The ground trembled. The dirt under our feet cracked, groaned. And then I saw them.
Blobs.
Blue, writhing, pulsing things.
"They found us," I muttered.
Of course they did.
Well shit. That's another problem stacked on top of the pile.
But that meant— Evena… Evena wasn't associated with the deity?
So he really was trying to kill us all.
"I knew that," a voice came from behind.
I turned, fast. My hand was already halfway to a weapon I didn't have.
Wanora.
She stood up, brushing dust off her arms like this was just another Tuesday.
"You were alive?" I asked, too stunned to react properly.
"Yes… yes I was. I was waiting for you to finish your emotional speech," she said, like that was normal.
I scratched the back of my neck, suddenly feeling stupid.
"Well, anyway. I figured it out long ago," she continued, her eyes narrowing. "Why do you think Ophean got traumatized?"
I blinked. "He didn't?"
"yes. He was a creation. A deity can't create a Clarion."
"They can't?" I asked.
"No…"
"Then how did the kid—?"
"That kid was faking it," she said sharply. "Haven't you ever seen a user of smell? Ever seen Gars act like that? Kid was faking it."
The pieces didn't click. They slammed together. My pulse quickened.
"And the man who didn't want you to eat food—was a live guy," she said. "Doubt he hasn't been replaced already. That food was probably something to control us. Or worse."
"Then… if Ophean was a part of the deity… why didn't it just attack people when he was at the continent? Or do what it wanted?"
She exhaled. "Deities are in a separate dimension. They can't cross here. Mainly because they're too powerful. Too big."
"Then how—"
"I'm getting to it, geez," she snapped, then softened slightly. "There's a pathway between this dimension and theirs. Not a stable one, but it's possible to make. And despite your strength, even you can only create such a pathway."
Her gaze drifted up, lost in something beyond this place.
"He could barely fit himself. So he basically put what a human would call… a hair's equivalent."
"This entire island?" I asked, stunned. "It's the size of a blood drop to him?"
"Yeah, and that's why ophean couldn't do anything, the deity had no means of using his barely any power far away"
"So… why did he come here?"
"Probably because the main body forgot," she said with a tired shrug. "Now that I piece it together… would you really question it if you threw a blood drop into a random place and forgot?"
Fair point.
"Okay…" I muttered. "Still. You do understand we have to get out of here, right?"
"We can't," she said quietly.
"…WHAT?"
"You heard me right." She wasn't joking. "The temple is burned. We can't take out the fog."
My heart sank. No. No way.
"Wait… since Evena put the coin in the eye, which caused the fog… what does a snake do?"
She stared at me, eyes narrowing.
"How do you know she did that?" she asked slowly. "Also, her name is Evena?"
I sighed. I explained. Everything—about Evena's Clarion of Pain, the silence, the distance in her eyes.
And the whole time, Evena just stood there. Silent. Watching.
"I see…" Wanora murmured.
The wall behind us exploded.
Blobs poured in. Blue slime. Fleshy hands. Wet. Twisting. Disgusting.
Wanora reacted instantly, summoning fire and forming a barrier. The heat scorched my skin even through the protection.
"Listen, Heide… there's a way to do this," she said, her voice hard. "Use the Clarion of Touch. Remove some seals…"
"WHAT? HOW? Only Gramps could! I can't! Hell, if I try anything right now, my brain will burst!"
"No time for that," she growled. "Just try!"
Her back. I reached for her back with trembling fingers. Tapped.
And then—
Space.
I wasn't in the room anymore. It was… something else.
Empty. Dark. And far, far in the distance—
A flame.
So faint it looked like a candle's dying breath. But the heat—God, the heat—was here. With me.
Wait.
No.
It wasn't small.
It was just too far away.
I stepped forward.
Thousands of rings spun around the fire. Seals. Barriers layered over magic, like threads of fate woven by a mad god.
"Oh fuck…"
I focused on a single one.
Tried to understand it.
Every pattern. Every atom.
Replicated it in my mind.
But it wasn't working. It wasn't enough.
I didn't have time.
She was pushing it past its limit.
She was going to die.
I couldn't let that happen.
Just two barriers.
I bit down hard and kept going.
Forty minutes.
Forty fucking minutes, and I should've died ten minutes in.
But…
Evena.
Evena was transferring the pain and damage to insects. She had been protecting me.
I didn't even know she could do that.
"…DONE!"
One barrier shattered.
And then—
My consciousness burned.
Like fire through my veins. A scream trapped in silence.
I collapsed, barely breathing.
Was this even possible?
"Thanks…" Wanora said gently, turning to me with a smile that didn't reach her tired eyes.
She lifted her hand.
And then—
The sky turned dark orange.
Pillars of light descended like divine judgment, wrapping the entire island.
"Huh?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
She turned, hair burning in the wind, face grim. "It can't escape. We can't let it. That's why… from outside."
"…Then what about us?"
She looked at me.
"We kill it. If we aren't succesfully done… we'll be burned by the flames made by me."
"…What."