---
He screams in his sleep.
The first time it happens, I'm halfway through my watch, staring at the cave entrance and thinking about nothing at all. The sound rips through the darkness like a blade—high and terrified and young. I'm on my feet before I consciously decide to move, sword in hand, heart hammering.
Lilith is already there.
She's kneeling beside the boy, her voice soft, her hands hovering over him without touching. "It's okay. You're safe. It's just a dream."
But he's not waking up.
His eyes are open—gold and wild—but he's not seeing us. He's seeing whatever nightmare has its claws in him. The village. The cage. His mother—
"NO!" The word tears out of him, raw and broken. He thrashes, his injured leg twisting, and the pain finally punches through the dream. He screams again—not terror this time, but agony.
I'm there in two strides, dropping to my knees beside Lilith. "His leg. The splint shifted."
Between us, we manage to hold him still without hurting him further. Lilith murmurs soothing nonsense, her aura wrapping around him, calming. I check the splint—makeshift, but it held. Barely. A few more inches and he'd have rebroken it.
"Fenris." I use his name for the first time. The System gave it to me, but saying it feels different. Real. "Fenris, wake up. You're safe. You're with us."
His eyes focus.
One moment, they're wild and empty—the next, they see. See me. See Lilith. See the cave around us instead of the cage.
He goes very still.
Then he starts to shake.
"I... I was..." His voice is a rasp. Dehydrated. Exhausted. "The men in white... they were... they had Mama, and I couldn't—"
"Shh." Lilith gathers him gently, careful of his leg, and pulls him against her. He's stiff for a heartbeat, two—then he breaks. Sobs wrack his small body, ugly and desperate, the kind of crying that comes from somewhere deeper than tears.
Lilith holds him. Rocks him. Looks at me over his head with eyes that say I know. I've been there.
I sit back on my heels, feeling useless. I can fight. I can run. I can break cages. But this—this raw, bleeding grief—I don't know what to do with it.
So I do the only thing I can think of.
I stay.
---
Morning comes slowly, gray light filtering through the cave entrance. Fenris cried himself out hours ago and now sleeps, exhausted, his head in Lilith's lap. She's awake, watching him with an expression I can't quite read.
"He's so young," she murmurs when she sees me stir. "Younger than I was when they took me. At least I'd lived a little. Known freedom. He..." She trails off.
I crawl closer, settling beside them. "He'll know it again. We'll make sure of it."
"He needs more than freedom, Kael. He needs family. Safety. A reason to hope." She looks at me. "Things I'm only just learning to want again."
{Bond Level Update: Lilith + Fenris}
{Shared trauma creating connection}
{Passive empathy bonus: +5% to healing effects when both are present}
The System notification is almost jarring—clinical words for something so human. But I'm learning that's just how it works. It quantifies what I feel, gives numbers to emotions, tracks growth in ways I can measure.
Sometimes that helps. Sometimes it feels like reducing miracles to math.
Right now, watching Lilith hold a broken child she barely knows, I don't need numbers to understand what's happening. She's found purpose. Someone to protect. Someone who needs her the way she needed me.
It's good. It's right.
"We need food," I say quietly. "And water. And probably a better hiding spot than this cave. The Empire won't stop looking."
Lilith nods. "There's a valley to the north. The Verdant Basin, the old maps called it. Hidden by mountains, protected by treacherous passes. If we can reach it..."
{Quest Update: Find Sanctuary}
{Location identified: Verdant Basin}
{Distance: Approximately 2 days travel}
{Warning: Path is dangerous. Monster activity reported.}
{Recommended: Rest and recover before departure}
"Two days." I run a hand through my hair, grimacing at the dirt and dried blood I find there. "We need supplies. And I need to figure out how we're carrying an injured kid through monster territory."
Lilith's eyes gleam. "I can fly. Short distances, at least. If I carry him—"
"Your wings just healed after forty years. You're not straining them day one."
"I'm stronger than I look."
"I know. That's not the point." I meet her gaze. "You're not expendable, Lilith. None of us are. We figure this out together, or we don't do it at all."
She stares at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, she smiles. "You really mean that."
"Of course I—"
"No one's ever said that to me before. Not like that." Her voice is soft. "I was a tool. A resource. Something to be used and discarded. You keep treating me like I matter." She looks down at Fenris, smoothing his matted fur. "Like we both matter."
{Bond Level: 8 → 9}
{Deepening trust detected}
{New passive: Shared Resolve - When fighting together, both parties gain +10% damage resistance}
I don't know what to say to that. So I just reach out and cover her hand with mine, the one resting on Fenris's shoulder.
She turns her hand over, laces her fingers through mine.
We sit like that as the sun rises, watching over a sleeping boy who's just beginning to learn that not all humans are monsters.
---
He wakes again near midday.
This time, there's no screaming. Just a slow return to consciousness, his golden eyes blinking open, confusion fading to memory fading to something careful and watchful.
He doesn't pull away from Lilith, but I see him tense. Assessing. Deciding if he's still in danger.
"Hey." I keep my voice low, pitched for calm. "You're okay. Remember me? Kael. This is Lilith. We got you out of the cage."
His eyes dart to me, then to Lilith, then around the cave. Taking in everything. Calculating.
"You're human." His voice is hoarse, but there's an edge to it. Accusing. "Humans put me in the cage. Humans killed my mama."
I don't flinch. "Yeah. They did. And I'm sorry—for your mama, for what happened to you, for all of it. I can't fix that." I hold his gaze. "But I'm not those humans. And I'm never going to be."
He stares at me. Searching for something—lies, maybe. Cruelty. The same look he's seen in every human face since they came for his village.
I let him look. I've got nothing to hide.
"You're weird," he finally says.
Lilith chokes back a laugh. I blink.
"Weird?"
"Humans lie. That's what Mama said. They smile and say nice things and then they hurt you." He tilts his head, animal-like. "You're not smiling. You're not saying nice things. You're just... sitting there. Being weird."
I consider this. "Would it help if I smiled more?"
"No. Then I'd think you were lying."
"Fair enough." I settle back, keeping my movements slow and predictable. "How about this—I'll keep being weird, and you keep watching me, and eventually you'll figure out if I'm worth trusting. Deal?"
He thinks about it. Then, slowly, he nods.
Lilith's hand finds mine again. Squeezes.
{Bond Level: Fenris → 3}
{Trust: Growing}
---