It's been a long time. Loki and his allies bid farewell to Saigid, Lyutich and Hanchu at the abandoned camp that was their home where they hid from the president's men.
Sulys is physically exhausted at this moment. The use of the sponsorship ability hit his body: trembling in his hands, heavy breathing.
Saigid sinks to one knee, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. The weight of the ability's backlash crashes into him all at once—his hands tremble, his vision blurs at the edges, and every muscle feels like it's been torn apart and stitched back wrong.
He doesn't speak as Loky and his people vanish into the mist—no farewell, no thanks. Just silence.
Because he can't.
His jaw clenches tight against the pain as Hanchu rushes to his side.
"Saigid!" Hanchu says sharply.
"I'm… fine," he lies through gritted teeth — voice rough, broken almost — before adding in a low whisper,
"Just… give me a minute."
"Hanchu!" Someone shouted from around the corner
Hanchu was wary. He was answered by the crestallos, the people who were with him in the warehouse.
"Simon" relaxed Hanchu's shoulders.
"I'm glad you're okay," Simon said, looking at his friends nearby. "we hid who was where after the president's spies attacked our warehouse and took everyone away"
"Why?" came Lyutich's voice.
"The President needs the crystal people, or as he calls us — the Guardians of the Light."
The voice came from the hill. It was the same pseudo-crystal that obeyed Saigid.
Everyone tensed. When they saw him, panic spread through the group and they began to draw their weapons. But Loky remained calm. He had known in advance that the crystal would not attack — that he was on their side.
Lutich stepped forward and stood in front of him, looking down at him with a hard stare.
"How did you find us?" he asked grimly.
The pseudo-crystal said nothing, clearly ignoring the question. His gaze fell on Saigid, and the crystal hurried over to help him.
Saigid repeated Lutich's question.
"How did you find us?"
The crystal answered that he had been created specifically to track down or eliminate the President's enemies.
"He was trained for that," Loky said. "And now Drago wants an army of ones like him."