Sosuke crawled up beside her and set a hand against her cheek. Rin leaned into his touch, biting her lip as another tremor of pain rolled through her.
"Rin, you can do this." He reached for her other hand and held it tight.
She nodded, but the way her grip tightened around his fingers told him the truth. Fear sat in her palm like a pulse. Sosuke stole a glance toward the lava pool nearby. The surface bubbled in slow, heavy breaths that lit the cavern with a dull red glow.
Healing a core is impossible. It has no form for me to touch. But the rest of her body… those burns could be more than just backlash from the core. Maybe I'm overthinking. At the very least I could have eased her pain earlier.
Could have. The thought sat like a stone.
His attention shifted back to her. He guided his hand from her cheek to the center of her torso, over the wounded core. "Even if it hurts me, I am not letting you go through all of this by yourself. I lived like that too long and you refused to let me stay in that place. I owe you the same."
A soft green glow rose from his palm. Mana seeped into her skin and threaded through her bloodstream. He had no idea where the pain originated, so he pushed gently into everything. Veins. Muscles. Organs. Anywhere his mana could reach.
Rin's breathing slowed. Her grip loosened around his fingers. Sosuke's relief hit so fast he almost laughed. "Rin? Is it better?"
She needed a moment before answering.
"Amazing." Rin let out a small chuckle. "Still hurts a little, but just barely. More annoying than anything." She gave him a tired shake of her head. "You're reckless."
Sosuke pulled her into an embrace and held her close. "I'm just glad I finally made you feel better for once. God…" His smile pressed into her shoulder.
Rin slid a hand through his hair, her touch light and calming. "That is enough. You need to rest too. Healing like that can burn through all your mana."
Silence settled between them, warm and heavy. She waited for him to respond.
Nothing.
Rin nudged him and searched his face. Sosuke had already slipped into unconsciousness, his body slack with exhaustion. The spell had taken more out of him than he realized.
A quiet laugh escaped her. Rin leaned her head back against the pillar, still holding him, and let her eyes fall shut.
———
Eyelids fluttered as Sosuke drifted back to consciousness. A stiff seat pressed into his back, unfamiliar enough to force him fully awake.
A long table stretched into the mist ahead of him, its edges swallowed by a gray haze that made the world feel hollow. A void made of fog and quiet.
"What's going on?" Sosuke said aloud.
Something is shaping this place. If it has the power to do all this, then it has to be aware. I don't know if it's hostile, but right now it controls everything. I need to tread carefully.
"A well reasoned assessment of your predicament, Sosuke Estrella."
A silhouette descended onto the chair opposite him. It had a human outline, yet its body flickered like poorly tuned static. Two yellow eyes shone through the haze, cold enough to make Sosuke tense.
"Thanks…?" Sosuke blinked, then straightened. "Wait."
"Yes, I heard your thoughts." The figure lifted a hand slowly. "Do not be alarmed, young Estrella. Listen closely. Our time is limited."
Sosuke leaned forward and rested his chin on his palm. "Then speak."
Even if I tried to feel nervous, I can't. This place is muting everything.
"I am the Earth's core, the wellspring of all mana. And yes, I am sentient." The figure's shape pulsed like static caught in a storm. "Before you ask, I lack a sense of good or evil. Do not waste your breath on questions of morality. The last visitor squandered much of his time doing exactly that."
"One visitor…? Hold on. The Earth's core? You're basically the strongest force in existence, so why talk to me?" Sosuke pushed against the chair, but his legs locked in place as if welded to the ground.
"The Earth itself maintains a passive barrier that prevents me from tampering with biological beings. That barrier was formed by the non-sentient planet you inhabit. I am part of Earth, yet not the planet itself." The figure's voice deepened. "I must be quick. That barrier exists for a reason. Anyone who speaks with me absorbs more information than their mind can sustain. The consequence is catastrophic implosion of the brain."
Sosuke rubbed the side of his head in an involuntary gesture. "Seriously…"
I can figure the details out later. For now I need answers.
"Why doesn't it affect me then?" he asked.
"It is your nature, of course. Tnha eeno tgi."
"Huh?" Sosuke leaned in, blinking hard. "Repeat that, I didn't catch it."
"My words are being rejected by your subconscious. You hold far greater importance than you realize. Do not underestimate yourself. And do not hesitate." The distortion spread through its voice, tearing syllables apart. "What comes next will demand a whole and capable body. If you fail to understand yourself, true potential will never rise."
A stabbing pressure shot through Sosuke's skull. The mist shuddered. The figure dissolved.
The world collapsed into white.
⸻
Sosuke jerked awake. A rough stone wall supported his back, and a blanket covered his legs. Sweat ran along his temple. He reached toward the fire a few feet away, letting the warmth confirm the world was real. The pain faded quickly, along with the last scraps of the silhouette's shape, but its words stayed fixed in his mind.
"Oowah. You're awake." Rin let out a short laugh, the relief obvious in her voice. "That took forever." She exhaled, long and tired. "I thought you might actually be dead."
He shoved the blanket aside. "How long was I out?"
Rin grinned and shrugged. "No idea. I can't track time in here. Felt long, so let's go with that."
"Could've been a few hours. Maybe I should sleep a little more." Sosuke let himself sink back dramatically.
She shot him a flat look, stepped forward, and grabbed his arm. With a sharp tug she hauled him upward. "Absolutely not. There's nothing to do in here. I'm going to lose my mind if you don't get up."
Sosuke stumbled upright and brushed dirt from his clothes. "Right. It's not like you could keep going without me."
"You shouldn't forget I'm here because of you."
"Yeah, but I never asked you to come."
Rin crossed her arms. "Very funny." She turned away, grabbed her bag, and walked ahead.
Her boots echoed down the empty stone corridor. Sosuke watched her silhouette shrink before pushing out a sigh and following. "Rin, wait up."
She kept walking and flicked a hand back at him. "I don't even want to talk to you anymore. Hmph." The gesture was sharp, but her tone betrayed the joke.
"If you want to act like that, maybe I really will leave." Sosuke stepped past her with exaggerated speed. "But not before I get what I came here for." He heaved another theatrical sigh. "And I am your only ticket out of here."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She tried to keep her face straight, failed, and let a small smile slip. "How do we even know this path leads anywhere?"
"Only one way to find out." Sosuke kept walking.
Rin raised a brow. "And that is…"
"To keep following the path."
"That's a hell of a plan, Estrella." Rin shook her head as she walked. "Let's see how it pans out. I hope this is a straight path with nothing waiting to jump us. Oh, and I guess I forgot the relic might not even be here."
Sosuke let out a soft chuckle, though his mind drifted far from her words.
The Core…
His true self… whatever that meant. The idea clung to him like a shadow he couldn't shake. If the Earth had a barrier, then something had to cast it. Did that mean the planet was conscious? But the Core said it wasn't. So what was the truth?
He glanced over at Rin.
I should tell her. I want to. But I don't understand any of it myself. Why did the Core only appear to me here in the blight dimension? If it manifested in this place, it must have some link to it. I never stopped to consider how this dimension even came to be.
The Blight War flickered through his memory. Julius forcing a hole through reality. Two worlds stitched together by sheer force.
The blight dimension felt like more than a battlefield. Mana shaped into a separate realm. Maybe an extension of the Core itself. If anyone could hear my thoughts right now they'd think I'd finally snapped. What the hell…
"I told you I'd die of boredom without you, but I think I might even with you here." Rin shot him a frown. "You're awfully quiet. Head somewhere else?"
Sosuke slowed. His lips parted, but the words stuck as if something in him pushed back.
We made a promise. No more secrets. I can't break that… especially not so soon. I don't want to disappoint her again.
"It's a lot to tell." Sosuke let out a long breath. "But I'm pretty sure it's interesting enough to cure your boredom."