The fight between Pluto and Saul against the four ambushers continued.
Steel flashed through the misty forest as the clash dragged on far longer than any of them had expected.
Pluto's arm burned with pain where the dagger had pierced his shoulder earlier, but he forced himself to ignore it. His focus had narrowed entirely to the movements of the eel painting winding across his arm.
Push.
Pull.
Twist.
Step.
The signals came again and again, sometimes subtle, sometimes violent enough to almost jerk his body out of balance.
At first he had only followed them clumsily.
But as the fight stretched on, something began to change.
He started syncing with the eel.
Not perfectly.
Not even close.
But enough.
Just enough that the tempo of the battle shifted slightly. Up a notch.
One of the ambushers lunged forward, aiming his blade for Pluto's throat.
The eel tugged sharply.
Pluto ducked.
The blade passed over his head.
He stabbed upward with the dagger Saul had thrown to him earlier.
The strike sliced across the attacker's forearm.
A shallow wound.
But it drew blood.
The man stepped back immediately.
For the first time since the battle began, Pluto saw hesitation in his opponent's eyes.
He wasn't winning.
Not even close. He was definitely losing. He had gotten three for one, for every strike he had landed.
But now the ambushers had to respect him.
Pluto pressed forward again, swinging the dagger in a quick arc.
His opponent parried, but the movement created an opening.
Pluto kicked toward the man's knee.
This time the kick landed roughly where the eel had intended.
The man staggered slightly.
Not enough to fall.
But enough to force caution.
Pluto breathed heavily.
He was still taking more damage than he dealt.
Cuts had opened along his arms and torso.
Blood dampened his clothes.
But the wounds he inflicted were beginning to matter.
Across the battlefield Saul was changing as well.
At first he had simply been surviving.
Matching attack for attack.
Defense for defense.
But now something inside him seemed to awaken.
His movements grew sharper.
Faster.
More deliberate.
It looked almost like a weaker version of Pluto's instinctual battle ability.
Except Saul wasn't relying on an external force on internal guide.
He was falling into form.
Into his rhythm.
His blade moved with increasing precision, slashing toward arteries and vital points with lethal intent.
One of his opponents barely twisted aside in time to avoid having his throat opened.
The second ambusher tried to capitalize on the moment, striking toward Saul's ribs.
Saul pivoted.
His sword flashed downward.
The ambusher barely managed to block.
But the force of the strike drove him back two steps.
For a brief moment Saul seemed unstoppable.
But the ambushers adapted quickly.
They shifted their tactics.
Swords barely clanged anymore.
No wide swings.
No testing blows.
Every strike now aimed for something lethal.
A throat.
A heart.
A tendon.
And every attack was dodged with equal desperation.
The forest filled with the quiet sounds of violent struggle.
Heavy breathing.
Boots scraping against dirt.
Short bursts of grunting effort.
For the most part the grunting came from Pluto.
Blisters had formed across his palms from gripping the dagger too tightly.
His hands burned with every movement.
The pain weakened his grip on the weapon.
But he kept fighting.
Even as the ambushers forced him backward again and again.
The battle dragged on.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Time blurred together beneath the pressure of constant survival.
By the time nearly an hour had passed, Pluto could barely keep his legs steady.
His vision blurred.
Every breath scraped painfully through his lungs.
Finally—
He collapsed.
His knees hit the ground hard.
His hand clutched instinctively at his injured shoulder.
"T-time…"
His voice cracked.
"Time out!"
***
Pluto jerked awake.
Night surrounded him. It embraced him.
He lay beside a tree, the rough bark pressing against his back.
Sweat covered his body.
His chest heaved as he sucked in air.
For a moment he stared blankly into the dark forest.
Then the realization came.
It had been a dream.
But it hadn't.
The fight had happened.
He was simply remembering it.
The rhino had interrupted the battle.
The enormous beast had charged through the battlefield like a living avalanche, scattering fighters in every direction.
Its charge had created just enough space for Pluto and Saul to retreat.
If not for that moment—
They might both have died there.
Especially Saul.
Which was weird.
Pluto turned his head to look at him.
Saul still lay on the ground a short distance away.
Unmoving.
It had been two days since the battle.
And Saul had barely been himself.
That wasn't normal.
Even exhaustion shouldn't last this long.
Pluto was beginning to suspect something worse.
Poison.
The thought lingered unpleasantly in his mind.
Pluto slowly pushed himself upright and looked around.
The forest felt strangely calm tonight.
Not safe.
But balanced.
Like it had finally settled into an uneasy equilibrium with the constant paranoia that filled it.
Trees swayed gently in the cool breeze.
Mist clung low to the ground.
Above them the moonlight slipped between drifting clouds, casting a pale glow across the forest floor.
For a moment the place almost looked peaceful.
Pluto stretched slightly, wincing at the soreness in his muscles.
Part of him wanted to walk around a little.
To loosen his stiff body.
But the memory of the shadow stopped him. The unparalleled power of the figure that bent reality deterred him.
He didn't want to run into that thing again.
So he stayed where he was.
His eyes drifted toward the mark on his arm. No predators growled to it anymore.
Over the past few days its presence had grown weaker.
Less active.
Less aggressive.
Now it barely moved at all.
It looked almost… dead.
Pluto exhaled quietly.
He hoped that by the time Saul noticed, the urge to kill him would have faded.
Slowly he lay back down against the tree.
Just as sleep began creeping toward him again, a strange thought surfaced in his mind.
'Saul seems twenty-one.'
***
Morning came quietly.
But the peace didn't last long.
Soon after eating a handful of the dark, juicy berries they had come to rely on for food, danger returned.
A predator attacked.
A large one.
It burst out of the nearby swamp without warning.
The creature moved with surprising speed despite its massive body.
The only reason Pluto noticed it in time was the heat signature that flashed across his strange senses.
Without that warning—
The attack might have killed them both instantly.
The beast lunged forward and drove one of its massive horns straight into a tree.
It had been aiming for Saul.
The trunk split with a violent crack.
Luckily the strike missed.
The creature's disadvantage became obvious quickly.
It was slow.
Powerful.
But slow.
It could only use momentum to create temporary speed.
Pluto and Saul circled it carefully.
The battle lasted about fifteen minutes.
Eventually the predator collapsed beneath their combined attacks.
Afterward they collected its core and they resumed their wandering.
Still searching.
For Mira.
Or for potential allies.
***
Elsewhere, Ronan weighed the new blade in his hand.
Across from him Khalifa did the same with hers.
She had finally decided to enter the hill with him.
Ronan didn't bother teasing her about it.
In truth, he needed her there.
He had discovered something important after exploring the place.
The hill was infested with predators.
He had decided to name it Atlantis. A lost place.
And the deeper floors were far worse than the upper ones.
The second floor alone had contained nearly a hundred small predators.
He had been forced to enter and exit the level twice before finally killing them all.
But there was one strange rule he had noticed.
None of the creatures left their floors.
None of them chased prey upward.
It was as if each level had invisible boundaries.
Ronan didn't understand it.
But he accepted the advantage.
Still, he knew he couldn't go much deeper alone.
If he wanted to explore further—
And discover whatever secrets Atlantis might contain—
He would need Khalifa's help.
But before they descended again, they needed to prepare.
And learn to properly use the weapons they had found.
***
Deep inside the Chamber's cave headquarters, Doeg walked along one of the tunnels he was permitted to visit.
Most of the cave had grown quiet recently.
The workers responsible for expanding the inner sections had stopped their efforts.
There was no point continuing.
The Chamber would soon abandon the cave entirely as the compression approached.
The emptiness made the tunnels feel strangely hollow. More than it usually was.
But as Doeg passed the prison area, something caught his attention.
The cells were occupied today.
Two girls sat inside one of them.
Doeg slowed his pace.
Something about one of them felt familiar.
He frowned slightly, trying to place the feeling.
After a moment he stepped closer to the bars.
The girls looked up at him.
Doeg studied the one sitting nearer to the wall.
He struggled to remember.
But the memory refused to come clearly.
Finally he asked coldly,
"Have we met?"
Neither girl answered.
Mira simply looked away.
Thea remained silent as well.
Doeg huffed irritably.
Then he turned and walked away.
But as he exited the cave entrance moments later—
The realization struck him.
He remembered who she was.