Chapter 53: The Thirty-Sixth Hour
The afternoon light had passed by no sooner than it arrived. And with it came the repulsive scent the island-dwelling creatures emitted.
Ash checked for any Shades there were in a nearby area. Where the island had once been densely packed with students, now it felt like each small cluster of them had their own reserved section of the island to themselves.
"There are probably less than half the students remaining," Ash said from his position, slouched underneath a tree.
Alina stayed where she was, which was just on top of a medium-sized boulder. "Where are the other ones? At least? The ones you can tell."
"Mostly in the central basin, there are no people or creatures around us," Ash spoke. "However..." He trailed off. Davos’ masked Shade presence was still on his mind and impossible to fully detect. He could be anywhere on the island without him knowing it was him.
"What fate befell the other students?" Alexis asked.
"You heard the phase officer," Ash said.
"They either left the island voluntarily and willingly or involuntarily," Alina said. Her teeth gritted at the thought.
Alexis went quiet herself, slumping against a pine tree, her cloak fully being used as a makeshift blanket rather than for her own personal style choice.
"Whoever or whatever comes," Ash said. "Token or no token. We fight first and ask questions after."
"Agreed," Alina said.
"A doable effort for thyselves," Alexis added, pulling her cloak even tighter.
The smell of the creatures grew stronger; whatever was near them now reeked of rotting organs, drowning out every natural scent entirely.
"Ash," Alina said.
"I know, I know," he responded.
He tracked where the Shade was coming from to find it wasn’t anywhere near them, despite the strong scent and presence it was emitting.
"We’re still good," he responded. "For now."
"That is not reassuring," Alexis said, practically bringing her cloak against her as much as it would allow. She had slowly raised it to cover her eyes, as if whatever were out there couldn’t see her if she couldn’t see them.
The ambient sound on the hillside stopped. A bush’s leaves had been rubbing against each other in the wind. Now, it stayed perfectly still.
Alina’s eyes remained fixed on the hillside, not moving from her position.
Alexis’ breathing grew stronger and faster at each noise she did and didn’t hear.
Ash tracked the creature’s position to the hillside below them. The smell peaked, intensely impossible to ignore despite their best efforts to cover their noses. The temperature dropped with each passing breath.
And then—
The sound returned from below. The wind picked up, setting the bushes chattering among themselves.
Then footsteps made their presence known, snapping fallen twigs, crunching leaves and gravel underfoot.
Davos’s face appeared first in the dark, before the rest of him was visible. He had two people behind him. Whether they were his teammates or just stragglers, Ash couldn’t determine.
He stopped just at the edge where his vision allowed him to see Ash and his teammates
It was a staredown, neither side budging, neither side giving an inch. Ash once again tried to read Davos’s Shade, finding the same corrupted signal he’d picked up when the phase started. But beneath the mask, that signal was beginning to slip.
Whatever had been hiding beneath that mask was finally coming out.
Davos’s eyes took in Alina’s arm with its makeshift wraps, then Ash still sitting beneath the tree, and finally, Alexis shivering uncontrollably.
"If that’s your condition after this pathetic phase, you three won’t survive the next phase," he finally said, breaking the silence.
He was already turning to walk back into the night when he turned his head around. "Sleep well on the bus ride back."
Before Ash could stand up, he had returned from the darkness he came from.
He tried to get a sense for where each person was on the island when something struck him. It was a different person’s Shade, but one he had previously picked up on back on the bazaar. Every other Shade on the island had resolved into something legible, even whatever Davos was doing with his. This one was different. As soon as he sensed it, his nervous system immediately told him to run away despite being nowhere near the target.
"Hey, your breathing just increased? Is someone coming?" Alina said.
"I—I don’t know."
"Keep us posted."
Ash did his best to nod, but deep down he was already planning escape procedures if this Shade ever came close to him.
And then—
BWAAAAAAAAMP
The air horn had fired across every point of the island and was impossible to not hear. They knew what it meant. Slowly, they began making their way back to where the bazaar had been erected, being careful to avoid any parts where a creature’s Shade signal was especially dense.
"Follow my movements and we’ll be back safe," Ash assured them.
After a light jog, they finally found their way back to the dock. Amber guide markers were laid out, making it impossible to miss from a distance.
Teams were already present when Ash’s team arrived, with more streaming in from every direction long after. The only constant was their condition: battered, bruised, and bloodied beyond all recognition compared to how they had looked when they first set foot on the island.
A student stood at the supply rig, one hand pressed over an eye but failing to fully cover it. Others sat on the dock’s planking, looking as though they had decided sitting was where this ended for them.
Helpers were already distributing blankets and warm food to the arrivals.
Ash’s team joined the processing line, waiting for their turn, now each wrapped in a warm, cozy blanket.
The phase officer at the front was alone, accepting tokens, and then marking something down on a tablet with him. When they finally reached the end, the officer held up his hand to take the tokens.
"Is this place safe from... them?" Ash asked.
"Those creatures?" The phase officer responded, adding up the tokens. "Their reach doesn’t extend to this part of the island." He tapped a few times on the tablet.
"Wait. The academy knew about those creatures, and you planned a whole phase on an island inhabited by them?" Alina demanded.
"Did they hurt you?" He sounded as if he’d had this conversation many times already.
"Well, no, but—"
The phase officer grinned. "Your team has seventy-two points. Go grab a meal and warm up while the rest of the teams arrive."
Ash was looking at the grime on his hands when a flash of spotless white caught his attention entirely.
A pristine, perfectly kept white blouse that didn’t look soiled in the slightest. Among one of the last teams to arrive was a student who looked like they had lived on an entirely different island. Everyone else bore the full thirty-six hours stained into their clothes and skin.
She was flawless in every sense. His Shade-sense picked up the scent before he finished looking at the rest of her. It was the same Shade his nervous system had flagged earlier in the night. Now it was sitting directly in front of him, but he didn’t feel the slightest need to run.
The phase officer made his rounds to each student group, and then he stopped in front of Ash and his team.
"Congratulations, your team earned enough points to advance to the next round. Buses will arrive shortly to take you back to the academy."
Ash didn’t realize he had his breath held until the sudden hug from Alina and Alexis caused him to push it out of his body entirely.
"However you managed to secure the points, I owe you," Alina said.
"Methinks my heart hath not yet ceased its warring drum, yet thy feat hath stolen the very breath from my lungs. We stand in victory by thy hand alone."
Ash’s eyes moved towards Alina.
"She’s saying thanks."
He let himself fall back onto the island ground, staring up at the night sky. "I will figure out how you speak eventually. Until then, I should be the one thanking you two."
The three of them boarded the closest bus and shared a row, resting their heads atop one another.
A light tap from the driver woke them.
"Welcome back," the driver said, moving on to the next row of sleeping students.
"I’ll see you two when they announce the next round," Ash said through heavy yawns. "I need to get some sleep."
He didn’t wait for a response, already stumbling out the bus, dragging his stiff body through the main academy corridors to where his dorm was.
The south corridor of the academy smelled of heated air and floor cleaner. Ash’s shoes sounded different on stone than they had on frozen ground. Harder, more deliberate. The blanket was still in his hand. Most of the corridor was empty. Students who’d come back from the island were still at the dock or in the medical wing. The hallway ahead held nothing except the distance to his dorm block and the weight of each step against it.
Then he saw her. Phoebe.
She was wearing the academy’s formal military uniform. The sharp, structured silhouette of the navy jacket was a jarring contrast to the torn canvas and mud Ash had spent two days staring at. The heavy leather belt was cinched perfectly at her waist, the lines of her uniform rigid and immaculate. It was an outfit that belonged to a world the island had actively tried to erase.
"Hey," Ash managed to say through his burning red eyes.
Phoebe nodded at the sight of him, continuing to wherever she was initially going to.
