Chapter 60: The Otaku Finds the Crossroads (And Something Stirring)
The mountains changed everything.
Not just the terrain, though the sharp rocks and thin air were bad enough. It was the quiet. The kind of silence that pressed against your ears, made you hear your own heartbeat, made you wonder what else might be listening.
Meliodas climbed without speaking. So did the others.
Even Rem had stopped complaining.
She walked close to him, her tail occasionally brushing his leg, but her ears were flat, her eyes scanning the ridges above them. She felt it too.
Bud was awake on his shoulder, glow dim, head moving slowly from side to side.
'Something's watching us.'
'Where?'
'Everywhere. The stones. The snow. The peaks.'
Meliodas kept climbing.
The crystal from Vex was tucked inside his coat, cool against his chest. He'd almost forgotten it was there. Almost.
---
They found the pass at midday.
Not a pass, exactly. A gap between two peaks where the wind didn't reach and the sun fell like honey. The snow had melted here. Grass grew. Flowers, impossibly, bloomed in clusters between the rocks.
And at the center, a circle of stones.
Old. Worn. Carved with symbols that pulsed faintly in the light.
Kaelen stopped first. "Master... what is this place?"
Meliodas stepped forward.
{Observation Haki} stretched. Nothing. Everything. Too much. Like the Birth World, but calmer. Older. A place where realities brushed against each other without breaking.
Bud flew from his shoulder, growing to full size. His light pulsed in rhythm with the stones.
'It's sleeping,' he sent. 'It's been sleeping a long time.'
"The Crossroads," Meliodas said.
---
Edrin and Lira moved to the edge of the circle, studying the symbols. Vex stayed back, watching the peaks. She glanced at Meliodas once, then away.
Rem stayed close. "How do you wake it?"
Meliodas looked at Bud. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out the crystal.
It pulsed in his palm, responding to the stones' rhythm. Vex had said it might help. He hoped she was right.
Bud landed at the center of the circle and closed his eyes. Meliodas set the crystal at his feet.
The stones pulsed brighter. The crystal flared.
The air shimmered.
For a moment—just a moment—Meliodas saw something. Not a crack like the village. Something cleaner. A seam in the fabric of the world, waiting to be opened.
Then it was gone.
Bud opened his eyes.
'It needs time. Weeks. Maybe months. Not years.'
Meliodas picked up the crystal. It was warm now, pulsing faintly.
They had time.
---
They made camp inside the circle.
The stones kept the wind out. The symbols glowed faintly, casting soft light across the snow. It was warmer here. Safer.
Rem sat beside Meliodas, her tail curled around his wrist. She didn't lean on him, not yet, but she was close enough to feel her warmth.
"Weeks," she said.
"Maybe."
"You're not worried."
"No."
"Liar."
He didn't argue.
Kaelen sat by the fire, practicing his breathing. The loop on his wrist glowed steady white. He was getting better. Faster.
Edrin and Lira sat together, talking quietly. Their voices were low, but there was warmth there now. Something that might become trust.
Vex sat apart, watching the stars. She hadn't spoken since they arrived, but her eyes tracked the crystal in Meliodas's hand once, then away.
Bud curled up on Meliodas's lap, small and warm.
'I'm going to open it.'
'I know.'
'I just need time.'
'I know.'
Bud was quiet for a moment. Then: 'I want a sweetroll.'
Meliodas smiled.
'Tomorrow.'
---
The Sweetroll Plate produced one sweetroll the next morning.
Meliodas split it seven ways. No one complained. No one asked for more.
Bud got his share and didn't demand another.
'Saving it for later?'
'I'm growing.'
Meliodas almost smiled.
He tucked the crystal back into his coat.
---
The days blurred after that.
Bud spent hours at the center of the circle, light pulsing, testing the edges of the seam. Meliodas placed the crystal beside him each time. It glowed in response, amplifying his rhythm.
The stones responded faster now. The seam at the circle's center was visible—a thin line of light, pulsing with Bud's heartbeat.
Kaelen trained with his sword, the loop steady white. Edrin and Lira mapped the surrounding peaks, looking for signs of anything that might have followed them.
Vex carved small figures from stone and lined them up on a rock. She didn't explain why. No one asked.
Rem discovered that she hated waiting almost as much as she hated cold.
"You're pacing," Meliodas said.
"I'm thinking."
"You're pacing."
"I'm thinking while pacing."
She circled the fire twice more, then stopped. "How long did he say?"
"Weeks. Not years."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
Her tail lashed. "I don't like not knowing."
He looked at her. "You're worried."
She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it. Her ears flattened.
"Maybe."
He waited.
She sat beside him, closer than before. Her shoulder pressed against his. Her tail curled around his wrist.
"I don't want to stay here forever."
"We won't."
"You don't know that."
"No. But I know Bud. He'll figure it out."
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "You trust him that much?"
Meliodas looked at the tiny dragon at the center of the circle, light pulsing, the crystal glowing beside him. He'd followed Meliodas through the Birth World, through the Gargantuan Wilds, through the crack. He'd never run. Never given up.
"Yeah."
Rem's tail tightened around his wrist. "Then I trust him too."
---
The first sign that something was wrong came on the seventh night.
Meliodas woke to silence.
Not the good silence. Not the peaceful silence. The kind of silence that came before something bad.
He sat up.
Bud was already awake, perched on a stone, staring at the circle's edge. His glow was steady, but his wings were tense. The crystal pulsed faintly beside him.
'Something moved.'
'Where?'
'Outside. In the peaks. Not close. But watching.'
Meliodas stood. Moonsing in his hand. His other hand closed around the crystal.
Rem was awake now, her eyes glowing faintly in the dark. "What is it?"
"I don't know."
He walked to the edge of the circle.
{Observation Haki} stretched.
Nothing. Just mountain. Just snow. Just the cold weight of stone.
But something had been here.
He could feel it in the way the air moved, in the way the shadows lay wrong against the rock.
Bud landed on his shoulder.
'It's gone now. But it was here.'
'What was it?'
'I don't know. Not the crack. Not the cult. Something else.'
Meliodas looked at the peaks.
The Crossroads was waking up. And something had noticed.
---
He told the others in the morning.
Kaelen's hand went to his sword. Edrin and Lira exchanged glances. Vex stopped carving.
Rem's tail was rigid. "What do we do?"
Meliodas looked at the circle. At Bud, already at the center, light pulsing, the crystal glowing beside him.
"We wait. We watch. We're ready if it comes back."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we keep waiting."
She didn't like that answer. But she didn't argue.
---
The days passed.
Bud grew stronger. His light was brighter now, his pulses steadier. The crystal pulsed in rhythm with him, amplifying each surge of power. The stones responded faster, glowed longer. The seam at the circle's center was wider now—a thin line of light that hummed with something almost like song.
Kaelen trained. Edrin and Lira mapped. Vex carved.
Rem watched.
She watched the peaks. She watched the circle. She watched Meliodas.
"You're doing it again," he said.
"Doing what?"
"Watching."
"I'm protecting."
"You're worrying."
She didn't deny it.
He sat beside her. "It's not going to attack while we're awake."
"You don't know that."
"No. But I know we're ready."
She looked at him. Her eyes were tired, but there was something else there too.
"You really believe that."
"Yes."
She was quiet for a long moment. Then she leaned into him, her head on his shoulder, her tail curling around his wrist.
"I'm still going to watch."
"I know."
---
The attack came at dawn on the fourteenth day.
Meliodas woke to Bud's light filling the circle, bright enough to hurt. The stones were pulsing, faster, faster, and the seam at the center was a crack of light that hummed with power.
Bud was shaking. The crystal flared.
'It's close. It's very close.'
Meliodas moved to the center. "What do you need?"
'Time. Focus. Don't let anything interrupt.'
He looked at the peaks.
Something was there. He could feel it. Watching. Waiting.
"Kaelen."
The young prince was already on his feet, sword drawn. "Master."
"Guard the circle. No one enters."
"Yes, Master."
Rem moved to Meliodas's side. "And you?"
He looked at Bud, trembling at the center of the light, the crystal blazing beside him.
"I stay."
---
The hours passed.
Bud's light grew brighter. The seam widened. The stones sang.
And in the peaks, something stirred.
Meliodas felt it first—a shift in the pressure, a weight against his skull. {Observation Haki} screamed.
'It's coming.'
Bud's voice was strained. 'I know. I can't stop now.'
Meliodas drew Moonsing. "Then don't."
The shadow came down the mountain like an avalanche.
Not the crack. Not the cult. Something else. Something that had been waiting in the peaks for longer than the village had existed, longer than the kingdom had stood.
It had no shape. No face. Just hunger.
It hit the circle's edge and stopped.
The stones flared. Bud's light blazed. The crystal pulsed.
The thing recoiled.
But it didn't retreat.
It circled, testing, searching for weakness.
Meliodas stood at the circle's center, Moonsing raised, {Sun Fruit} simmering beneath his skin, the crystal warm against his chest.
"You want in? Come through."
The thing paused.
Then it moved.
---
It was faster than anything that size should be.
Meliodas met it head-on, {Rush} bending time, Moonsing carving light. The thing had no flesh to cut, but the blade bit into shadow, pushed it back, held it at the edge.
Rem was beside him, claws extended, her gauntlets glowing with borrowed light. Kaelen flanked, sword flashing, loop blazing white. Edrin and Lira held the other side, blades moving in perfect sync.
The crystal in Meliodas's coat pulsed, flared, and for a moment—just a moment—the thing's shadow form caught light.
Meliodas saw it.
A core. Small. Dark. Pulsing.
He threw Moonsing aside and pressed his hand against the thing's center.
{Sun Fruit} blazed. Light poured from his palm, channeled through the crystal, focused into a spear of pure radiance.
The thing screamed.
Bud's light exploded outward, joining Meliodas's, and the crystal became a star.
The shadow dissolved.
---
The peaks echoed with silence.
Bud collapsed. The crystal dimmed.
Meliodas caught them both.
'I did it.'
'I know.'
'I want a sweetroll.'
'Tomorrow.'
'Tomorrow.'
Bud's light dimmed, and he slept.
---
The Crossroads pulsed once, twice, then settled.
The seam was still there—a thin line of light at the circle's center, waiting.
Meliodas picked up the crystal. It was cool now. Quiet.
He looked at the peaks. The shadow was gone.
He looked at his friends—Kaelen, breathing hard, loop white. Rem, pressed against his side, her tail around his wrist. Edrin and Lira, standing together. Vex, watching from the edge of the circle.
Bud slept on his shoulder.
The Crossroads was open.
And somewhere, on the other side, a world called Earth was waiting.
---
[END OF CHAPTER 60]