"Entering together in our current state… difficult. But I always have a plan."
Zis's eyes gleamed with cold, technical precision.
"My core Code is control over speeds and biological reactions — including negative acceleration. I have a shrink chip. I'll use it to temporarily halt my growth process. In the end, Codes are just mutations that can be manipulated — but the price is steep. The price is your lifespan itself."
Ice smiled faintly — with the kind of curiosity that doesn't quite reach the eyes:
"Impressive. I like intelligent people. If you weren't one of them, I would have refused to come with you."
In an instant, Zis's eyes narrowed into a terrifying, predatory gaze. His pupils vibrated with threatening intensity — staring at Ice with a look that froze the blood in the boy's veins.
Zis (voice sharp and dry): "Be quiet, boy! Don't speak to me with such familiarity. Do you think I'm your friend? Know your limits. I am merely your guardian — nothing more. I protect you. But I am not your father."
Ice pulled back. His face stayed cold, but his voice broke with obvious bitterness as he looked away, stumbling slightly over his words:
"Alright… I… I thought I'd finally found a companion."
Zis turned his face away with complete indifference.
"Don't think," he muttered to himself — then whispered internally: (This boy's personality will change soon… whether he likes it or not).
Zis produced a small chip that caught the light in the darkness — its core pulsing with a deep blue glow. He pressed his thumb to its center, and the chip absorbed the blue energy through his pores with speed. His body began to shrink — centimeter by centimeter.
While the energy faded, he traced two symbols in the air with his middle and index fingers. Dark energy condensed like ink, forming two mysterious characters: (T, H). Before the light disappeared, he leaped onto Ice's shoulder — now no larger than a newborn's fist.
Ice (astonished): "Why did the energy leave so fast?"
Zis: "The body detects foreign Codes and expels them to minimize damage. There are long-term side effects though. Now — move."
Ice: "But the ink… how did you write in the air?"
Zis slapped his small forehead in an outburst of frustration:
"Did you forget? You can control the proximity of Loom molecules if you reach the 'Revered' or 'Engineer' rank. Just remember — if you use a chip, finish your work quickly before it burns out."
Zis sighed and produced another chip. It was strikingly beautiful — its design, color, and materials suggesting a quality that surpassed any imaginable price. Zis stared at it with a mixture of admiration and grief:
"It pains me to use you, my beautiful…"
Then he shot a sharp, irritated glance at Ice:
"It pains me that you'll be drained for this child. But he needs to face this world's truth."
Ice shook his head with an expression of utter indifference:
"But I don't know where the Academy is."
Zis: "Ha! Neither do I! I only know the distance because I got lost here once. Remember that hill you cut through earlier? That's our guide."
Zis absorbed the energy from the exquisite chip. His veins glowed crimson — like lava flowing through water. Then a synthetic voice emanated from the chip as it dissolved into smoke:
[Destination?]
Zis: "The Academy of Amon."
(Amon… I've heard that name before), Ice thought.
Suddenly, Zis grabbed Ice's ear hard and shouted:
"Pay attention and hold on tight! No — I mean, watch your extremities, or—"
The sentence was cut short as the scene shifted.
A massive blue mountain appeared — its peak split vertically. It looked more like liquid water than solid ice. Ice stood frozen in shock, his mouth hanging open as his usual coldness shattered completely.
Ice: "That… that's a glacier! It's not a building. The Code must have glitched!"
And as he raised his hand to point at the mountain — his eyes landed on a detail that struck him with sharp terror.
His thumb was gone.
From the joint — no flesh, no bone, no blood.
In its place was a fluctuating stream of green symbols — mathematical codes and numbers pulsing in the void where his finger was supposed to be.