Chapter Thirty-Four

  "Comfort breeds stagnation." – E.B.

  Level Five

  Zar'Keth Village

  James

  Weeks passed, and nothing remained the same. Despite the continued expectation for the full team to join at breakfast every day, only James remained constant—trying desperately to hold what was left of the team together. Emy was gone. Departing without a word. No communication, no explanation, no direction, but James still held on to hope. Rumors placed her somewhere in the northern mountains, with multiple fishing ventures claiming to have seen her and the chief’s daughter together—gathering resources, practicing combat, and developing skills. James had tried to extract more information from Elric, but since Emy had left with his daughter, Elric avoided the subject entirely. Any mention of the connection seemed to hit a nerve, one buried beneath layers of stoic silence, brusque deflections, and pretense of other village matters. Yet, James couldn’t miss the pain in the man’s eyes.

  Eventually, James gave up seeking the village’s support. His team had goals and individual progressions to focus on if they were to leave this place with their mission complete. But James knew they wouldn’t succeed without Emy. No, success without her wasn’t something he wanted. He was a leader, and a leader didn’t leave their own behind. He needed to become stronger, to learn more about the taint, and to figure out how to save his friend.

  With resolve hardening, James revisited the mission screen, scanning its contents again to ensure he hadn’t missed any crucial detail.

  Level Five Mission: Choose Your Allegiance. Shape the Fate.

  You find yourself in uncharted lands, a world shattered by the absence of a true Champion. A realm frozen in time, trapped by its stagnation. Objective: Neutralize the Intruders OR Eradicate the Fallen Primordials.

  Timeframe: 115 Days remaining

  Note: Both paths offer unique opportunities for advancement.

  Time continued to slip away, but the mission details remained unaltered. Only one thing had shifted: Emy had aligned herself with the opposing side. A faction bound to clash with the rest of the team in less than four months.

  "We saw it, Rose—it was her..." James murmured, his voice heavy with guilt and confusion. "She struck Tuck and Nadia. Tuck twice—with the void. How did I not see it? How did I not realize it had gotten so bad?" The words tumbled out in a continuous loop, one he’d shared with Rose countless times. She had become his source of counseling.

  Rose didn’t mind. She shared James’s emotions toward Emy and understood the weight of her absence on their minds. Now, larger than any traditional Earthian eagle since Emy’s departure, Rose’s massive wings cast shadows on the ground below as she soared high above. Neither James nor Rose knew how much bigger she would grow as her power developed, but her transformation was undeniable. The bond between them had grown stronger as well, with their connected vision through Symbiosense pushing to greater distances than ever before.

  James wielded the Stonebreaker Gloves to shift massive boulders that had once tumbled from the eastern mountains, clearing a sheltered space where he could merge his vision and presence with Rose, hidden from prying eyes. Seated cross-legged near the entrance of a small cave at the mountain’s base, he entered a meditative state while Rose soared once more toward the great divide. This time, her path took her eastward, her movements careful and deliberate to avoid detection by those who dwelled beneath the mountains.

  As Rose continued to grow in power, her evolution brought new challenges. Her immense size and strength established her as an apex predator of the skies but also rendered her a more prominent, vulnerable target to those on the ground. Balancing this newfound dominance with the dangers it invited was no small feat. If they were to keep their reconnaissance efforts on the northern lands uninterrupted, they would need to devise a new strategy—and soon.

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  Though Rose possessed a spectral talent, her abilities had yet to fully manifest. James and Rose struggled to understand how to nurture what felt more like instinct than skill. They resorted to rigorous training and pushing boundaries, hoping inspiration would strike as Rose soared farther north. James relied heavily on his time with Coach Williams to guide his progression, and while Trish provided some insight, her knowledge was far removed from the bond James and Rose shared. Even Trish agreed that time and persistence were their best tools.

  Now, Rose glided over the great divide, her sharp vision spotting what the maps had detailed as the Wind and Air users’ domain. The northern tribes had distinct elemental alignments: Earth users clustered at the mountain’s base, Water users near the southern streams of the divide, Fire users in the western reaches, and Wind users to the east. It made sense—strong winds flowed unobstructed from the vast waters bordering the lands to the east, unlike the mountains that deflected airflow elsewhere.

  As Rose approached the eastern border, soaring over a meadow kilometers from the nearest tribe, the unexpected struck. A powerful gust of wind slammed into her with unnatural force, spiraling her into a chaotic tumble. James’s connection to Rose was immediately flooded with her panic, jolting him upright. This was no ordinary wind, no familiar force from the eastern seas.

  "Rose! What’s happening?" he called out, his voice sharp with alarm. Her disoriented emotions surged through their bond, and his shared sight spun wildly across vast horizons. Furious, the air lashed against her, coiling into a vortex that ensnared her in a relentless cyclone. Through Rose’s eyes, James caught glimpses below—figures laughing, pointing... wind users. Their delight at her struggle was undeniable.

  "Rose, calm yourself. Focus on what you can control," James urged, his voice steady despite the pain that radiated through their connection. Condensed wind streaks struck her body like solid stone, pelting her wings and chest, driving agony into them both. Rose’s instincts screamed to fight harder, and her wings beat ferociously against the assault—but the winds tightened their grip, her body trapped as an exposed, unmoving target for the figures below.

  Pain engulfed her, a tidal wave that crashed relentlessly through her body. Blood spattered from her beak, a sign of the internal wounds tearing her apart, scattering devastation through her form. As her senses dimmed beneath the unrelenting torment, a faint but unshakable presence stirred deep within her. A voice—not a command, but a quiet, certain truth whispered from the essence of her being. Let go. It urged her forward, not with force but with unshakable clarity—a hidden guide leading her to the answer.

  Her resolve trembling but intact, Rose surrendered. Her wings stopped their frantic struggle, her muscles loosening as she relinquished herself to the tempest. The shift was immediate and profound—her energy realigned, transforming her connection to the winds that bound her. She let the air flood through her, weaving within and around her. Her form glimmered as it turned spectral, translucent, and untouchable, her movements fluid and ghostly. The winds that once battered her now cradled her, no longer her enemy but an extension of her will.

  Realization swept through her like wildfire, replacing panic with fierce determination. She was no one’s prey—she was the predator. The wind users below had made a fatal mistake, one she would not let stand. Her connection to James surged, igniting her focus as instinct took full command. Rose dive-bombed the group with razor precision, her talons flashing like spectral blades, visible only a heartbeat before they tore through her targets. Their cries of pain and fury rang out as she scattered them, swift and devastating, before pulling away with lethal elegance.

  "Rose! Forget them!" James called out, his voice breaking with relief as her gaze shifted from the tribespeople to the treeline—back toward him.

  < Skill Identified – Rose – Radiant Phase >

  < Level Up! Rose is now a Level 6 Spectral >

  Rose soared high into the skies, each beat of her mighty wings a testament to her resilience despite the wounds carved into her. Her body bore the marks of the struggle—blood still trailing from her mouth, the aftermath of wind blasts that had ravaged her from within, leaving her dangerously close to the edge of death. Yet, she circled with a defiance that transcended pain, her newfound strength coursing through her.

  When she descended, her landing was deliberate and graceful, a display of control that belied the raw exhaustion weighing on her. Her massive wings folded as she settled near James, her breathing labored but steady, the storm within her subsiding. Pride radiated from her even now, its blaze undimmed by her injuries, and James felt it wash over him through their bond.

  James rested a hand gently on her head, his smile faint but filled with understanding. In their shared silence, they acknowledged the thin edge she’d danced upon and the transformation born from it.

  Skill: Radiant Phase

  Grants the user the power to transcend physical limits, melding effortlessly with surrounding energies to assume a spectral form. In this state, the user can phase through forces like wind, light, and other elements, becoming nearly invisible and impervious to harm as energy flows through them without resistance. The skill’s potency is fueled by the user's elemental affinities, with specific energies heightening their mastery and unleashing even greater potential during the phase.

  James took in the details of the skill Rose had awakened, a smile spreading across his face. "Rose," he said, his voice filled with anticipation, "I think this means we can explore a bit further north."

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