Chapter 106: A Shadow on the Horizon

“Thank you for saving me earlier… and I’m sorry for what I said.” Izel spoke those words while avoiding looking at me.

This was truly unexpected… hearing words like that from her was a new discovery.

So, in the end, she was capable of thanking people after all… or maybe the problem was me.

I stared at Izel, a smile forming on my lips. “Wow… I’m watching a dream come true today… the honorable Izel herself thanking me and even apologizing to me… the world must have started changing its view of me.”

The moment I said that, her shy behavior disappeared, replaced by her usual one.

She looked at me, clicking her tongue as she muttered, “Bastards don’t change.”

She sighed while looking around, then spoke, changing the subject. “Anyway, where are the others? Did we get separated from them?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it seems so.”

“Did you try sending a flare? They might see it if they’re close to here.”

It’s not like I hadn’t thought of that… but it could be dangerous, especially since I’m still not in my best condition.

I raised my finger. “Other things might see it too, and we don’t want to take risks right now in these unknown lands.”

Sending a strong light was dangerous in an open place like this. It could attract swarms of monsters here.

Izel sighed. “You’re right… so what do you think we should do now?”

I answered as I lay back down.

“We’ll just wait… we won’t do anything until I fully recover.”

….

Somewhere else, far from Caius and Izel.

A lone figure moved between the sand dunes beneath the shattered moon.

He was now climbing one of the dunes, the sand shifting beneath his feet with every step upward.

After some time, Kyle reached the top of the sandy hill, and from there he could see the endless stretch of desert.

He stared ahead, and all he saw was sand, except for a silhouette on the horizon where a massive shadow rose there and split the world.

Even after Kyle used his ability to enhance his vision, it was still unclear to him, indicating that the source was far away.

In the past hours, he had tried using his ability to search the desert for the others.

But because of the dunes constantly rising and falling, he found nothing.

As long as the others weren’t moving, he wouldn’t see them no matter how hard he tried.

So, his goal now was to reach that shadow eventually. From there, finding them would be easier… if they were here, of course.

And the problem was that he wasn’t sure of that.

Kyle pushed himself as he slid down the sand to the bottom of the hill.

When he reached the base, he stopped and began climbing again.

Walking on sand was extremely annoying, especially climbing these dunes. Not to mention that your steps become heavier and slower, and every step upward pushes you slightly backward because of the sand sliding beneath your feet.

Suddenly Kyle sensed something and stopped.

He froze in place as he used his second ability. In the next moment, Kyle’s presence became faint.

No sound, no heat, or anything that indicated he was there.

If you didn’t have a special sense or weren’t looking directly at him, you would never know he was there.

While Kyle stood there, the sand beneath and around his feet trembled, and with every passing moment the vibration grew stronger.

At one point, the entire sand dune shook, as if something massive was moving beneath it… which it was.

In the next moment, the sand rose, revealing what was moving underneath.

There before Kyle appeared a section covered in hard scales of that thing beneath the ground.

It passed by Kyle without noticing him while he remained calm in his place.

Even after it passed, he didn’t move. Instead, he waited until the vibration of the sand completely settled. Then he released a breath he had been holding. “That was close.”

From the moment Kyle set foot in this place, he understood that any foolish movement could lead to grave consequences.

He could have reinforced his body and leapt between the sand dunes, saving himself the effort of climbing, but doing so would create a lot of noise.

And in this quiet expanse of desert, noise would attract many things he did not wish to encounter.

Kyle resumed moving, one thought circling in his mind.

’I’ll come back, Mia… I promise.’

…

Far from Kyle.

A young man with golden hair and yellow eyes sat on a large rock between the sand dunes.

Elliot, who had entered the gate moments before Izel and Caius, had witnessed more of the Fallen Star Shard’s body.

So, he wasn’t in the best condition right now.

True, he wasn’t harmed like Caius who had glimpsed its soul, but it was still painful.

When he arrived here hours ago, he was suffering from an unbearable headache, so he just sat there without moving.

Especially since the sand around him sometimes trembled while massive things swam beneath it.

So, he decided to remain here until he recovered. Then he would start moving to search for the others.

Throughout the hours he sat there, scenes of what had happened earlier kept replaying in his mind.

The moment the Fallen Star Shard appeared, and crushed Talia into nothing… like an insignificant insect.

True, he wasn’t close to her, but she was still his teammate after all; someone who had spent the past months with him.

So, the death of such a person left a great deal of sorrow within him… and a bitter feeling as well.

Elliot looked at his hand, clenching it into a fist until his skin turned white.

“Weak… far too weak,” he muttered.

In that moment when the Great monster appeared, Elliot understood that he was nothing in this world… merely an insect.

Talent was meaningless in that moment.

It could have been him in Talia’s place… crushed in that manner, without any resistance. But in the end, he wasn’t Talia, so he survived.

And with what had happened earlier, he understood what he needed now… to grow stronger quickly, by any means.

He stared at the shattered moon in the sky. “I wonder where the others are.”

The idea of sending a flare was very tempting, but thinking that other beings might see it from miles away made the idea unwelcome.

With a faint exhale, Elliot stood up and carried himself upright on the rock while looking ahead.

’I need to find a distinctive place.’

…

Far from everyone, a girl with blue hair and blue eyes sat inside a dark cave.

She hugged her legs while leaning against the cave wall, lowering her head and resting her forehead on her wrist.

It was Leona, who found herself near this cave with Ellen after they passed through the gate.

Earlier, when Leona saw the future of what happened to Talia, she was paralyzed in place. As a result, she might have remained there staring at the spot where Talia had stood, if Ellen hadn’t grabbed her before she jumped into the gate.

A gate that brought them to this unknown place.

After some time, Leona rose and slowly walked out of the cave.

When she stepped outside, she was greeted by the same sky the others saw and the same sea of sand.

There before her, a few meters from the entrance, Ellen was sitting on a rock staring at the sky.

Leona approached her. “So, did you see anything new?”

Over the past hours, they had taken turns resting while one guarded the place.

Ellen turned her head and looked at Leona before answering,

“No… nothing.” With those words, the princess returned her attention to the sky.

“I wonder where we are now, Leona?”

Ellen grabbed a strand of her hair, playing with it before continuing, “I’m certain of my knowledge of our world’s geography, but no matter how much I think, this place doesn’t match anything we know.”

“This shattered moon, and that star-filled sky… this place has never been seen anywhere across the continent.”

Leona thought. “Maybe we’re on a new continent, one we didn’t know existed before.”

“No… I don’t think so. How could we overlook an entire continent? Maybe we’re somewhere else.”

Ellen looked at Leona. “A place outside the world of Aetheron… an entirely different world.”

Leona swallowed at the thought. “Let’s forget that for now… we need to find the others first.”

Ellen sighed. “You’re right.”

She spoke while her eyes scanned the desert. “If they weren’t sent far away from us, I think they’re somewhere out there… or…”

She turned her head, looking behind her where the cave Leona had just exited was, but her eyes weren’t on the cave—rather, something else.

A massive wall of rock stretching into the sky hundreds of meters high.

Ellen stared at him quietly before muttering.

“Or somewhere over there.”

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