Chapter 111: Is anyone coming for us?

Jelo had been walking for hours, and still he had not found a single portal. He did not know where any portal might be, or even where he was. All the while, he had been carrying the mirror. At first, he had been optimistic. They would find a portal sooner or later.

Mira wasn’t particularly heavy, but the constant grip required to keep it secure was beginning to wear on his hands, so after a while he had been forced to drop her.

Mira walked beside him in silence, her expression tight with concern. Neither of them spoke much anymore. What was there to say? They were lost, and every street they turned down looked exactly like the last one.

The buildings around them loomed tall and empty, their windows like hollow eyes staring down at them. Some structures were crumbling, their walls cracked and scorched, while others stood intact but abandoned. The silence was oppressive. No wind. No birds. No distant sounds of life. Just the echo of their footsteps against stone and sand.

Jelo had tried to stay positive. He’d told himself that the city couldn’t go on forever, that eventually they’d stumble across a portal or find some kind of landmark that would guide them. But after hours of walking, that optimism faded. Discouragement set in as the city stretched on endlessly around them. He began to realize that they might not see a portal anytime soon. The city was enormous, and they were trapped within it. No one knew they were there. There was no clear way out.

His throat was dry. His legs ached. The sun overhead seemed to have barely moved, as if time itself had slowed down in this cursed place. He glanced at Mira, who looked equally exhausted. Her usual confidence had dimmed, replaced by a wary tension that made her scan every corner, every shadow, as if expecting something to leap out at them.

“We should rest,” Mira said quietly, her voice hoarse.

Jelo nodded, but he didn’t feel safe stopping. Still, his body was demanding it. They found a shaded alcove between two rocks and sat down, backs against the cool stone.

For a moment, they just sat there, breathing heavily, staring out at the empty street.

“Do you think anyone’s coming for us?” Mira asked after a while.

Jelo didn’t answer right away. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to believe that someone would notice they were missing and come looking. But the truth was, he didn’t know. They had come here on their own, without telling anyone. No one had any reason to think they’d be in the Forbidden City of all places.

For the first time since escaping the scientist, Jelo began to panic. The thought settled in, heavy and terrifying, that they might be stranded here forever. His chest tightened. His breathing quickened. What if they couldn’t find a way out? What if they ran out of energy, out of strength, and something in this city found them first?

He clenched his fists, trying to push the fear down. He couldn’t afford to panic. Not now. Not when Mira was depending on him.

“We’ll find a way out,” he said, though his voice lacked conviction.

Mira looked at him, her eyes searching his face. She didn’t say anything, but he could tell she didn’t believe him either.

xxxx

Meanwhile, as Olmo landed in the Forbidden City, he immediately sensed that something was wrong with the portal. When he turned to look back, there was no one behind him, and the portal had already closed. He frowned, glancing around the empty street. The air was still. The silence was unnatural.

He shrugged it off, telling himself it was probably just in his head. Portals could be unpredictable, especially in a place like this.

Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

Closing his eyes, Olmo focused, reaching out for the energy of Jelo and Mira, so it would guide him to where they were. He extended his senses, searching for the pulse of their energy

xxxx

Ken and Atlas landed in the Forbidden City and immediately realized that Olmo was not with them. They exchanged confused looks, each asking where he was, but the answer was obvious. Olmo was gone.

Ken scanned the area, his expression darkening. “Did you see him go through the portal?”

Atlas shook his head. “I thought he was right behind us.”

They stood there for a moment, processing what had happened. The portal had closed, and there was no sign of Olmo anywhere. No energy signature. No trace.

After a moment they realized they must have been separated at some point during the travel.

Ken frowned, noting how unfortunate that was. Olmo had been meant to protect them, while they served as his backup. Now, whatever awaited them here, they would have to face it alone. He didn’t like the idea of being in the Forbidden City without someone stronger to rely on, but there was no point dwelling on it. They had a mission. Find Jelo and Mira. Get them out. That was all that mattered.

“We keep moving,” Ken said firmly. “We find them, and we get out of here as fast as possible.”

Atlas nodded, though his expression was uneasy. He looked around at the desolate streets, the crumbling buildings, the oppressive silence. Everything about this place felt wrong.

As they continued walking through the city, Atlas wondered aloud what could have driven Mira and Jelo to come to such a place in the first place. The land was dry, the sun was harsh, and the environment was completely barren. There was nothing here but ruin and danger. What could possibly have been worth the risk?

Ken shrugged. Even without saying it out loud, he felt the same unease. Coming here had been a dangerously reckless move on Mira and Jelo’s part, and it was something they would need to answer for later. For now, though, the priority was finding them before something else did.

They had not gone far when a mutated Dabba appeared. It emerged from the shadows between two buildings, its body twisted and grotesque, its skin covered in jagged plates of bone. Its eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light, and its mouth was lined with rows of uneven teeth.

Ken reacted instantly, stepping in front of Atlas as shadows coated his body. The darkness wrapped around him like armor, shifting and flowing as if alive. As the creature lunged forward, Ken melted into the darkness and reappeared behind it. The transition was seamless, as if he had simply ceased to exist in one place and materialized in another.

The Dabba whipped around, snarling, but it was too slow. The shadows shifted, forming a sharp blade in Ken’s hand, which he drove into the Dabba’s side. The blade sank deep, piercing through flesh and bone. Dark energy pulsed from the wound, spreading through the creature’s body like poison.

The creature collapsed, writhing briefly before going still. Its body twitched once, twice, then lay motionless in the sand.

Ken stood over it, breathing steadily, the shadows still coiling around him. He glanced back at Atlas, who had been ready to jump in if needed but hadn’t had the chance.

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