That subtle movement of hers.

She was hiding her pain.

K'xug clenched his fists, noticing Hana's actions immediately. He knew it was the same place that Zeau had injured her.

There was no possible way he wouldn't notice anything about her.

He had to come to terms with it now.

Hana.

If it is what I think it is...

Ever since that incident happened, he always had a hunch of what it is.

I...

I...can't...

He closed his eyes, a sad and defeated look on his face.

I can't do anything.

While K'xug was admonishing himself on the inside, Veau had sneaked up to him. Xue realised it, stretching out his spear and hissing out. All of them had already leapt down from the saddle quite a while ago.

"Don't try anything funny."

Veau smacked his spear away. "I only have a few words for K'xug."

"What a pathetic lie."

Veau disregarded Xue, and K'xug allowed Veau to approach him.

"You do know, K'xug, but even if you do..." Veau continued smiling, his voice low. "Everything is futile now."

The expression on K'xug's face began to crumble further.

Xue began to realise something wasn't right about the situation, frowning as he felt uneasy about the exchange between K'xug and Veau. This time, instead of hastily lunging for Veau, he knew that talking to K'xug took precedence.

"Oi," Xue placed a hand on K'xug's shoulder, leaning in closer. "What the hell is he talking about? Why do you look like that? What is happening to Hana right now?"

"If you want to know..." K'xug deepened his frown, finally looking away from Hana. "I'll have to tell you what I heard while I was stuck in the cave as well."

"Oh?" Veau raised an eyebrow. "You haven't told them anything? What a surprise."

"Just shut up." Xue hissed at Veau.

"I look forward to your expressions when the ever-stoic K'xug finally reveals everything," Veau smiled languidly, his arms across his chest. "Both of your expressions will be interesting to watch."

"Just tell me the most important point, right now," Xue tightened his hold on K'xug's shoulder, clicking his tongue. "If I knew it was that important, I would have asked you to tell me everything that day."

"Whether you heard it or not, it won't make a difference," K'xug let out a helpless smile. "It will only add on to your pain, Xue."

"If it concerns you, Hana or Cecil," Xue narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw as he enunciated the next few words. "I don't care what I have to go through."

"Such touching camaraderie." Veau muttered out, clapping slowly.

Xue quickly changed his mind about leaving Veau alone.

Right now, in this moment, he should at least get a punch in to wipe the mocking expression off Veau's face.

Just once.

Their tense atmosphere was brought to a halt when there was a loud commotion in front of them. The people were shouting out to someone, their words more or less the same.

"Chieftain!"

"He came out to greet them!"

Hana was temporarily distracted from her pain, but Cecil still would not stop fussing about her.

Unbeknownst to the atmosphere behind her, Linqin's steps became lighter as she approached the chieftain of her tribe, who was also her brother. There was a soft look in her midnight black eyes, and she placed her hand on her hips.

"My dear brother, weren't you busy? Isn't that why you sent me instead?" Linqin smiled, her tone teasing. "Are you skipping out on your duties now?"

A tall man with a boyish mien and charming grin approached the group, he sighed as he hung his head, ruffling his short, midnight-black hair. His lively boyish appearance bore a resemblance to Linqin, the two of them were truly like siblings.

"Why do you always attack me with your words? Why do I have such a heartless younger sister?"

"Don't you know?" Linqin tilted her head, a cheeky smile on her face. "A part of my name means heartless."

"So you are called Lin "Heartless" Qin now?"

Linqin paused before nodding, her headband dancing along to her movements. "That's close enough."

"..."

Linqin's brother turned away from her without another word, plastering a bright grin on his face.

He was dressed in a similar fashion like his tribe members. However, instead of being completely topless, he wore a sleeveless fur vest. He shoved one of his hands into the pocket of his long and loose pants, stretching his other hand out to the group.

"It's great to finally meet Haru's friends," he introduced himself in a cordial manner. "My name's Linwei, the chieftain of the Yaehai Tribe."

Cecil reached out to shake Linwei's hand, only for Xue to intercept and shake Linwei's hand instead. She glanced at Xue with a questioning look, and the ash blonde-haired man feigned ignorance.

"I would have gone to greet you myself, but it isn't appropriate for the Yaehai chieftain to leave his tribe alone."

"Why not?" Hana tilted her head.

Linwei and Xue stopped shaking their hands, stepping further away from each other. Linwei simply smiled at Hana and started his explanation behind his tribe.

"The Yaehai tribe represents unity, and in the center of it all, it is the chieftain of the tribe."

"Unity?" Cecil muttered out curiously.

"Like...together together?" Hana clasped both her hands together, a smile on her face.

Linqin gave Hana a bewildered stare.

Just as Linwei opened his mouth to explain, a new voice interjected into their conversation.

"In this Sen continent, there are three tribes that coexisted long ago. Each of them complements the other, one of them being knowledge, and the other being pride, and the Yaehai tribe represents unity. The Yaehai tribe would take one step forward in every direction, and never did any of it alone. This meant the chieftain did not have the final say in any decision, but the majority had that right. Any objects to this would result in harsh punishment and isolation from the tribe."

Everyone turned to look at Veau.

His explanation was concise, though he still seemed indolent.

Xue and K'xug wore a dubious look on their faces.

"Do you take me for someone so ignorant?" Veau questioned before he paused and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it's no surprise if you do."

"..."

"I wonder if any of you remembers how long I've lived."

"So..." Cecil frowned, speaking bluntly. "You are saying you are an old man?"

"..."

Xue smirked in a mocking manner.

K'xug coughed.

Hana covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

However, Veau recovered quickly from Cecil's curt words, a lazy smile adorning his face.

"Technically, yes."

All of them gave Veau a silent look again.

Linqin was speechless at how unbashful Veau was.

Meanwhile, Linwei gave Veau a bright expression in response.

"Your friend is completely right," Linwei nodded in approval at Veau, looking at the group. "To think that someone outside of Sen would know our culture so well, that's a pleasant surprise."

"He's not our friend."

All of them retorted instantly, including Hana.

Linwei glanced in confusion between Veau and the group.

Veau simply treated their words like nothing, disturbing one of the animals, a lynx, who bared its sharp teeth at Veau. The person tending to the animal began to chastise Veau as they smacked Veau's hands away.

Xue and K'xug glanced over to Veau, who stood there accepting the person's reprimanding words. Cecil was speechless at how Veau nodded along to their words, as if he was listening to an interesting excerpt of a fairytale.

Hana wore a similar expression to Cecil, until it occurred to her that she had witnessed something similar to this in the past before.

"If we were to attack him now and make him forcibly use dark magic..." Xue muttered to himself.

"I think some of them would faint upon seeing that." Cecil responded.

"No, they would turn against us first." K'xug added on.

"Ah, and Veau will run away too!" Hana noted.

The three of them nodded along with Hana.

"Here, take it." Veau suddenly spun around and said, tossing an object towards the group.

Xue avoided it with a cold look.

K'xug stepped aside calmly.

Cecil stumbled back in alarm, putting her arms in the air.

The person to catch it was Hana, and it was unintentional. She glanced at the object that landed in her hands, her face turning pale gradually as her smile froze.

It was a big rodent that carried a strong musk scent, followed by the awful metallic stench of blood. It was obvious that the rodent was played to death by the lynx.

Hana picked the dead rodent up by its tail, her face as pale as a white sheet and her smile trembling.

"O-oh my...! A de-dead rat..."

She proceeded to faint after that, her soul drifting out of her body.

K'xug was alarmed, rushing to her side.

Cecil did the same, flinching back in shock when the dead rodent landed near her feet.

"Perhaps, a rodent was too effective." Veau said in amusement.

Xue closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of exasperation.

Linqin watched their entire exchange, placing her hand on her hips as she looked at the group with raised eyebrows. "Sure looks like you are friends."

"We are not."

They replied instantly once again, but without Hana this time.

Whereas, everyone else was agreeing along with Linqin's words, since they behaved exactly like friends.

Meanwhile, Linwei has been quiet the entire time as he observed Veau, his expression perplexed.

"Now that I look at him clearly, your friend looks oddly familiar," Linwei mused out, still insisting on calling Veau as their friend. "Have we met somewhere before?"

"Have we met somewhere before?" Veau raised an eyebrow, throwing the same question back to Linwei.

"..." Linwei could only remain quiet, before he finally stuttered out with an awkward grin. "I-I guess not."

"Is that so?" Veau probed, pretending to be hesitant.

Linwei only became more confused.

Cecil felt pitiful for Linwei who was being messed around by Veau.

Xue watched their exchange, letting out a short, bitter chuckle.

This was another thing that Veau liked to do, and he has never changed at all.

"A-a dead rat, hahaha..." Hana muttered to herself, deathly pale and her world was spinning.

"Hana, hang in there," K'xug consoled, his expression solemn. "It's nothing, it's just a dead rat that was tortured to death."

Hana's expression became worse.

Cecil snapped her head to K'xug, baffled.

"...th-that isn't how consoling works, K'xug."

K'xug paused, looking at Cecil with wide eyes. "Really?"

"..." Cecil sighed, a palm on her forehead. "What kind of world did you grow up in?"

K'xug hesitated, rubbing his neck. "One that isn't great for everyone."

"An-anyway, this is no time to be dwelling up here," Linwei cleared his throat, still maintaining a friendly attitude, gesturing to the group to his village. "Please head on in, and I'll give you a personal tour of my tribe later on."

K'xug carried Hana easily into his arms, and the red-haired woman was too dispirited to even retort.

"Weren't you supposed to be meeting the chieftains of the other tribes later, ol' dearest brother?" Linqin clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Ugh," Linwei grimaced, marching into his village. "Don't remind me of that."

"Isn't it just a meeting to brag about their sons, daughters or their strength?" Linqin laughed, following her brother.

"That's why I hate it."

The group proceeded to walk in, an entourage following behind them as well.

All of a sudden, Xue halted in his steps, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked to the left.

"...?" Cecil stopped right beside him, placing her hand on his arm. "Xue?"

At the same time, Veau and K'xug look in the same direction. The former smiled lazily, an expectant look in his eyes. The latter glanced over to Xue, confounded.

"What is it? Is it another soul fragment of yours?" Cecil lowered her voice, glancing at Veau.

Veau definitely noticed something there as well.

"It's not just my soul fragment."

"Light...and dark magic," K'xug finished the words for Xue, looking at them, still carrying Hana in his arms. "Angels and demons are fighting there."

"Chieftain! Chieftain!"

A man shouted at the top of his lungs from the other end of the village, his small figure grew bigger and bigger as he dashed towards them. In the man's hand, he was carrying a scroll that was tied up and stained with blood.

"The reports from our scouts and allies! It's urgent!"

"Tell me! Hurry!" Linwei demanded.

"They are at it once again!" the man informed, panting heavily with his hands on his knees. "The Sacred Forest is in danger! Qaelai and Junnae are requesting assistance from us!"

Xue felt an apprehensive welling up inside him.

My soul fragment.

Angels.

Demons.

All in one spot, battling out against one another.

No matter how one looked at it, this situation did not seem good in anyone's eyes. Moreover, Xue had no clue as to what kind of soul fragment he would encounter this time.

Linwei placed his fingers between his mouth, giving a sharp whistle three times in a row. The entourage that followed them instantly stood at attention, along with the animals. After which, the tribal warriors gathered around and began to mount the animals, one after another.

Their soul weapons appeared beside them, one after another. Linwei and Linqin readied their own weapons, and there was a gust of wind before two of their own mounts suddenly stood beside them.

From somewhere, a low hum sounded out of nowhere, the source of it coming from a war horn.

"Haoran, Haoming, take care of our guests!"

"Yes, Chieftain!"

"Understood!"

Nevertheless, Xue and the others had no intention of staying behind.

"Wait, hold on--" Cecil began to say, when she was interrupted by a commotion.

"There's no need to include me in your tour." Veau stated abruptly, waving the sleeves of his robes.

Upon seeing that action of his, Cecil felt her heart skipping in trepidation.

Not good.

She spun around to observe the faces of the villagers, along with Linwei and Linqin.

The dark magic was apparent for everyone to see, especially with the distinctive portal created by Veau. Without any hesitation, Veau stepped through it and disappeared from the spot.

"...!"

"Those are the same spells the red-eyed demons use!"

"Enemies! They are our enemies!"

"It's a...it's a trap! We have been lured into a trap!"

All of a sudden, the weapons that they held in their hands were all brandished towards the direction of Xue and the others.

Even Linwei and Linqin joined in.

Hana had awoken, squeaking in surprise. "Wh-what?!"

Cecil gasped, lifting her arms into the air.

K'xug placed Hana on the ground, patting her head.

"Don't move!" Linqin hissed out.

They took a step closer, their sharp weapons glinting in the sunlight.

K'xug crossed his arms.

Hana scanned her surroundings hurriedly, her blue irises landing on Cecil standing beside her. She decided to imitate Cecil's actions quickly, her eyes wide in panic.

Moreover, true to Cecil's words, some of them had fainted upon seeing that a "red-eyed demon" was walking amongst them earlier.

"I told you," K'xug gave Xue a side glance. "They would turn against us."

Xue sighed, closing his eyes in frustration and he placed his hand on his forehead.

***

Pt. 1

《 start 》

Just because I have to suffer.

Do the people around me have to suffer as well?

What have I ever done to deserve such a fate?

Is my existence supposed to garner that much hatred from this world?

It's fine if it is me.

Just not for those around me.

Not for K'xug.

Not for Hana.

Not for...my Cecil Lan.

《 stop 》

***

Pt. 2

《 start 》

If there had been a way to stop it in the past.

I would have.

I would have done it all.

However, it was all for naught.

There was nothing any of us could do.

Not now, not ever.

And now, the one that has this curse upon them is you.

Hana.

What can I do?

What am I supposed to do?

《 stop 》