Myles shivers slightly, staring up at the towering Dande. The man had just referred to himself as a natural disaster, and knowing what these people truly were, that statement definitely did not stop at the planetary scale. His criole alone was proof enough. Merely standing near him felt like standing beside a star forced into human skin.
On the subject, could Dande also see Myles' criole?
Recently, Myles had begun noticing four other cores within himself, faint and distant yet unmistakably present beneath the primary flow of power in his body. Maybe it was some strange human trait? No. If that were the case, he probably would not have needed Rai to point it out in the first place.
Dande rolls his broad shoulders, allowing just a little criole to leak into the air.
The pressure crashes into Myles instantly.
"There is much to show you."
Myles strains against the release of criole from Dande. It may have only been a fraction of the man's power, but what it lacked in quantity it made up for in density. The force felt impossibly refined, like an ocean compressed into the point of a needle. His muscles tense involuntarily as invisible weight presses against his skin, threatening to drive him into the ground.
"Why bother with me?" Myles asks through gritted teeth.
Suddenly his body feels lighter.
Not lighter because the criole vanished. No, it was still there. He could see it clearly, immense currents twisting around Dande like cosmic storms bound together by sheer will. Yet somehow the pressure no longer crushed him the same way.
What does this mean?
"I am not sure what you are, little one, but I know one thing." Dande turns his back to Myles and heads towards a metallic frame standing alone within the chamber. "You stopped being human a long time ago."
The frame itself is enormous, dark silver etched with runic symbols that seem less carved and more grown into the material itself. The moment Dande places his hand against it, the symbols ignite one after another in pale gold light, spreading across the structure like veins awakening beneath skin.
"Technology brings advancement, progress and comfort. It has its limits, though. Only for so long at least."
He walks through the light blooming within the frame and gestures for Myles to follow.
The instant Myles steps through, a nauseating sensation tears through his senses. Up, right, left, down. Every direction folds violently into the others for a single impossible second, as though reality itself had been grabbed and twisted. His stomach lurches. His vision fractures into blinding streaks of colour.
Then suddenly they were back.
Myles stares at Dande with visible confusion.
Why were they at the base of the tower again?
"Hmm, this one will be a tough one to explain." Dande begins walking towards the gates, tilting his head slightly as if expecting Myles to follow without question. "Did you ever wonder why a society of living beings, especially those that live so long, could live in absolute harmony?"
Dande smiles.
"My people may want nothing more than peace and progress, yes, but ultimately people are still people."
As the gates open, everything becomes clear.
The world beyond is starkly different from the serene civilisation above.
Chaos reigns.
The air itself trembles with violence. Men and women clash across a landscape stripped bare by endless battle, blood spraying through the air while flesh tears and bones crack with horrifying force. Shockwaves burst through the earth with each collision, uprooting ancient trees or splitting the ground entirely. Yet despite the brutality, every single one of them is smiling.
Not enraged.
Not feral.
Smiling.
That is the truly terrifying part.
And worse still, nearly every person Myles lays eyes on radiates strength capable of rivalling or outright surpassing his own. He is not stupid. Even among the monsters and anomalies surrounding him lately, he knows he himself is a freak of nature.
So what exactly did that make this city?
Myles slowly turns to Dande. "What is this?"
Dande smiles faintly. "Hmm, how do I start? Alright, answer this. Apart from the obvious, what do you notice?"
Myles turns back towards the chaos.
Only now does he truly pay attention.
For miles there are no buildings whatsoever. No homes. No streets. No signs of civilisation beyond the colossal tower behind them. The land is dominated instead by forests, though many of the trees are shattered, burnt or uprooted entirely. The few that remain untouched are monstrously massive, their trunks thicker than buildings, too ancient and durable for even these battles to destroy.
A body suddenly smashes violently into the force field surrounding the tower compound, interrupting his thoughts with a thunderous impact.
Myles narrows his eyes.
Interesting.
He turns towards Dande. "They are not all criminals, am I wrong?"
"How did you gather that from a random body?" Dande asks, genuine intrigue flickering across his face.
"Well, ignoring all their grinning faces, if you pay attention to the details, you notice things." Myles sighs softly. "Honestly, I would've missed it if that body hadn't come flying over."
He gestures towards the unconscious fighter slumped against the shimmering barrier. Jewels still adorn their arms and neck despite the blood covering them. Their clothing, though torn, is expensive and carefully crafted.
What use would prisoners or exiles have for ornaments like that?
"Is this some kind of sick game?" he asks quietly, his voice cold and small against the distant sounds of destruction.
Then he points towards the very top of the tower behind them.
"I have only told Kaelen this, and now you. I can see the movement of criole... or rather its form." His eyes narrow slightly. "Because of that, I noticed that little thing up there gathering, converging and compressing criole. The expulsion point was slightly farther to the right this time." He pauses. "We are still on the same planet, aren't we?"
Dande stares at him for a moment before smiling slowly, almost proudly.
"You are scary." His grin widens slightly. "If you live long enough, you will become a serious problem."
Myles is not entirely sure what to make of that statement. The praise does not comfort him the way it probably should. Instead, he sighs softly, almost disappointed, pressing his lips together with faint contempt. Becoming a "problem" in the mouth of a being like Dande hardly sounded reassuring.
Dande continues regardless.
"To cut a long story short, my people and I decided separation was the best course of action." He smiles calmly, the distant sounds of destruction rumbling behind him like thunder rolling across mountains. "This here is called Kungu, the Chaos. The one you have come to know is Vini, the Cradle."
Suddenly, everything clicks into place inside Myles' head.
Irva.
No offence to her, but she clearly was not carved from the same monstrous material as Lia, Kaelen, Rai or Sebbeh. She was strong, definitely stronger than most beings he had ever encountered, but compared to them, there was still a noticeable gap.
This is why.
Vini was not promoting weakness.
It was nurturing and facilitating growth, far from weakness.
A civilisation deliberately separated from its own violent instincts.
"Now, as I am sure you may have surmised by now, this planet has multiple phases, each one starkly different from the other." Dande turns slightly towards the colossal tower standing behind them, its white structure glowing beneath the fractured skies of Kungu like a spear driven between worlds. "You will be free to indulge if you'd like."
Myles' eyes snap immediately towards Dande.
The giant man smirks faintly.
"You are no house boy." His deep voice carries surprising certainty. "You are a warrior, and as dangerous as it would probably be, I have decided to teach you how to become truly strong." His eyes narrow slightly. "Strong enough to rival, truly rival, the likes of my son."
For a moment, the chaos around Myles disappears.
The screaming winds. The crashing bodies. The smell of blood and broken earth.
None of it matters.
This... this was it.
The small flicker of hope he carried with him all the way here. The quiet expectation he never admitted aloud because he feared sounding childish. Ever since arriving, part of him had wondered if this planet held the answer to the distance between himself and monsters like Lia or Sebbeh.
Not just stronger.
Worthy.
Strong enough to stand beside Lia without feeling like a dead weight chained to her shadow. Strong enough that when they met again, he would not need protecting.
Maybe next time they stood face to face, it would finally be as equals.
Slowly, despite himself, Myles smiles. The expression is small at first, uncertain around the edges, but genuine all the same. Somewhere deep inside his chest, beneath all the fear and confusion and exhaustion, something sparks alive like embers catching fresh air.