CHAPTER 280: 280: DAWN BENEATH THE CLEAR SKY

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Kai stretched slowly, letting the cold air bite his skin, the healing lines of battle scars tingling faintly along his chest and back. Though he had slept barely two hours, his body had begun to adapt. The Monarch’s star Core pulsed quietly in his chest, feeding him strength like a low burning furnace.

From behind a nearby ridge, gentle hammering echoed again.

Kai turned.

Lirien stood at the mouth of her makeshift forge, her armored arms bare, soot smeared across one cheek. Sparks danced around her like fireflies. She was hammering something slowly, carefully, methodically, not forging, but shaping. A ritual of quiet focus.

Kai approached without a word.

She noticed him before he spoke. "You are awake early."

"I sleep lightly."

She struck the glowing piece again with a sharp rhythm. "So do blacksmiths. Though for different reasons. The forge does not forgive daydreamers."

He stepped beside her. "What are you making?"

She gestured to the slowly cooling bar of metal on the anvil. "A shard split blade. It was part of the Cindervore’s inner fang I found on the ground. I infused it with some of aura while you rested. A gift. One day, it may become something more. Or it may remain a symbol."

Kai nodded. "You work quickly."

"I do not like wasting time."

She met his eyes for a beat. Then her expression softened just a touch. "I also wanted to move my hands so I did not think too much."

Kai’s brow lifted. "About?"

"About how your women talk. About you. About how your aura wraps around them like flame wrapping silk." She looked away. "About how I watched them fall asleep beside you, clinging to you like stars cling to night."

Kai remained silent.

Lirien added quickly, "It is not jealousy. I do not know what it is. I feel like I stepped into a story that began before I arrived. And I am holding a forge hammer in a room full of desire and poets."

Kai laughed once under his breath. "You speak like one, a poet."

She chuckled. "I prefer when my metal speaks for me."

The warmth between them lingered a moment longer before Vel’s voice cracked the peace.

"Is anyone making breakfast or do I have to eat my own shoulder again?"

Azhara sat up and stretched dramatically. "Good morning, world. I had a beautiful dream. Sir Kai and I were fighting naked in a hot spring. It was mostly strategy and grappling. Very inspirational."

Sha blinked. "You’re the only person who dreams in R-rated training montages."

Alka dropped from the vine and landed on all fours. She asked Kai, "Did someone say food?" Nobody but Kai understood what she meant. Their bond was growing, now Kai can understand what she meant.

Akayoroi emerged silently from a pile of moss, regal as ever, her antennae twitching.

Kai turned to the group. "Wake up. Stretch. We leave within the hour."

Azhara skipped over and hooked her arm around Sha. "Are we walking or will Alka carry us in a grand parade?"

"Are you stupid? Of course we will fly," Kai said firmly.

"But, we are one person more, can she take us all?" Azhara pouted. "I am not stupid, sir Kai."

"She can do it. We will be a bit slower than before. But there is nothing to worry about."

Naaro stood and began packing their supplies, weapon belts, dried roots, and beast leather kits. Sha followed, muttering about ration efficiency. Vel helped roll up a blanket and accidentally elbowed Alka in the legs. Alka bit her back. The chaos returned like a familiar drumbeat.

Lirien remained quiet for a moment, then began packing her tools into a pouch strapped across her hip. Her hammer, now cooled, fit snugly into a holster along her thigh. She looked different in the morning light. Less like a stranger. More like part of something. The furnace beetles transform into her bracelets.

Kai walked over and offered her a spot on his left.

She blinked. "Beside you?"

"You’re part of the pride team now," he said.

Azhara grinned like a wolf. "Next step: cuddling privileges."

Vel pointed. "No touching until after first mission success."

Sha added, "Or until she learns how to survive Azhara’s naughty hands."

"I meant her words!" Sha quickly added. "Her words!"

Lirien flushed but said nothing, only nodded.

Kai led them east walking first, his aura forming a steady pulse that bound them together like the tide pulling ships toward harbor.

The ground shifted as they walked. From cracked basalt to ash-dusted stone, from dry moss to fields of bloodgrass that hissed as they passed. Morning took hold. The pale sky burned gold.

Azhara walked beside Lirien for a time. "So. Did you dream about him too?"

Lirien blinked. "What? No!"

Azhara leaned in with mock innocence. "Because I did. But in the past when I dream about someone it means I either want to stab them to death. But now I only dream about sir Kai making love to me. You know the rough way. I screamed his name and moaned until my voice went down."

"You are very strange. Very lustful..."

"Thank you," Azhara said cheerfully.

Vel marched past, elbowing Azhara again. "Stop terrorizing the new recruit."

Lirien whispered to Kai, "Is it always like this?"

Kai smirked. "Only when they like you."

They moved through the land like a strange parade. A king, a blacksmith, a blade maiden, a hunter, a shadow, a pervert, a queen, and a bird, Four injured ants and a pair of twin sisters.

And overhead, the sun began to rise high, spilling gold upon the blackened world.

In the far far distance, Monarch Mountain loomed. A shadow against the light. Their home.

And somewhere ahead of them, far back in the burning spine of the Wild Realms, the predator was flying.

Kai’s predator instinct was right. He felt danger ahead, that’s why he chose to walk for a bit before flying. Soon he will know about the danger. For now he chooses to check his status window. He didn’t check it for a while.