Riven stood still long after the hound stopped moving.
His eyes weren't on the corpse.
They were on the darkness beyond it.
"…This is insane," he muttered.
Kael watched him carefully. The way Riven's head tilted slightly, like he was listening to something Kael couldn't hear.
"What do you feel?" Kael asked.
Riven swallowed. "Everything."
He pointed without looking. "There's a hollow passage to the left. Something big passed through it recently. And—" His breath caught. "—there's movement above us. Not close. But watching."
Kael's grip tightened on his knife.
That was new.
Riven shook his head, a breathless laugh escaping him. "Before, it was just panic. A buzz before I got hit. Now it's… direction. Distance. Intent."
He turned to Kael, eyes sharp and almost frightened."What did you make me do?"
Kael didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he stepped past Riven and picked up a fallen torch, relighting it from the embers on the ground.
"You're still you," Kael said. "You just survived something most F-ranks don't."
"That doesn't explain this."
"No," Kael agreed. "But it explains why you're alive."
The dungeon rumbled faintly, like it was reacting to them.
Riven stiffened. "Something's shifting."
Kael nodded. "Good. That means your sense is working."
Riven stared at him. "You talk like you expected this."
Kael met his gaze.
"I did."
Silence stretched.
Finally, Riven exhaled slowly. "If you knew this would happen… then you knew I'd live."
"Yes."
"And if I hadn't?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "Then I would've been wrong."
Riven studied him for a long moment, then looked back into the darkness.
"…I don't want to be wrong anymore," he said quietly.
Kael allowed himself a small smile.
"Then stay close," he said. "And do exactly what I tell you."
The dungeon growled again.
This time, Riven knew where it came from.
And Kael knew he had his first follower.