The forest was still again. The fight had torn through it, scorched bark and shattered roots marking where blades had clashed.
Riven lay slumped against a twisted tree, his chest rising unevenly, his skin still steaming faintly from the Ember Lash Requiem. His hands trembled, the rune on his arm pulsing weaker now.
His breaths dragged, heavy and raw.
"You really had to make use it," he muttered again, voice rasping into the wind.
Footsteps approached—not the clank of silver armor, but the soft, padded crunch of boots on damp moss.
"You idiot," Veyla's voice broke through the silence, tight with restraint. "You left without saying a damn word."
Riven chuckled dryly, eyes still shut. "Didn't want to wake you up. You seed quieter than now."
She stared at him like she was going to rip his throat out, but she couldn't do anything to him.
"Don't fuss over it, I'm fine anyways," he said, still laying there like a lifeless body.
"Yeah, right," she sighed, staring around the forest. Everything seed battered, like a battle had just occurred.
She saw the large crater left after Riven activated the Ember Lash Requiem that nearly destroyed the whole place.
"What happened here?" she asked, still glancing at the destruction.
"I was ambushed—yet again by another knight," he said, pointing at the leftover armor the knight had dropped before evaporating.
She walked over to it and knelt down near it, picked it up, and turned it over to see the crest.
It was the sa crest he held. "This knight you speak of, did he say so strange words?"
Riven turned at her question. "What's more strange than him telling he's going to cleanse by killing ?"
She turned slowly. "I think I know who he was," she said, her voice low.
"He was my senior, back when the whole world was whole and normal," she began, "before everything decided to change, including the Creed."
"What change?" Riven said, slowly sitting upright despite the throbbing pain throughout his whole body.
"He wasn't always like that," Veyla went on quietly. "He used to be kind and thoughtful, but sothing changed when the Edicts were passed. He started quoting scripture like a mad person and made a it law, like it mattered more than people."
"They called it purification, said it was to keep the fla pure. But it was just fear—a way to control anyone who questioned the Creed... anyone with a whisper of corruption... They were burned alive."
"And he took it upon himself to carry out the order—killed so many innocent souls. I had to leave or I would have beco a part of them. They just succumbed to the darkness and now they see themselves as purifiers."
Riven didn't know what to say. Her story was one he hadn't heard in a long while. It was unique and different. In fact, everything about this world was unique and different—nothing really made sense.
"Must have been really hard for you," he said softly, glancing back down at his hands.
She nodded slowly. "Wasn't much... at least it made see sothing."
"What was it?" he asked, now staring at her.
"It made realize what people turn into when they're given the opportunity and power. Not everyone is a friend," she said, standing up and walking back toward Riven. "I hope you don't end up like that too."
He smiled faintly. "I hope the sa."
Then there was silence. The noise of the forest returned once more as they both glanced around. Riven still couldn't believe he had made this amount of damage just by releasing a power-up.
"You never really told about your family," he said briefly, fully resting on the tree now.
"Neither have you," she responded, sitting beside him.
He smiled. "What's there to say? That was the real world. You wouldn't understand anything I tell you anyway."
"But you're understanding everything I tell you. What's the difference?" she asked.
"Well, the difference is, I have the knowledge of your world because I played the ga—while you don't, because you haven't even heard of anywhere called Earth before."
She nodded. "Good point, but still not an excuse not to tell ," she retorted.
He laughed sarcastically. "Sure then, I'll tell you, but on one condition."
"What's that?" she asked, turning to his face.
"That you protect until I fully recover," he said.
"You caused this on yourself, dude. Don't drag into this," she said playfully.
"Alright, what would you have done if you were thirsty and I was sleeping?" he asked.
"Look for water. But no one is really chasing after , you know. But almost everyone is chasing after you because you're a defect," she said.
"Ouch!" he sighed. "True, but ouch!"
She laughed. "Awwn soone got hurt."
He smiled. "The recovering is not so fast, but I should be fully recovered within a day," he said.
"Yeah, I guess I'll do all the heavy lifting as the senior till then," she said, sarcastically glancing at his expression.
He turned to her, but her face was really close. "Don't make do what I don't wanna do."
She stared at him. "And if I do?"
"Then you'll face the consequences when I recover," he said, smirking briefly before the pain took it away.
"Yeah right. You can't do anything now, and you won't do anything then," she responded, turning her face back toward the forest.
He twitched at her comnt. "Just do it until I recover."
"Fine, but only because we're in this journey together," she responded, patting his head.
"Hey! Stop that," he said, trying to lift his weak hand.
She chuckled, then stood up and walked toward the oasis. "I'll go get so water for us to drink."
That was the first ti he had seen her smile since he ca to this world. He smiled back. "Never knew she had such a lovely smile."
Then he stared back at his hand, his expression changing, and then whispered, "They can send every knight, every Creed, every twisted god they've got... I'll fight them all and keep ascending until I beco the Scorched King and go back to my world."
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