"Escort?"
Renn stared at Lucan like he had just suggested something insane. "You chased us half the night and now you want to escort us?"
Lucan did not react. "The situation has escalated beyond field containment."
Aria's voice stayed calm but firm. "We are academy students, not state property."
Lucan met her gaze. "You are also connected to two separate resonance events in one night. That makes you high priority."
Kai stood quietly, thinking.
Capital.
Higher council.
Containment protocol.
Nothing about that sounded comfortable.
Mira looked nervous. "If we go with them, they will separate us."
Lucan did not deny it immediately.
"That depends on cooperation," he said carefully.
Renn let out a short laugh. "That means yes."
Theo adjusted his glasses. "Logically speaking, refusing may label us hostile."
Kai finally spoke. "And accepting may label us controlled."
Silence fell again.
The river below the bridge flowed gently now, as if nothing strange had happened.
Lucan's team stood at attention, waiting for his decision.
Kai studied Lucan closely.
He did not look eager.
He looked… conflicted.
"Do we have a choice?" Kai asked.
Lucan answered honestly. "Not officially."
Renn stepped forward. "Then unofficially?"
Lucan hesitated.
That hesitation said more than words.
Before the conversation could go further, one of Lucan's hunters stiffened.
"Captain."
Lucan turned sharply.
From the forest path they had come from, torchlights were flickering.
More than before.
Too many for a small unit.
Theo's expression darkened. "Those are not academy lights."
Renn groaned. "You have got to be kidding me."
Lucan swore quietly under his breath. "Mercenary reinforcements."
Kai's mind shifted instantly back into focus.
"Numbers?"
"At least twenty," Lucan replied.
Aria looked toward the narrow gorge. "We cannot hold the bridge."
Lucan nodded once. "Agreed."
Renn cracked his neck. "So much for talking."
Kai turned to Mira. "Can you run again?"
She gave a weak nod.
Lucan quickly gave orders to his team. "Split defense. Two delay. Three escort."
Renn raised an eyebrow. "You trust us that much?"
Lucan's voice stayed level. "If you fall here, the council will blame me."
That was not exactly comforting.
The torches were getting closer.
Kai made a fast decision.
"We do not run back through the forest."
Lucan looked at him. "Then where?"
Kai pointed down into the gorge.
Theo blinked. "That drop is steep."
"But not impossible," Kai replied. "They expect us to retreat on land."
Renn grinned. "Now that is unpredictable."
Aria looked down at the rocky slope and nodded once. "I will go first."
The first mercenary shout echoed across the trees.
"No time," Lucan said.
They moved.
Aria slid down the side carefully with the hawk guiding her path. Renn lowered Mira with help from his bear. Theo followed, nearly slipping but catching himself.
Kai stayed last.
Lucan stood beside him for a brief second.
"You are calmer than expected," Lucan said quietly.
Kai gave a faint smile. "I panic later."
Lucan almost smiled back.
Then they both dropped down the slope.
Above them, mercenaries reached the bridge.
"Where did they go?"
"Check below!"
Too late.
Kai and the others were already moving along the shallow riverbed beneath the bridge.
The gorge walls blocked torchlight.
Water muffled footsteps.
For a moment, it felt like escape.
Then a shadow moved ahead.
Everyone stopped.
A single figure stood in the narrow path where the gorge widened slightly.
No torch.
No armor.
Just a tall silhouette under the moonlight.
Renn muttered, "Please tell me that is not another glass monster."
The figure stepped forward.
The moon revealed a familiar mask.
The cloaked guardian.
Lucan inhaled sharply. "You."
The masked man's voice was calm. "You were told not to escalate."
Lucan straightened. "The situation evolved."
The guardian's gaze shifted to Kai.
"You touched it again."
Kai did not deny it. "It did not attack."
"No," the guardian agreed softly. "It recognized."
Mira stepped closer to Kai.
"Are you here to take him?" she demanded.
The guardian tilted his head slightly. "If I wanted to, you would not be standing."
Renn whispered, "He is not wrong."
Behind them, mercenary voices echoed faintly from above. They were spreading out.
Lucan stepped forward. "Orders from the council are to escort him to the capital."
The guardian was silent for a moment.
Then he said something unexpected.
"That would be premature."
Lucan frowned. "Premature?"
"The Catalyst is not stable enough," the guardian replied. "Forcing him into the capital now will accelerate external observation."
Theo blinked. "External?"
The guardian ignored the question.
He looked at Kai directly.
"You saw something when it dissolved."
It was not a question.
Kai felt a chill.
"Yes."
"What did you see?" the guardian asked.
Kai hesitated.
Broken towers.
Dark sky.
A world that felt… connected.
"I am not sure," Kai said honestly.
The guardian nodded once, as if confirming something.
Behind them, a rock clattered down from the gorge edge.
The mercenaries had found a descent point.
Lucan looked between Kai and the guardian. "We do not have time for this."
The guardian raised one hand slightly.
From above, a sudden burst of wind tore through the gorge entrance, sending loose stones crashing down and blocking part of the upper path.
The mercenary shouts turned into confusion.
Temporary delay.
The guardian stepped aside from the narrow path.
"You will not go to the capital tonight," he said.
Lucan stiffened. "That contradicts direct orders."
"Yes," the guardian replied calmly. "It does."
Silence.
The tension between academy authority and masked overseer was clear.
Kai stepped forward slightly.
"If not the capital," he asked, "then where?"
The guardian looked past him toward the deeper part of the gorge where the river curved into darkness.
"There is an old relay station ahead," he said. "Abandoned. Off record."
Renn sighed. "Why is nothing ever simple?"
Mira looked at Kai anxiously. "Do we trust him?"
Kai looked at the masked figure.
He had stolen a fragment.
Tested them.
Interfered.
But he had not killed them.
And just now, he had blocked the mercenaries.
Lucan spoke quietly. "If he wanted you contained, he would have handed you over already."
The guardian did not respond to that.
Kai made the call.
"We go to the relay station."
Lucan hesitated only a second before nodding. "Temporary adjustment."
Renn grinned faintly. "Look at that. Everyone is improvising."
They moved deeper into the gorge.
The masked guardian did not walk with them.
He remained behind, facing the direction of the blocked path.
As Kai glanced back once, he saw the guardian standing still under the moonlight.
Watching.
Guarding.
Or calculating.
No one could tell.
Ahead, the gorge narrowed into a tunnel carved partly by nature, partly by old construction.
An old relay station.
Off record.
And if it was off record, it meant secrets.
As they disappeared into the darkness, none of them noticed the faint blue lines flicker briefly along the stone walls.
As if something inside the rock had been waiting.
Waiting for the right frequency to return.