Chap 76
It's been a quiet while since they entered the gate.
They were still in the gate.
The world gate did not tear when they stepped through the gate , finally—
There was no flash of blinding light, no thunderous sound of air when they passed. The sensation was quiter than expected, like stepping out of the deep breath rather than crossing space itself to different locations.
One moment, stone was beneath their feet.
The next, solid ground.
Dry soil, scattered grass, a slope that dipped gently to line of trees. The sky above them was pale and open, clouds drifting like they were lazy dog as if nothing remarkable and motivate him to move.
Then gate behind them folded inward and just vanished without sound.
Without any echo.
For next several seconds, none of them spoke.
Gaja was the first to break the silence. He planted his foot firmly into the ground and exhaled. "Huh, still standing. That's a good sign, compare to previous time."
Rin didn't answer immediately. She crouched fingers brushing the soil, eyes narrowing slightly. "This isn't palace land," she said. "Nope, not at all."
Limbo remained still.
Not frozen-listening to them.
The air felt... Clean.
Untouched. And yet, something about it spark faintly at the back of his awareness, like a thread pulled just enough to be noticed.
"One day walk," gaja muttered. "That's what he said, right?"
Limbo nodded, "yeah so?"
"If gate was aligned correctly."
"And what if respect doesn't mean we dropped you wherever we felt like," Gaja added.
Rin shot him back with slap on his head. "They wouldn't."
"They're royalty," Gaja shrugged. "They absolutely would."
Despite himself, Limbo smile and spoke.
"Mystry expert Gaja is back."
Rin chuckled.
They adjusted their packs and began walking with talks.
The path wasn't marked, but it was clear enough to guide back—grass pressed flatter inplaces, stone worn smooth by long forgotten travelers. It wasn't a trade road, but it wasn't wild either.
A road that remembered being used.
As they walked, Limbo noticed small things.
Too small to mention.
They way his foot found balance without thought, even when the ground dipped unexpectedly. The way he noticed Rin showing her pace half a step before she actually did. The way the wind shifted moments before a bird took flight.
None of it was dramatic.
All of it was wrong.
He said nothing.
Rin noticed anyway, "you're quite why?" She said after a while.
"I'm listening."
"To what?"
Limbo considered before talking, "I'm not sure yet, still unclear."
Gaja snorted. "That's unsettling."
They continued to Walk forward slowly without break.
Soon they decided to stopped near dusk, choosing a rise overlooking a shallow stream. The water was clear, the surrounding area open enough to see anything approaching.
Habit.
Routine.
Gaja gathered firewood. Rin checked the perimeter, pausing occasionally as if expecting something she couldn't identified yet.
Limbo set on the rock and watched the sky slowly darken.
The Fragment wS not visible.
It hadn't been since the palace.
And yet he could feel where it was, not as a location, but as an alignment. Like. Compass needle that no longer needed to point.
Sighed.
The system remained silent.
Waiting...
They are in near silence, the crackle of fire filling the gaps words normally occupied.
Eventually, gaja leaned back, staring at the stars. "Feels strange," he said. "Leaving like that."
Rin nodded. "It does."
Neither of them Said Sambha's name.
They didn't need to.
Limbo closed his eyes briefly.
The road stretched ahead and behind.
After a meal, the sleep came lightly.
Not the deep, empty rest he was used to normally, but something thinner, layered.
Limbo dreamed.
Or rather—he experience.
There were drums.
Not loud. Not rhythmic.
Just... present. A pulsed without sound.
Heat brushed his skin, thiugh there was no fire.
A shadow moved—massive, restrained, coiled, but never Fully emerged.
He felt claw that did not touch him.
A presence that did not look at him.
And yet—
It knew.
He woke sudden, breath staedy, heart clam.
But with confusion and wonder.
The fire had burned low.
Rin was asleep, cuked hand near her pack.
Gaja snorted softly, one arm thrown over his face.
The night was quite.
Too quite.
Limbo sat up, the sensation was still lingered, not by fear, nor with urgency.
Awareness, "it's still there," he murmured, not sure to whom.
The system flickered faintly.
Without any message followed.
With that a nightmare passed and next morning came with mist rising from the steam.
Gaja stretched, rolling his shoulders. "Alright," he said. "Moments of truth."
He was dying to check sowrds king gave.
He stood and drew one blade halfway.
The air around his wrist shimmered faintly as the restraint activated, soft. Controlled.
With no backlash and Corrupt energy surge.
Gaja nodded, "stable."
"Aha..nice."
Rin exhaled quietly. "Good for you."
Limbo watched them Closely.
The curse was still there. Still hungry, still patient.
Just...contained.
For now.
They packed up and resume walking.
By mid-day, the land changed subtly. Birds fell silent as they passed.
Animals avoided the path.
Once, Rin stopped suddenly. "Did you feel that?"
Gaja frowned, "feel what?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. That's the problem."
Meanwhile Limbo was silent.
He had felt it.
A shift, not in mana, not in terrain.
Attention.
Like something had marked their passage, not with hostility, but with record.
He resisted the urge to look back.
They made camp again as the sun about to dipped low.
The silhouettes of familiar hills appeared in the distance.
Home was close.
Closer than it had been in days.
And yet —
Their was no sign of relief on Limbo's face.
Only readiness.
As the fire cracked and shadows stretched, he stared into the flames and thought of the palace. Of the lion that did not roar. Of a child who had listened when the world spoke.
Of a fragment that had not merged, but aligned.
Power that waited.
Roads that remembered.
And a future that was no longer distant.
The wind shifted.
Somewhere far away, something took note.
Not with hunger, but with interest.
Limbo tightened his grip on his pack and stared into the dark.
Tommorow, they would reach Naval.
And after that,
The road would not longer be quite.