Kenji sat in the trench for a long time.
Still.
Annoyingly still.
The red mist drifted around his legs and through the cracks in the stone, thin in some places, thicker in others.
At first, nothing changed.
The same cold brush.
The same slow movement.
The same feeling that it was there, but just out of reach.
Kenji stared at it with narrowed eyes.
Then clicked his tongue.
"How does that little bastard make this look so simple..."
No answer, naturally.
Reth had made it sound easy in the most annoying way possible.
Listen first.
Sense first.
Don't grab.
That part kept irritating him.
His way of doing things had always been simple.
Move fast.
Hit hard.
Eat quickly.
This mist thing didn't care about any of that.
If he tried forcing it, it slipped away.
If he focused too hard on controlling it, it scattered.
Which meant he had to do something far more disgusting.
Be patient.
Kenji exhaled through his nose and settled again.
He stopped looking directly at the mist and instead paid attention to everything around it.
The cold around his ankles.
The blood drying on the trench floor.
The way the fog thickened near corpses, then thinned as it drifted higher.
Minutes passed.
Then more.
And slowly, just like before, the trench started feeling different.
Not just like a place.
Like a flow.
There were paths in it.
Shifts.
Little currents moving through the cracked earth and over the stone like something breathing.
Kenji lowered one clawed hand.
The mist curled around his fingers.
Not much.
Barely anything.
But it stayed a fraction longer than before.
His eyes sharpened.
"There."
He did not close his hand.
Did not grab.
He just moved his fingers slightly, following the flow instead of fighting it.
The red haze coiled around his knuckles.
Thin.
Weak.
But real.
Kenji slowly drew his hand back.
A strand of mist came with it.
Only for an instant.
Then it broke apart and drifted away.
He stared.
Then grinned.
"Okay."
That was enough.
Small.
Pathetic, even.
But enough to prove he could do it.
He tried again.
This time with both hands.
One low, one high.
Feeling the flow between them.
For a moment, the mist thickened in the space near his palms.
Then one stray thought—
And it scattered instantly.
Kenji's eye twitched.
"...Seriously?"
Apparently greed ruined it.
That was stupid.
Annoying.
He spent longer on it after that.
Trying.
Failing.
Trying again.
The progress was tiny.
Still, each time he caught the feel of it a little faster.
Each time the mist lingered a little more willingly.
By the time he finally stood, his legs were numb and his patience was nearly dead.
But one thing had changed.
When he lowered his hand to the trench floor again, the mist followed by a hair's breadth before settling.
Kenji's grin widened.
"That's enough for today."
A sound interrupted him.
Movement above.
He looked up at once.
Something was on the ridge.
Large.
Not hiding.
Just standing there.
Kenji rose slowly.
The figure stepped into the dim red glow and revealed itself.
Another speaking creature.
This one looked closer to a beast than Reth or Hesh.
It was built like a wolf, but much larger, with a chest too broad and forelegs too long.
Black fur covered most of it, though patches of rough, scaled flesh showed beneath.
Its jaw was heavy, lined with large, uneven teeth, and from its back rose three rigid bone spines.
Unlike the werewolf he'd fought early on, this thing did not feel wild.
Its eyes were bright.
Aware.
And fixed directly on him.
Kenji smiled.
"Here for the trench?"
The beast's lips peeled back slightly.
"No."
Its voice was rough.
Deeper than Reth's.
"But I was nearby when you kept trying to pull the mist like an idiot."
Kenji's grin twitched.
"...Damn. You really opened with that?"
The creature stepped down one level of the ridge, still cautious.
"You move it badly."
"And you talk too much for someone creeping around in the dark."
The beast ignored that.
Its gaze moved over the trench, the corpses, the drying blood, then back to Kenji.
"This was Hesh's place."
"Used to be."
"You ate him?"
"Yeah."
The beast's tail flicked once.
"I can smell that."
Kenji tilted his head.
"So what? You his friend?"
"No."
"Family?"
"No."
"Then what's your problem?"
The beast went quiet for a second.
Then said, "He was useful."
Kenji barked a short laugh.
"Sounds like a personal problem."
That earned him a low growl.
Not an immediate attack.
Just irritation.
Kenji respected that.
A little.
The beast stepped down another ledge.
Its claws scraped against stone.
"My name is Khar."
Kenji blinked once.
Another one with a name.
That was becoming normal way too quickly.
"...Kenji."
Khar looked unimpressed by the introduction.
"Reth has been watching you."
Kenji raised a brow.
"Oh? You two know each other?"
"Enough."
That told him basically nothing.
Still, useful.
So Reth moved around more than Kenji thought.
Or at least spoke to others.
Khar lowered his head slightly and sniffed at the mist again.
"You are learning fast."
Kenji smirked.
"You're not wrong."
"But badly."
"There it is again."
Khar's eyes stayed on him.
"You pull like prey clinging to life. Not like a creature making the trench answer."
Kenji stared.
The phrasing was strange.
But not useless.
"Making the trench answer?"
Khar pointed one claw toward the stone below.
"The mist does not belong to you. The trench does not belong to you. Not yet."
Kenji's expression sharpened.
"So?"
"So if you want it to move, stop asking it."
That actually made him pause.
Because somehow, stupid as it sounded, he got it.
A little.
When Hesh had used the mist, it had not looked like asking.
It had looked natural.
Like the trench itself had snapped at him.
Kenji clicked his tongue.
"That's still vague."
Khar's tail flicked again.
"You are still weak."
"And all of you really love saying that."
Khar did not deny it.
Instead, he crouched low on the ledge above and dipped one claw into the red haze there.
Kenji watched closely.
The mist moved at once.
No hesitation.
It curled around Khar's claw, then down his foreleg, gathering thickly instead of dispersing.
For a second, it looked like liquid red smoke wrapping around him.
Then Khar flicked his paw outward.
The mist shot across the ledge in a narrow streak and shattered a loose stone at the far end.
Kenji's eyes widened slightly.
Not from fear.
From irritation.
That looked useful.
Very useful.
Khar pulled his claw back.
"The trench answers strength. Familiarity. Blood. Time."
Kenji folded his arms.
"So I need to stay here longer."
"Or die trying to force more before the place knows you."
That answer felt more solid than the others.
Not complete.
But solid.
Kenji looked around at the trench.
At the cracks.
At the blood soaked into the stone.
Then back at Khar.
"And if I stay?"
"Then this place will begin to smell like you instead of Hesh."
That made sense.
The idea was weirdly satisfying.
Kenji looked down at the red haze around his feet.
Then slowly smiled.
"Good."
Khar's gaze lingered on him for another second.
Then he stood.
"I did not come to teach you."
Kenji snorted.
"Could've fooled me."
"I came to see if Hesh's killer was worth remembering."
That grin sharpened again.
"And?"
Khar turned away.
"You are not dead yet."
Then he leaped up the ridge.
One bound.
Then another.
His black form vanished into the mist.
Kenji stood there in silence after that.
Reth watched.
Khar judged.
Vargan loomed over all of it like some ridiculous wall.
This place really was starting to feel more and more like a world instead of a feeding pit.
A violent one.
An annoying one.
But still a world.
Kenji crouched again and lowered his hand into the mist.
This time, he did not try to pull.
He let the cold drift over his fingers.
Then, quietly, he pressed his will into the trench itself.
Not the haze.
The place.
The stone.
The blood.
The crack in the earth that had started becoming his.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the mist near his hand thickened.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Kenji's grin widened.
"Oh."
He didn't move.
Didn't break it.
Didn't push too hard.
The haze stayed there.
Thinly coiled around his fingers like it was waiting.
Then it slipped away.
But this time, it had not simply drifted.
It had answered.