat down, closer this time. The scent of lavender and ozone drifted from her—the scent of the Link. "Because the Rift didn't close, Cian. The Executioner was just a scout. A larger Breach is forming in the Shadow-Caves, and the Bastion's garrison is half-dead. If what we did out there was real... if you can truly bridge the gap between us... then you are the only chance this Borderland has."
She reached out, hesitating for a split second before placing her hand over his bandaged one.
[Warning: Sync Rate Increasing!]
[Current Sync: 20% (Level 1: Soul-Sense Unlocked)]
Suddenly, Cian didn't just see Elara; he felt her. He felt a deep, aching loneliness behind her noble mask. He felt the weight of the men she had lost today, and a strange, budding warmth that she was trying very hard to suppress.
She felt it too. Her breath hitched, and a faint blush crept up her neck. She didn't pull her hand away.
"The System..." Cian whispered, his eyes locking onto hers. "It says we're bound now, Elara. It's not just about the battle."
"I know," she murmured, her thumb brushing against his knuckles. "I can feel your heartbeat in the palm of my hand. It's... maddening."
[System: Quest Updated!]
[Objective: Recover and Prepare. The second Valkyrie is calling from the shadows.]
[New Item available in 'Affinity Shop': Valkyrie's First Ribbon (Gifting this increases Affinity by 10).]
Before the moment could deepen, a heavy knock thudded against the infirmary door.
"Captain Astrea!" a frantic voice called from outside. "The scouts have returned from the Shadow-Caves. They... they didn't find the Abyss. They found a slaughter. Something else is down there. Something that hunts the shadows."
Elara stood up instantly, her vulnerability vanishing behind a wall of steel. She looked down at Cian. "Rest. If you are to be my Squire, you'll need your strength. We move at dawn."
As she turned to leave, Cian watched her—the way she moved, the way her hair caught the mana-light. He realized then that the "Unbreakable Ties" the System spoke of weren't just a power-up. They were a responsibility. And as he looked at the blue screen floating in the air, he saw the second blinking dot on his map.
Nyx was waiting. And she wasn't as friendly as a Knight-Captain.