Lloyd awoke to the muted light of dawn filtering through the thin canopy of trees overhead. His body ached—not just from the fight with Sheena the night before, but from the fog of tension that had lingered between them all. A cool breeze swept through the clearing, sending thin wisps of smoke curling up from the fading embers. He glanced around the small clearing where their group had set up camp.

  Sheena sat cross-legged, slumped against a tree, absently stroking Milla’s fur. Her gaze flicked to Lloyd, lingering for only a heartbeat before sliding away. Dark circles etched her face. Milla looked up, her serene blue gaze meeting Lloyd’s with an almost human understanding. Regal stood a few paces from the fire, adjusting the strap of his sword as if it would distract him from the uncomfortable quiet. Colette crouched closest to the fire, her arms hugging her knees tightly to her chest. Her eyes flickered between the others, but she didn’t speak.

  Lloyd cleared his throat, trying to dispel the awkward silence. “Morning,” he said, forcing his voice to sound normal. It didn’t work.

  Colette gave a faint nod, her lips curving just enough to hint at a smile, though the tension still clung to her features. Regal grunted, his focus fixed on tightening a strap that didn’t need tightening. Sheena didn’t respond, her hand still moving rhythmically along Milla’s fur.

  “Well,” Regal muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess we should get moving.”

  “Yeah,” Sheena said sharply, standing in one swift motion.

  Without sparing Lloyd a glance, Sheena grabbed her pack and strode toward the path, Milla padding silently beside her.

  The group moved in strained silence through the dense woods, the tension from the previous day still lingering in the crisp morning air. The morning sun filtered through the canopy above, casting shifting patches of light onto the dirt path. Every so often, a bird’s call pierced the quiet, but even nature seemed hesitant to disturb the mood.

  Colette was the first to break the silence as she turned around to face Regal and Lloyd. “I hate this,” she said, flinging herself into Regal’s arms and wrapping him in a fierce hug. Regal let out a soft oof as she impacted, a smile on his face as he hugged her back.

  They kept walking, their arms locked around each other, stumbling as they refused to let go. Colette lifted her gaze to meet Lloyd’s, her voice steady and warm as she spoke.

  “We aren’t mad at you, Lloyd. It was a little scary at first, but we know who you are. You’ve risked your lives for us. We are a team. Isn’t that right!” Colette turned her head to yell the last part toward Sheena and Milla up ahead.

  They both stopped walking and turned toward Colette. Sheena shrugged her shoulders, “Yeah, we are.”

  “What are we going to do about that bubble village? We have to head that direction to go toward The Citadel,” Regal asked.

  “I say we give it a wide berth,” Colette said.

  “Agreed,” Lloyd said quickly, though he didn’t meet Sheena’s gaze. “There’s no point going back there.”

  Colette nodded hesitantly. “Honestly, they’re going to run out of Manarite eventually. The shield will give out, and then…” She trailed off, unwilling to say more.

  “They’ll get what’s coming to them,” Lloyd said, finishing her thought. A subtle flame of anger flickered as he thought about what the village tried to do to him. What they had done to countless people before them. How long had they been killing people?

  With an unsettling calm, Sheena and Milla began moving toward the group, their steps measured and quiet. “And we’re fine with letting them live until then?” Sheena’s voice cut through the air—cold, clipped, and accusing. “After everything they’ve done?”

  Regal turned to her, frowning. “What do you mean?”

  “You heard what they do. They lure people here, let them die in that cave, and then harvest their bodies for crystals to keep their precious little bubble going. And you think they deserve more time?” Her pace quickened until she stood face to face with Regal. “They lied to us. They would’ve let us die.”

  Colette glanced nervously at Sheena. “Sheena… things will take their natural course. They’ll pay for it eventually.”

  Sheena changed her focus and her fiery glare pinned Colette in place. “Eventually?” she spat. “How many more people will they lure in before ‘eventually’ happens? How many more bodies will fuel their shield before it finally fails?”

  Regal sighed heavily. “Mika is no longer a threat. Her Beastmaster is dead. They can’t hurt anyone, anymore.”

  Sheena shook her head and let out a bitter laugh. “You sure about that?” Sheena asked, with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

  “Which part?” Regal asked, confusion dancing across his face.

  “All of ‘em.”

  The forest grew silent. Birds stopped chirping, the rustle of leaves fell still, and the air itself seemed to thicken with tension. The first sound was faint—a distant rumble, like thunder rolling across the horizon. Then it grew louder, heavier, until the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.

  “What is that?” Colette whispered, her voice barely audible over the growing noise.

  Lloyd looked over to Milla. The fox sat still next to Sheena, her blue eyes directed toward the noise, but otherwise looked unbothered.

  Before anyone could answer, trees groaned and cracked as branches snapped and fell to the forest floor. A dark shadow moved between the trunks, its sheer size impossible to mistake. Mika emerged from the forest, her massive form effortlessly pushing through the underbrush, trees bending and breaking as she passed.

  “Mika?” Regal questioned out loud. His hand immediately found the hilt of his sword.

  Colette took a shaky step back, her wide eyes darting from Regal to the monstrous bear. “How… how did she find us?”

  Mika’s breath came in low, rumbling huffs that shook the air, and every step she took left deep indentations in the earth.

  “Sheena…” Lloyd murmured, his eyes flicking between the bear and Sheena.

  Sheena stood next to Mika as if the bear were no more dangerous than Milla. There was no fear in her expression—only the calm confidence of someone who knew her place in the presence of beasts. Milla stood there, her flames calmly flickering in the wind. Mika, on the other hand, was a monument of raw power, muscles bristled under dark brown fur, and her brown eyes pierced whomever they looked at. Together, they flanked Sheena like guardians—a wild harmony of fire and fury, stillness and rage.

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  Regal took a half-step toward Sheena, his voice low but firm. “What’s going on here, Sheena? Is she with you?”

  “She’s always been with me,” Sheena replied, her voice calm and cold, though a faint edge of something else—something sharper—curled beneath her words. “In a way, I suppose. Our connection isn’t anything like I have with Milla. It is far more subtle.”

  Lloyd swallowed hard as Mika tilted her head slightly. Her eyes seemed to bore through him, as if the bear could see past his skin and into the deepest, most fragile parts of him. His heart hammered in his chest, every instinct screaming at him to run, to back away from this impossibly dangerous creature. Yet, something about the way Mika stood beside Sheena—a silent, towering protector—pulled at him.

  Beyond the scary exterior of Mika, Lloyd didn’t actually feel like his life was threatened. He took solace in knowing that if a fight did break out, they could take her again. If Sheena said she was fine, then she was fine. Lloyd walked toward the bear as a smile grew on his face.

  “Lloyd…” Colette warned, her voice trembling.

  “Stay back,” Regal added, his sword halfway drawn, his eyes darting between Mika and Lloyd. “You don’t know what she’ll do.”

  But Lloyd didn’t stop. Slowly, deliberately, he approached Mika. The bear’s breaths filled his ears, each one like a rolling tide of thunder. Up close, her size was incomprehensible.

  Lloyd stopped a few feet away from her, looking between Sheena and Mika. “Is this what you wanted, Sheena? For her to follow you?”

  Sheena tilted her head slightly, her hand idly stroking Milla’s dark fur. “Not follow me, Lloyd. Stand with me. There’s a difference.”

  Mika let out a low, resonant rumble—something between a growl and a sigh—as if to confirm Sheena’s words. Lloyd felt the vibration in his bones, but to his surprise, he didn’t flinch. Instead, he found himself staring into Mika’s glowing eyes. There was power there, yes—terrible and primal—but there was also something else. A quiet sadness. A grief that stretched far beyond words.

  “She’s… protecting you,” Lloyd said softly, realization dawning on him.

  “She’s protecting what’s right,” Sheena corrected, her tone darkening. “And we’re about to decide what that looks like.”

  Lloyd turned to glance back at Colette and Regal, who were still frozen in place, uncertainty plain on their faces. He looked again at Mika and Milla—at the quiet stillness around Sheena, now flanked by these impossible creatures.

  In that moment, Sheena looked like something far more than human. She looked like a force of nature, with the wild at her side and vengeance in her eyes.

  Mika let out a low, rumbling roar that seemed to resonate through the forest and vibrate in their chests. The sound was deep, almost mournful, yet it carried an undeniable weight of power. The bags at the group’s sides shuddered violently in response, as if obeying an unseen force. Before anyone could react, the seams split open one by one, spilling the Manarite shards into the air.

  The fragments hovered above the ground, their blue glow flickering erratically like dying embers. The shards trembled, vibrating faster until they shattered into fine, glowing powder. The iridescent dust spiraled through the air in graceful tendrils, weaving toward Mika like iron filings to a magnet. She stood perfectly still, unflinching as the Manarite powder coiled around her massive form. Lloyd couldn't help but see the similarities between this and what happened to his staff the day before.

  The change began slowly at first. The fine dust seeped into her body, the red glow of corruption pulsing to life in thin cracks that spread like veins across her darkened hide. Her paws slammed into the earth, small tremors rippling outward as the transformation intensified. Rock erupted from the earth as it hovered momentarily before flying toward Mika. The stone began to solidify around the bear, her fur beginning to be covered entirely. Her amber eyes ignited into blazing crimson orbs, fierce and unrelenting, and her roar deepened into something primal and terrifying.

  “She’s… changing back,” Colette whispered.

  For the entirety of Mika’s transformation, Lloyd stood dangerously close to the bear. A few times, a shard of stone ricocheted off of him on their way to the bear. Lloyd couldn’t move; he was as transfixed by Mika’s transformation as he was seeing Milla change forms.

  Mika now stood before them in her complete Corrupted form, stone plates covering her body in jagged, armor-like layers, and fiery red light bleeding from the seams. She was immense—larger than when they first met her—and the raw, ominous energy that radiated from her sent chills through Lloyd’s spine.

  The bear tilted her head back and released another earth-shaking roar, the sound reverberating through the woods like a war drum. Then she turned, her crimson gaze locking onto the village bubble shimmering in the distance.

  “Mika…” Sheena’s voice softened as she approached the bear. Her hand rested on its broad shoulder, and for a moment, the anger in her eyes dimmed. She looked back at the group, her jaw set. “Give me that device, Colette.”

  Colette blinked, confused. “What? Why?”

  “Because I’m going to give it to Mika. She’s going to open their door.”

  “This isn’t the way,” Regal’s tone was heavy with warning. “I can’t let you do this.”

  “It’s the only way!” Sheena snapped, her anger reigniting. “They need to pay for what they’ve done.” She turned to Colette again, holding out her hand. “The device. Now.”

  Colette hesitated, her gaze flicking to Regal and Lloyd, who both shook their heads. But something in Sheena’s expression—a mix of determination and raw fury—made her relent. With trembling hands, she removed the watch and handed it to Sheena.

  Sheena pointed to a button on the device as Mika watched. “Press this button while you are close, and the door will open.”

  “You can’t be serious…” Lloyd said as he took a cautious step toward her. Sheena’s eyes flicked up, her hand tightening on the device. “We don’t kill people.”

  Sheena smirked as she raised her eyebrows. No words were uttered, but enough was said. A reluctant laugh slipped from Lloyd before he could stop it. Colette and Regal exchanged bewildered glances, their confusion clear as day. Sheena smiled more deeply as she kept her eyes on Lloyd.

  A smirk of recognition was briefly planted on Lloyd’s face. “True. We’ve all killed before. I’ve done it, and so has she,” Lloyd said, pointing toward Mika. “We did it because we had to. Sometimes we did it out of rage…” Lloyd said, his eyes finding their way to the soil beneath his feet. He’d aimed the words at Mika, but they struck him just as hard—he’d been driven by rage, too. He remembered the few times in the past months that something inside him boiled up out of nowhere and got the best of him. He didn’t want that to continue to happen.

  “This isn’t who we are,” Lloyd insisted, briefly looking at Sheena before locking eyes with Mika. “We’re better than this. You lost your cub to animals inside that bubble,” Lloyd said, keeping eye contact with the bear but pointing toward the town. “You killed everyone responsible that day. I know they have done terrible things since then, but not all of them. There are people with cubs of their own in there, and killing them won’t make things right.”

  With a heavy step, Mika’s massive muzzle loomed close, erasing the distance between her and Lloyd. The cool, unyielding stone of Mika’s muzzle brushed Lloyd’s cheek. After a breathless pause, she nudged him gently. Despite its softness, Mika’s push held the bear’s immense strength, nudging Lloyd firmly aside. A laugh bubbled out of Lloyd as he caught himself. He looked up at the red eyes that stared at him. For the first time in his life, those eyes didn’t immediately fill him with dread. How many more creatures with red eyes were like this?

  Lloyd stepped forward and attempted to wrap his arms around Mika’s massive form. His hands weren’t even close to touching as they clutched to the stone. Hugging Mika was like embracing a boulder—nothing like Milla’s cozy warmth. Mika’s massive, armored paw curled around Lloyd, a mix of power and restraint in her embrace. The squeeze stole Lloyd’s breath, but Mika’s hold softened, allowing him to inhale again.

  “Fine,” Sheena huffed, flinging her arms upward in exasperation. “It was ultimately her call. I don’t know what is with you and my animals…” Sheena said, shaking her head. With a resigned sigh, Sheena handed the device back to Colette, who blinked at it in confusion.

  Lloyd backed away from his bear hug. “Do you mind if I?” he asked Colette, gesturing to the device.

  She cocked her head to the side before Lloyd moved. His hand rose, telekinetic tendrils snaking forward to snatch the device from Colette. He lifted it into the air and took a page out of Mika’s book. He clenched his fist, and the device shattered into fragments.

  Mika’s low growl rumbled as she turned, her heavy steps sauntering into the woods. The group watched the bear disappear into the trees before anyone spoke up.

  “To The Citadel?” Colette asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Sheena said, quickly turning and leading the group around the bubble city.

  Regal and Lloyd hung back, their steps slower than the rest of the group.

  “Thanks for talking her down,” Regal said, nudging Lloyd’s shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t.”

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Lloyd replied, though his tone lacked confidence. “It was the right thing to do.”

  They caught up to the group, and Lloyd pondered his words. The truth of his words rang hollow, an unsettling thought lingering like an itch he couldn’t scratch. What if it wasn’t the right thing to do?