The infirmary was quieter now. Most of the wounded had either been discharged or transferred. Only the hum of Essence regulators and the rhythmic pulse of Kael's vitals remained to fill the room. Though his body was still raw from Essence burnout, Kael had begun to sit up more easily.
Recovery wasn't just physical.
It was the silence between breaths. The distant sounds of footsteps he once would have ignored, now drawing his full attention. It was the restless anticipation in his limbs. The heaviness in his thoughts.
Leiya stayed by his side through most of it. She'd taken to bringing small things to distract him: old guild stories, sweetbread from the nearby market, even a weathered deck of cards she claimed was enchanted to cheat if he didn't pay attention.
But Kael's mind had never left the battlefield. Not really. Not since that nightmare.
The way the Origin-class Varnok had moved. The instant, impossible death of the one person he loved most. The helplessness.
It clung to him like soot.
So when Commander Thorne arrived, flanked by two Silver-ranked guards, Kael already knew this wasn't a courtesy visit.
The old war veteran gave a respectful nod as he entered. His silver eye scanned Kael thoroughly, not as a superior officer, but as someone looking at something... changed.
"You're walking a legend now, Kael," Thorne said without preamble. "Killing anEclipse-class Varnok. You did the impossible."
Kael grunted softly, resisting the urge to shift his position. "Wasn't just me. The others--"
"Will be honored too. But what you did... shook the entire upper echelon. We never thought someone below Radiant could reach that kind of destructive output."
Kael stayed quiet.
"We intercepted something yesterday," Thorne continued, lowering his voice. "A long-range Essence scan out near the Twilight Scar."
Kael's gaze sharpened.
"We think something's waking up out there. Something old. The waveform pattern matched Origin-tier energy... barely. What worries us is what didn't show up. Essence collapse signals, distortion fields, planar fraying--nothing. This thing doesn't warp space. It just exists. Like it's supposed to be there."
A chill ran through Kael's arms despite the blanket.
"Do you have visual?"
Thorne shook his head. "Only speculation. But... descriptions from older encounters match the silhouette we briefly saw."
Kael swallowed hard.
"It was in my dream," he muttered. "Before I woke up. It killed Leiya. Instantly. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Then I--I became something else. But the fear... I still felt it."
Thorne didn't flinch. He stared at Kael with that same unreadable calm. "Some say dreams are warnings. I don't know what I believe. But what matters is this: we may need you again, alongside 'him'. And soon."
Kael flexed his fingers slowly. He could still feel the scorched lines of Essence channels just beginning to mend beneath his skin.
"I'll be ready."
"You have two weeks," Thorne said as he turned to go. "Rest. Recover. Train if you can. Then report to the High Command Spire. You're not just an adventurer anymore, Kael Fael. Whether you like it or not, you've become a symbol."
Later that evening, Kael stood outside the infirmary for the first time since his collapse. Leiya walked beside him, holding his arm loosely but never far. The stars above Elandor shimmered in the night sky, bright against the looming darkness he felt approaching.
"I heard what Thorne said," Leiya whispered. "Origin-class."
Kael nodded.
"You scared?"
He thought about it.
"Not for me. For everyone else. But I won't let it happen. That dream, it... it showed me what loss feels like. What failure looks like. I don't plan to see it in reality."
She pressed closer. "Then whatever comes next, we face it together."