Everyone was confused. Mia looked at them, and they looked at her. Kiyeri’s limbs went numb. "I knew there had to be a price..."

  Sonanta began to cry loudly. It was clear to everyone what had happened, only Mia understood nothing. She kept asking the others who Zarine was, demanding an expnation, demanding an answer, and with each such demand, Sonanta cried harder and louder.

  While Kiyeri was thinking about how to control the situation, how to expin to Mia what she had lost, Sonanta suddenly stopped crying, raised her head and asked, shivering, "We all have a mother, right? A person can't be born without a mother, can't they? Is it possible that I was born without a mother?"

  Sonanta reached hysterics and pounded the floor with her fist. Mia grabbed her by the pels, shouting, "What nonsense are you talking about? Everyone has a mother, are you crazy? I saw your mother with my own eyes, how could she not be?! She shot an angry look at Dali and Ruki. “What did you do to her? Why is she like this? Why are you all looking at us like this?!!”

  Sonanta grabbed Mia's hands, "Mia! Think, Mia! Who did you live with for so many years?! Who did you spend your evenings with by the ke?! Who did you love more than life?! Think!"

  "Alone! I did everything... alone..." Mia froze.

  Kiyeri couldn't breathe. It was terrible. Everything about how she looked was terrible. Losing the memories of a loved one was simply wrong.

  No one rushed to comfort them, and like Kiyeri, they probably had nothing to say.

  It hurt, it just hurt, he involuntarily grabbed Ashiya's sleeve, as if afraid that he also would disappear. He felt Ashiya grip him back, hands trembling. Ruki cried, clutching her brother's shoulder, and Dali did not let go of his sister.

  Everyone here had something to lose, but when Kiyeri thought about the ways in which sisters had lost their loved ones and their memories, the word lost became the word took in his mind. They took those memories away. They killed Zarine. They cut Sonanta’s and Mia’s throats, making them pay the price for resurrection. It’s them.

  He wanted to vomit. If even one of them attacked now, it would be wrong to resist.

  But no one attacked.

  As the minutes passed, the crying subsided. Kiyeri had been lying cross on his back for some time as if hoping that such a gesture would change something or give him a new idea again. After an unknown amount of time, Mia spoke first.

  "We need to get out of here." Her voice was lifeless.

  She said what everyone was thinking, but no one dared to say it first. Mia understood that if she didn't take the first step, it was unclear when the others would do it.

  Kiyeri took a deep breath, feeling his stomach loosen from his back, and sat up. Pulling out his dagger, he cut his index finger and began to draw shapes.

  "Let's start with the map. Judging by how far we've all gone, the size of the territory...” Before he could finish speaking, his blood began to spread and disappear. “Ah... Right."

  "Draw with a dagger, why use blood?" Dali commented.

  "Impossible, this space IS the millennium dagger itself, forged from Millennium Stone. You can't destroy or damage it by any ordinary means," Kiyeri expined.

  "Kiye, do you still have that medallion? Maybe the dagger is forged from the opposite element?" Ashiya asked.

  "I do." Kiyeri pulled it out from his belt.

  "It doesn't have to be opposite, it's enough that it's reted." Mia intervened.

  "While fire melts metal, metal absorbs the energy of fire, all elements interact in one way or another," Sonanta added.

  Kiyeri silently thanked them for their cooperation, admiring their strength to keep going, "That's right, there are more options, but we need something specific to damage this floor."

  He began to draw on the floor with the medallion and saw scratches, but as soon as he started drawing more, the floor seemed to start healing and the scratches disappeared. Kiyeri angrily threw the medallion aside, "It’s repairing itself because it has mana and acting like it’s alive."

  He looked at Ashiya, who was silent for a long time now. Half of Kiyeri’s thoughts were on an escape pn, the other half, on his hunger.

  He no longer felt thirsty, which was a bad sign and it was obvious that he wasn't thinking clearly. “Who cuts himself and bleeds when every drop counts?!” His lips and tongue were as if parched, his whole body was drying up. Those few drops of blood were thick. Under these conditions, how could he make any conclusion or decision? He sat and thought that he didn't want to die now, more than anything. And what if he won’t find a way out? Will he have to keep dying of thirst until he loses his brain little by little? Until he loses his memories and bodily functions? Until he turned into a shell, some kind of creature without thoughts?

  Suddenly, Mia jumped up. Kiyeri thought that she had changed her mind after all, and intended to take revenge, but to his surprise, Mia grabbed the medallion from the ground and started to smash the wall with it.

  The wall did indeed have dents and cracks, but they immediately filled in. Seeing this, Mia only got even more furious and started to hit it with all her might again. Kiyeri wanted to stop her, it was a futile task, but he thought that she needed it. She probably just couldn't sit and do nothing.

  Mia hit and hit, trying with all her might, the sound of stones colliding echoed everywhere. Her palm soon began to bleed and drops spshed around with every move. Kiyeri decided that was enough.

  "Mia, stop..." he called softly, "Your hand is bleeding."

  He stood up to come closer. Mia stopped and looked at the bloody palm.

  When he approached, she spoke without taking her eyes off that palm, "Kiyeri, we are the sacrifices. We and everything that belonged to us now belong to this dagger.” A short pause, “So why is this here? How can one stone be the property of another?"

  Kiyeri watched the medallion in Mia's palm greedily absorbing her blood and his eyes widened. Realizing what was happening he stated tone ft, "It can't.” He grabbed her wrist, “Do you feel anything?! Is it giving you something for the blood?!"

  Everyone watching them jumped to their feet and ran closer. Holding their breath, they waited for her answer. Mia closed her eyes as if concentrating and when she opened them again, she answered in an increasingly loud tone, “Mana. It gave me my mana back!”

  Everyone was stunned and happy at the same time, Kiyeri hurriedly asked, “How much? How much did it replenish?”

  Mia immediately grabbed the knife from her belt, answering, “Too little.” And made a few sshes in her palm, thus feeding the stone even faster. Although it was unclear what benefit it would bring them, whether they would be able to escape or not, the mere fact that they would not have to die from thirst was enough to give everyone hope.

  Less than a minute ter, Mia held out the medallion to Kiyeri with a surprised look, “It’s all there. I’m full.”

  Kiyeri could not believe the speed of recharging, “Those stones sure value human flesh and blood abnormally high.” He took the medallion and did the same. At first, he could only squeeze out a few drops, the blood barely flowed, and the wound immediately dried and clotted, but suddenly feeling the cool threads intertwining in his body, he gave them work. Soon the blood became more liquid, the body began to recover, the dry cracked lips became soft again, and the reserves began to fill, "It is quickly."

  While replenishing his reserves, Kiyeri was already thinking about who should go next. He looked at Ashiya, but the tter nodded towards Ruki and Dali. The two looked pitiful, both injured. When Kiyeri finished, he handed the medallion to Ruki, who timidly took it.

  After sitting for a while, dripping blood, Ruki looked up, looking scared, "Nothing is happening..."

  Kiyeri jumped up to examine her, and she spoke again with pleading eyes, “Why… why is nothing happening?"

  Kiyeri grabbed the medallion and handed it to Dali, but received the same answer. Then to Ashiya, but he also could not pull out a single thread, finally to Sonanta, but to everyone's surprise, she filled up without difficulty. Kiyeri understood, "Your blood. The stones do not recognize it. Just as Zeni could not receive rebirth, the stone chose me, because I am of the blood of the Suns."

  Ruki began to panic, but Kiyeri hurried to calm her down, “It’s okay, don’t worry, I will personally share mine with you.”

  Thus, Kiyeri replenished Dali’s and Ruki’s mana, taking his from the stone in exchange for blood. While he was doing this, Sonanta, to Kiyeri’s surprise, helped Ashiya in same way. After everything, the medallion remained in Sonanta’s hands, but she reached out to give the stone to Kiyeri.

  “This relic is yours, I took it from the pace when I wanted to complete the ritual.” he said, pushing Sonanta’s palm.

  “Hold on to it,” she shook her head. “You have every right to wear it, brother.”

  At that, brother Kiyeri's hands trembled, it was like a forgiveness he didn't feel he deserved, but he wanted to receive. Kiyeri took the stone from Sonanta's hands and nodded.

  "So, what's next?" Mia asked, gncing over the faces of Kiyeri, Sonanta, and Ashiya, completely ignoring the existence of Dali and Ruki.

  Of course, there was nothing strange in that, they attacked the Sorians' house, if anything strange, it was the fact that both of them were not now rolling on the ground in pain at the hands of Mia. However, the Sorians were always strange in such matters, although they did not avoid settling disagreements with their fists, instead of seeking revenge by killing, they would come up with ways to exploit criminals by sending them to work or otherwise serve society.

  Only the dangerous ones were locked up but never tortured or killed. Kiyeri was calm about Dali and Ruki for now, but when and if they escaped, they would certainly fall into the hands of the Sorians.

  Although the group had regained their mana, they were still just ordinary people. No one here had the mark or any other powers, they could simply control the energy in their bodies again.

  "I suggest we clear the area first," said Sonanta, pointing to the Voidborne standing in the distance. "These are probably our people who were sacrificed five hundred years ago, it hurts my heart to look at them, we need to free them."

  "I agree," replied Mia, drawing her sword. "With mana preset, it’s not a challenge and they are really hard to look at. To be more effective, we need to spread out."

  "But not one by one." Kiyeri interrupted, pointing at the three moons with his palm. "We need to go two by two. The three of us have much more reserves than them, if necessary, we must help. And there is only one medallion, who knows when we will meet again? This territory is huge."

  Mia and Sonanta frowned, clearly showing that they did not like this idea. As if it was obvious to them, that Kiyeri would travel with Ashiya. Instead, they gnced at Ruki and Dali with visible displeasure.

  "Fine..." Mia agreed, her voice dissatisfied. She grabbed Dali by the colr and dragged him away along one of the walls. "Look, work hard and don't mess around." Dali did not resist at all.

  Kiyeri shouted at their backs, "Look for unusual objects, this dagger held my metal mark until I took it, who knows what else might be hiding here!" Mia waved to him without turning back.

  Sonanta looked at Ruki, who nodded to her and they both left civilly following the path of the second wall.

  "It's just us again." Kiyeri said, looking at Ashiya.

  "Mhm," He hummed returning the smile.

  Kiyeri turned to the retreating figures, effortlessly clearing the paths, "How will we advance? Both walls are occupied."

  Ashiya pointed his finger straight ahead, "I suggest we just go straight through the middle to the bottom of the triangle and then clear parallel to it, that way we might meet again once or twice."

  "Suggestion accepted." Kiyeri stepped forward drawing his daggers, and Ashiya followed, twirling his sword once with a familiar smirk.