Kazim didn't wake up.
That was the first thing I noticed when the adrenaline finally wore off.
His breathing was steadytoo steady, like his body was doing the work without asking himbut his face stayed tense, brows drawn together even in unconsciousness. Ren had splinted his leg as best he could using branches and torn fabric, but it wasn't enough. The bone was clearly broken. Maybe worse.
Still, he was alive.
That mattered more than anything else.
We moved slowly through the forest, taking turns carrying him. Every step hurt. Every snapped twig made us freeze. I kept looking back, half-expecting the trees to open again, for something else to crawl out of nowhere.
Nothing did.
When we finally stopped, Aira knelt beside Kazim again, checking the wound. Her breath caught.
"There's a cut," she said quietly.
Ren leaned closer. "That wasn't there before."
The skin around Kazim's leg around the fracture had changed color.
Blue.
Not bruised.
Not swollen.
Blue in a way that didn't belong to the human body.
My stomach dropped.
"That thing," I said. "The creature"
"It wasn't just physical," Ren said. "Something else got into him."
Aira looked at me. "If it spreads"
"Don't," I said quickly. "Just… don't finish that."
Kazim had made a map.
Not a normal one. Not something stored on a device. He'd built it in layers, updating it every day inside the academypaths, blind spots, terrain beyond the walls, fragments of old satellite data he wasn't supposed to have access to.
I still didn't fully understand how he'd done it.
But it worked.
I pulled it up, projecting the faint holographic outline between us. The forest faded into coordinates, markers, broken names.
"There," I said, pointing. "A town ruin. Not closebut closer than anything else."
Aira nodded. "If there's medicine anywhere, it'll be there."
We moved again.
This time, slower.
Carefully.
Kazim groaned once during the walk, and I nearly stopped breathing. But he didn't wake. Didn't scream. Just shifted slightly, like his body was fighting something on the inside.
The ruin appeared at dusk. Collapsed buildings. Broken roads. Nature reclaiming everything it could. It looked abandonedbut not empty.
That's when we heard voices.
Ren raised his hand immediately.
Five figures emerged from between the buildings.
Not soldiers. Not monsters. People.
They wore layered clothing reinforced with scraps of armor. Their weapons were visible but not raised. Their eyes moved constantlywatching hands, watching surroundings, watching us.
Collectors.
Scavengers.
"Easy," one of them said. "We saw you from the ridge."
Aira stepped forward slowly. "We're not here to fight."
The man's gaze shifted to Kazim. To his leg. To the unnatural blue spreading beneath the bandages.
"You're hurt," he said.
"He is," I replied. "Badly."
Silence stretched.
Then a woman stepped out from behind the group. She was older than the rest, hair streaked with silver, eyes sharp but calm.
"I can help," she said. "But nothing's free out here."
I nodded immediately. "We can trade."
Her eyebrow lifted. "With what?"
I brought up the map.
The hologram flickered to life, showing routes, safe zones, areas to avoidinformation gathered over months.
The group leaned in despite themselves.
"That's academy-grade," one of them muttered.
"It's yours," I said. "All of it. Just save him."
The woman studied me for a long moment.Then she knelt beside Kazim.
Her hand glowed faintlynot bright, not dramatic. Soft. Controlled. The blue around the wound reacted instantly, pulling back as if resisting.
"He's been touched by something that doesn't belong in this world," she said quietly. "I can stabilize him. Heal the leg. But whatever that is… it'll take time."
"Time we don't have," Aira whispered.
"You have enough," the woman replied.
She placed her hand fully over the wound.
Kazim gasped.
Then breathed.
His leg shifted slightlywrong angle correcting itself, bone knitting back together with a sound that made me flinch.
I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until I nearly collapsed from relief.
"He'll walk again," she said, standing. "Not today. But he will."
I swallowed hard. "Thank you."
She met my eyes. "Be careful out there, kid. The world doesn't forgive quickly."
As night settled over the ruins, we stayed with the strangers.
For the first time since leaving the academy, we weren't alone.
And for the first time since everything began