The wall had its own quiet that the camp never did.
Ashen sat on one of the large stones jutting from the parapet's edge, one knee raised, and looked out at the wasteland. It stretched in every direction without variation in a flat, grey, and still picture.
Not a picturesque view by any measure, but he hadn't come here for the scenery.
He had come here for the silence.
As for why he wasn't enjoying the sanctuary of his own tent… it all started the moment Alice woke up the next day.
He had personally examined her from head to toe, and everything came back normal, including her mental state.
Well… almost everything. There was one strange new phenomenon. Whenever he got too close, Alice would become unusually aroused… A bit too aroused.
Her body would heat up, her breathing would grow heavier, and she had even confessed, half embarrassed, half helpless, that simply holding his hand now was enough to make her wet.
This only happened when he was involved, of course, but Ashen still panicked anyway.
At first, he was ready to use Somatic Autonomy immediately and fix whatever had gone wrong with her body, but Alice stopped him. She insisted this was fine.
According to her, it was simply her body recognizing its duty whenever it sensed him nearby.
When Ashen heard that, his first thought was that her mind had somehow broken alongside her body. Naturally, he inspected that area thoroughly enough to dismiss the theory.
In the end, after repeated reassurances from Alice and another dozen inspections on his part, he finally relented.
Only then did Ashen release the quiet breath he had been holding. There was truly nothing wrong with her.
Well, nothing aside from her body gaining a rather troublesome new feature.
Approximately two minutes later, she and Seraphine decided it was girls' time.
The tent was promptly cleared of its male population; said population consisting solely of him.
Poor Lucia, who had only come to check on Alice, was dragged in not long after.
He still remembered the look she had thrown over her shoulder as Seraphine led her away by the arm; wide-eyed, pleading, and utterly confused. It was a look he rarely saw on her, of all people.
A faint smile touched his lips at the memory.
'Sorry, love. You're on your own. I can't help you here.'
He hadn't even tried; nor would he have succeeded in rescuing her from those two tigeresses anyway.
Either way, it worked out fine. He wanted some time for himself as well.
After spending the morning catching up with Braun, he eventually left to find a secluded place to speak with his twin soul.
'So… do you know what that was about?'
{I'm not sure…}
Ashen was referring to the strange sounds he had heard when using Sensory Lull to mute all his senses.
He hadn't forgotten those noises. And he was certain they hadn't been his imagination.
Something—or someone—had been trying to reach him.
His twin soul, of course, knew what he was talking about, since they shared the same body and the same consciousness.
'But you're not sure…?' He raised a brow. 'That's a first.'
{Naturally, I'm not omnipotent. Not being sure doesn't mean I don't have an idea, however.}
'Then tell me. It's better than nothing.'
{Enter your dreamscape first.}
Ashen obliged, leaving his senses partially open to guard against any external disturbance.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood within the white expanse of his mind.
His older, more weary self was already waiting.
The moment Ashen arrived, he placed a hand on his shoulder and shifted them both to another stretch of the dreamscape.
There, a vast human army stood frozen in time.
The roaring lion emblem engraved on their armor made it clear who they were: it was the now-extinct Pride Army.
Opposite them, a black tide of Narkals waited in perfect stillness.
Neither side moved. Both were puppets suspended on invisible strings.
That was expected as they were constructs of memory, recreated from the moment he had once lived through within the Fragment of History.
Even though he had long since stopped using this scenario for training, Ashen had never erased it.
He refused.
It remained as a reminder… a reminder that the Pride Army had once existed, and that they had been willing to lay down every last life for humanity's survival.
But none of this explained what it had to do with his current situation.
"Why are we here?"
"Follow me."
Ashen shrugged and followed.
They traveled until they reached the front of the army. There, Shun Morikawa and Rowan Vance stood at the head of the charge.
Like the rest, both remained perfectly still.
The two identical twins stopped in front of Rowan.
"It's him," Old Ashen said.
"What about him?"
"That's the part I'm not sure about," he replied. "All I know is that Lucid Dreamweaving reacted when you entered that extreme state."
He frowned.
"Actually… this wasn't the first time it happened. It was simply the strongest disturbance so far. That's why you were finally able to hear it."
Ashen's eyes widened.
"What?" His voice rose. "You're telling me this has happened before?"
"No." The other Ashen shook his head. "No voices were heard before."
A brief silence followed.
"But his mouth moved."
"…"
"It moved on its own."
A chill ran through Ashen's imagined body, goosebumps spreading across his skin.
"…Quit joking." His expression stiffened. "Is this some kind of prank? I didn't know you still had that in you, brother…"
"You know I'm not joking."
Old Ashen's voice remained calm and steady.
"I know it's hard to believe, but I'm telling you exactly what happened."
He turned toward Ashen.
"Either way, this is your Path Skill. I cannot and will not interfere with it."
His tone left no room for argument.
"You're on your own."
"At least tell me it isn't something bad…"
"I don't believe so." He shook his head. "At the end of the day, your concepts are your own. They won't go out of their way to harm you."
"Even when people lose control, it isn't their concepts maliciously harming them."
His gaze lingered on Rowan.
"It is the individual failing to bear what those concepts truly are."
Ashen fell silent for a moment.
"So… you think this might be a good thing?" he said thoughtfully. "Maybe the skill is simply evolving?"
"Perhaps."
Old Ashen did not deny it.
"But you should remain cautious. Some skills carry harmful side effects, just like Sensory Null. This one may evolve into something similar."
"Haah… I don't even know how to evolve it in the first place." Ashen sighed.
"You'll figure it out."
The twin soul began fading away, his form slowly dissolving into the white expanse.
"Just keep your guard up when it happens."
"Alright…"
Ashen didn't leave immediately.
Instead, he focused all his attention on the unmoving marionette before him.
No matter how much he scrutinized it, he found nothing unusual.
And yet…
Maybe it was just his imagination, but deep within those lifeless eyes, he could feel something buried beneath the numbness.
An intensity…?
'I could simply dispel it and be done with this… but do I really want to?'
Maybe doing so would be a mistake.
Ashen had never been someone who shied away from risks. More importantly, he knew he no longer had the luxury of choosing the safe path every time fate placed a decision before him.
His enemies would never grant him that kind of indulgence.
Sigh.
'I guess I'll have to bet on you, General,' he thought, looking at the unmoved construct one last time. 'Don't screw me over…'
*
Ashen withdrew from the dreamscape and opened his eyes.
The unsettling feeling Rowan had left behind still lingered in the back of his mind, refusing to fade.
He exhaled slowly and pushed the thoughts aside. There was no point dwelling on it now.
He had just turned to head back when familiar voices reached him from a distance.
"There you are!"
Seraphine waved enthusiastically as she approached.
Ashen blinked.
Besides her, Alice and Lucia were walking alongside her, and surprisingly, there was an additional woman he didn't recognize.
She wore round glasses and had black eyes with a neat bob cut of matching color.
Judging by the shy look on her face as Seraphine practically dragged her along, Ashen immediately understood.
She was another victim of Seraphine's antics.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"I was just about to head back."
His gaze shifted toward the unfamiliar woman.
"And who might your friend be?"
"I'm glad you asked!"
Seraphine immediately pulled the poor woman right in front of him.
"Meet Maria. She's the new friend I made over the last four months. She was assigned as one of the guards for the healing corps, and we got along really well."
"Is that so?"
Ashen softened his expression and addressed her gently.
"It's nice to meet you, Maria."
Maria stiffened slightly under the attention.
"H-Hi…"
"Don't let her shyness fool you."
Seraphine suddenly popped her head out from behind Maria's shoulder.
"Maria is actually super intense once you get to know her real self. Right, Maria?"
Maria looked one second away from combusting.
That was when Alice grabbed Seraphine by the head and physically pulled her away.
"Idiot."
Alice's voice was flat.
"Whatever kind of person she is underneath all that, right now she looks like she's about to shut down from your nonsense. Let her breathe."
"Ay, ay, ay—okay, okay!"
Seraphine winced.
"Not the iron grip, please, bestie…"
As the two started bickering, with Maria awkwardly trying to defend Seraphine in a tiny voice, Lucia quietly seized the opportunity.
She slipped beside Ashen.
Without warning, her fingers slid into his, interlocking their hands. Right after, his arm was enveloped in a warm sensation as she put it between her breasts. Then she leaned close enough for her breath to brush against his ear.
"Are you alright?"
Her voice was low, but the gentleness in her voice nearly melted him.
He glanced at her.
Beneath her calm expression, he could see the concern she was trying to hide. His grip around her hand tightened.
"I am now." Ashen squeezed the hand that had just interlocked with his and answered in the same whisper.
"Really?" Lucia purred, teasing his ear with her voice. "If you feel stressed, just say the word… You can use my body however you want, or we can slip into another 'bath'. I still have some of that strong stuff tucked away~"
Ashen lowered his head, brushing her pink lips with his own as he spoke in a rough murmur. "I'm not really stressed…" A wicked smile curved his mouth. "But I might take you up on that offer anyway."
'Hngh…!' Lucia fought to keep the moan inside her head, where it reverberated through her horny thoughts.
"Hey, you two!"
Seraphine's voice shattered the moment. She pointed at them accusingly.
"Ally, look at them flirting right in front of us!"
Alice did not just look; she had already moved to Ashen's other side.
"I can see that."
She slipped her hand into his free one.
"Let's head back. This isn't exactly the best place to stand around chatting."
With that, she and Lucia naturally began guiding him forward.
Behind them, Seraphine pouted. A rare sullen look crossed her face.
"Bleh. Fine."
She turned dramatically toward Maria.
"I've got Maria anyway. Who needs you people?"
Before Maria could react, Seraphine grabbed her hand and proudly mimicked the couples walking ahead.
Maria froze.
Then, after a brief moment, a small embarrassed smile appeared on her face.
"Hehe…"
Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind being the substitute.
☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾
..
..
[Maria]