Standing there for a long time, Florka gazed down at Orced. The hostility in his eyes was straight now, not masked by politeness or sentimentality.
Florka replied, voice cold and flat, "We'll meet again." "And next time, I won't be the first to go."
He turned and left the kitchen in silence. His footsteps echoed down the hallway before fading out as he exited the building. The only punctuation was the sound of the main door shutting behind him.
For a few long seconds, the kitchen stayed totally silent. Orced exhaled gently, stroking the bridge of his nose. "Everybody... get down. He left. No hunting. No tracking. Let him return to whatever hole he crawled out of."
Macker dropped his hands, still tight. "Boss, that man seemed to want to murder you. You just let him stroll really?
Orced gave a little smile, but it never reached his eyes. "He is my childhood friend. Old pals get a free pass. Next time we'll approach it differently."
Aftor completely sheathed his blades, but his mood was grim. "You positive on that? He was not here for tea and memories. He was here to evaluate us. To understand how far we have come."
Orced rose deliberately, shoving his chair back. "I understand. And now he gets it. That implies readiness is vital for us. Ema."
Ema sprang forward right away, bow in hand. "Yeah?"
Though commanding, Orced's voice was quiet. "Activate the whole invisibility protocol on the island. Maximum power. I want Sky Island entirely off the grid. No thermal bleed, no visual, no radar, only our special radars. Make it seem like we never existed here."
Without hesitation, Ema nodded. "On It. Stabilization using the full protocol takes around twenty minutes. To prevent altitude loss, I will send the power over the secondary cores."
Orced rested momentarily a hand on Ema's shoulder. "Good. Do it. For the rest of you, rest. We put in more work tomorrow. We get ready for whatever Florka brings next. This is not finished. It is only starting here."
The team spread gradually, the earlier laughing replaced by a calm, concentrated energy. As he turned toward his room, Macker said something about "old friends being the worst kind of enemy." Following, Nix continued complaining about not having permission to blow anything up. Before heading out to double-check the perimeter, Aftor and Sano shared a look.
Only Kruna hung about, leaning against the counter as Orced observed Ema vanish down the hallway toward the control room.
"You really think he will return accompanied by an army?" Kruna murmured.
Orced gazed at the bare doorway Florka had departed. His voice was almost pensive and quiet.
"I think he already has one. And I think we only reminded him why he originally constructed it."
As Ema started the protocol, the island's hum varied somewhat. Lights flickered once, then settled. Like heat haze on a summer road, the subdued shimmer of the invisibility field started to show around the margins of the windows.
As though the last hour had never occurred, Orced turned to Kruna, the same simple smile returning to his face.
"Come on. Let's have some real sleep. We reveal to the globe tomorrow what Sky Boys are truly capable of doing should someone seek to impede us."
Kruna nodded, but he paused a little longer to stare at the door.
The two former pals left the kitchen together, the weight of the past and the hope of the future bearing heavily in the air behind them.
Outside, the wind kept singing secrets no one else could hear over the invisible island.
The remote Chinese village's evening air was crisp and smelled like pine and far-off woodsmoke. Far from the bright lights of the towns and the inquisitive eyes of Hedonas patrols, the primary ingredient of Karkas tarikat was tucked away in a remote valley.
The structures were a precise fusion of historic Chinese design and useful contemporary reinforcements: wooden beams supporting gracefully curved roofs, stone bases that had stood for centuries but with discreet steel supports and hidden security features only the inner circle knew about. Hanging from the eaves, lanterns gave the cobblestone pathways winding between the main hall, the training grounds, the dorms, and the little garden where Florka loved to meditate when the burden of leadership grew too heavy a gentle orange glow.
Long, deliberate strides carried Florka around the main courtyard. Behind him his long coat moved with a gentle scent of Perpa's city air still lingering in the cloth. Standing on either side of him, Ash and Gus remained attentive but quiet. Ash was a tall, slender man with strong features and a scar on his left cheek from a previous curse fight; he walked like someone who had discovered the hard way that trust was a luxury. Gus was shorter and stockier. He always looked angry and crossed his arms over his chest as if he thought something would happen at any time. These were Florka's most reliable lieutenants, the ones who had been with him since the beginning when Karkas was just a dream murmured in the desert.
Near the main fountain, the three of them paused to hear the muted patter of water in the still night.
Ash began first, voice soft. "So... you observed him. - Unsaid. What was the golden boy like? I want to be that guy and get bitches hard"
Florka looked at the water for a long time, the lanterns' light bouncing off the surface. "Same as always. Smiling Nice. Speaking as though he is the only one who knows the rules and the world is his personal playground. He still has that white hair, still has that look in his eyes like he's the hero of his own story. Sky Boys is precisely what I anticipated: loud, showy, packed with young blood who believe they can transform anything with a punch and a speech."
Gus grunted, then kicked a tiny pebble into the fountain. "And the island? The arrangement? They truly created a foundation in the heavens."
Florka nodded deliberatively. "Floating island. Most scans won't see it unless you are aware of precisely what to search for. With seven fundamental members all showing S-class potential, they are Organized. Perilous. Today they demolished Rengan as if it were nothing. I saw the aftermath from afar. Wash- off. ruthless. None at all."