Chapter 147: The Beginning of the Hunt.
[LEWD LEVELING SYSTEM]
[Extraction complete.]
[You can now mark the primordial women.]
[Source extracted. 1 of 4.]
Eleanor lay on the floor beside the bed, chest rising and falling in slow, deep waves. The specific rhythm of someone whose body had just surrendered something immense and was still finding its way back to itself. Sweat glistened across her collarbones and the valley between her breasts. A faint tremor ran through her thigh.
"It’s done," she said, a small, exhausted smile curving her lips. She pushed herself up on one elbow. I reached down and gave her my hand. Her fingers closed around mine, still warm and slightly unsteady. She rose and sat on the edge of the bed beside me, composing herself gradually, shoulders squaring, breath steadying, black hair falling in damp strands across her face.
"It is done," she said again, quieter this time. The words carried the weight of decades finally settling. "The house of Nadez is counting on you now. Carry what Ethan started."
She looked toward the tent wall, eyes distant.
I sat beside her and felt something I hadn’t expected. A deep, wordless attachment. Something older than memory recognizing itself across a distance it had waited a lifetime to close.
"Return to the walls," she said. "Stop the awakening. That’s everything."
"Come with me," I said.
She stood slowly, the motion graceful even in exhaustion. The lantern light traced the curve of her spine and the sway of her hips as she moved.
"You remind me of someone," she said softly, and walked into the inner room.
I stayed on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, staring at the golden stones. Thinking about the walls. About who I was going back as compared to who I had left as. Same body. Completely different weight.
I thought about Sophia and the Vales. About Monica and Riya, the three primordial women who didn’t yet know what was coming for them. About a mission that had started as Bala’s and had become something else entirely.
The sound of water came from the other room. She had returned to the bathtub.
I got up. My legs felt heavier than they should. I walked through the curtain. She was in the water again, eyes closed, head resting against the edge of the tub. Golden stones still threw their warm light across the tent walls. My clothes sat folded on the chair exactly where I had left them. I picked them up and dressed slowly, cotton pants sliding up my legs, shirt pulling over damp skin, boots laced tight.
"I encountered the Vales," I said.
She didn’t open her eyes.
I crossed to the tub, leaned down, and pressed a slow kiss to her forehead. Her skin was warm, still damp. She didn’t move.
"Mark them all," she said, voice soft but clear. "Pour into them. Spare none."
I walked out.
****
The night outside had settled deep and quiet. Most of the camp lay dark, tents glowing faintly from within. At the edge of the dead fire, Mercury and Hod still sat together, laughing low with the easy rhythm of people who had found a frequency and were staying in it well past midnight.
I didn’t stop. I walked straight through the white sand, boots sinking with every step, past the dying embers and the quiet tents until I reached my own. I pushed through the flap and dropped onto the mattress.
Eleanor’s questions found me in the dark.
You’ve mistaken the direction of the hunt.
Do you know why intimacy?
Have you noticed that women make things easy for you?
I had been charging to level up. Following the system’s objectives. Surviving the way the plain had trained me, forward motion, next thing, don’t stop.
But my father had built the system with a specific destination. And I had just arrived at it.
Three sources remaining, I thought, staring up at the canvas roof. Sophia. Monica. Riya.
****
I opened my eyes to pale light filtering through the tent fabric, soft and diffused, painting everything in muted gold.
The camp was already alive outside, children shouting and laughing, the distant metallic clatter of engines being tested somewhere across the sand. I sat up, spine cracking once, and reached for the toothbrush and toothpaste. I poured water from the jerry can into my cupped hand, stepped out into the morning air, and brushed fast, foam dripping down my chin as I scrubbed.
The air was clean and cool, carrying the faint scent of woodsmoke and dry canvas. White sand stretched in every direction, the tents catching the early light like scattered sails. It felt like a morning that didn’t know anything bad had ever happened and wasn’t planning on being told.
I spat, rinsed, and found the team.
They were all together near the vehicles. Mercury, Sherry, Code, Sinn, Harmione, May. It felt like I had been gone longer than a single night. The cars stood ready, armored and dust-covered. A large escort truck idled nearby, its driver leaning against the door.
"We’ll escort you past the Forsaken City," he said, voice rough from the early hour.
Children had gathered at the edges of the camp, small hands waving. Guen and her friend came through the group to say goodbye, moving between embraces, sharing quick, warm words with the others.
Guen reached me last. She pulled me into a tight hug, arms strong around my back. She brought her mouth close to my ear, breath warm against my skin while everyone nearby assumed it was just a farewell.
"I’ll find you wherever you are," she whispered. "I’ll want you inside me."
She stepped back, eyes lingering one second longer, then turned and walked away.
Her friend came next. She hugged me without a word. I leaned in close.
"Tell Eleanor we’ll meet again," I said quietly. "And that I love her."
She gave me a quick peck on the cheek, soft lips brushing my skin, then walked back toward the tents.
We settled into the armored car. Mercury took the wheel. Sinn and Harmione sat up front. I claimed the far right edge of the back seat. Sherry slid in beside me, pressing close. May settled next to her. Code took the opposite end.
The camp moved past the windows as Mercury pulled out. Children kept waving until they became small bright specks in the white sand. The large escort truck rumbled ahead of us, kicking up a low plume of dust.
My thoughts stayed back in Eleanor’s tent.
"Is everything okay, Bram?" Sherry asked, leaning in closer than usual, her shoulder warm and solid against mine.
"Yes," I said.
She studied my face for a moment, the way she looked at things she didn’t fully believe but had decided not to press. Then she settled against my shoulder, hair brushing my neck.
Three remaining, I thought, staring out at the endless white sand.
Let’s go.
