The forest did not attack us again.

  That was the most unsettling part. After the ambush, the mist had thickened until it became almost solid, as if the Korrigans were watching us from a suffocating proximity. Every step we took generated a distorted echo that the forest threw back at us like a mockery.

  Rex was walking slower. He wouldn’t admit it, but I saw it. The rift in his hand remained closed, though every now and then the surrounding skin tightened, revealing an internal pressure struggling to break free.

  Ryu knew. That was why he now walked in front. He didn't speak or look back, but every time Rex’s breathing grew heavier than usual, the gray fire between his scales vibrated with a nervous frequency.

  I brought up the rear. The ground was saturated with moisture, and roots shifted beneath the earth with the slowness of tired muscles. The forest breathed, and that constant exhalation caused my surface to mimic the texture of nearby leaves without me even commanding it.

  A purely instinctive camouflage.

  Rex stopped dead in his tracks.

  "Here," he said. It wasn’t a command; it was the sound of exhaustion.

  A small hollow opened between two colossal roots. It wasn’t a deep cave, but it offered the necessary shelter to hide three bodies from the hissing wind that swept through the forest.

  Ryu entered first. He didn’t inspect the place or scent the air for threats; he simply let himself fall against the stone wall. That lapse in his vigilance said more than any words could.

  Rex took a little longer. He leaned against the entrance, catching his breath before moving forward. His breathing was now a rasping sound in the silence. The rift throbbed again.

  I felt it vibrate in my own core. My Door responded with a subtle urge.

  Connect.

  I stopped. ?No.?

  Rex sat down. For the first time since our paths crossed, he didn’t try to place himself between Ryu and me. He stayed there, right in the middle of both.

  Silence. The forest breathed outside. Ryu finally broke the stillness.

  "The rift is getting worse."

  Rex didn’t answer.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "Don't lie to me," Ryu insisted, his voice strangely flat.

  Rex let out a small, humorless laugh.

  "I’ve never been good at lying to you."

  "Then say it already."

  Silence again. Rex looked down at his hand. Under the skin, the rift looked like a line of absolute shadow, but when it throbbed, it opened just a millimeter, like a mouth gasping for oxygen.

  "It hurts," he finally confessed.

  Ryu closed his eyes. There was no surprise on his face, only a bitter confirmation.

  "Since when?"

  Rex took his time to answer.

  "Since before the ambush."

  Ryu’s gray fire shifted in intensity, turning opaque.

  "Idiot."

  It wasn’t an insult. It was something much more weary, almost a lament. Rex leaned the back of his head against the cold stone of the cave.

  "If I told you, you would have cast me out of the group."

  Ryu’s eyes snapped open.

  "Of course I would have."

  "I know." Rex turned his head toward me. "And I didn't want that."

  The silence returned, interrupted only by the snap of a branch breaking in the distance. Ryu was no longer looking at Rex; he kept his eyes fixed on the muddy ground.

  "So you decided to die slowly?"

  "It wouldn't be the first time."

  "But it is the stupidest."

  Rex traced a small smile.

  "Probably."

  I watched the scene without intervening. I couldn't fully grasp the totality of their exchange, but something in their voices shared the same tone Rex used when he taught me trivial things. Like walking in silence or covering myself with a cloak in the rain. Actions with no apparent function for a weapon.

  My surface rippled. A small pseudopod extended toward Rex. It wasn’t seeking the rift this time. It sought his shoulder.

  I stopped halfway. Ryu noticed instantly. His gray fire flared slightly, like an ember fanned by the wind. It was a warning. It wasn’t fear; it was a marked border. I remembered the seal. I remembered the pain of rejection.

  The pseudopod stayed frozen in the air. Rex saw it too, and instead of pulling away, he moved his healthy hand toward me.

  "It's okay," he murmured.

  Ryu didn't protest. The contact was light, superficial. There was no exchange of blood or stabs of pain. Only temperature. Rex’s skin was much colder than I remembered.

  He closed his eyes for a second.

  "Ah..." he whispered.

  "What is it?" Ryu asked, alert.

  Rex took a moment to respond, as if savoring something fleeting.

  "Nothing."

  But his hand did not withdraw. The contact lingered for a few more seconds, a silent truce in the darkness. Then, the rift throbbed. This time it was a violent strike. Rex’s body tightened like a string about to snap, and his breath caught short.

  Ryu jumped to his feet, kneeling in front of him.

  "Rex!"

  The throbbing ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Rex inhaled again, trembling.

  "I'm fine..."

  "No, you're not." Ryu examined the rift with urgency. "What the hell was that?"

  Rex shook his head, avoiding his gaze.

  "I don't know."

  He was lying. I had felt it too. It wasn’t an internal reaction; it came from outside, from very far away. Something had touched the rift from a distance. An echo of recognition. A calling.

  My Door stirred again, with more strength.

  Connect.

  ?No.?

  Ryu watched the mark on Rex’s hand for a few moments more before slowly standing up.

  "This isn't going to last," he said. There was no rage in his words, only the resignation of someone who has already seen the end of the story.

  Rex didn’t argue. He simply leaned his head back against the wall again, closing his eyes. The forest kept breathing outside, vigilant.

  For the first time since the ambush, no one made a move to separate us. But it didn't seem as though any of the three believed, even for an instant, that this peace was real.

  End of Chapter 8