Chapter 123: Road to the Borderland
They left Valdris at dawn the next day.
Aldric was at the guild door with four supply bags and coffee.
"The northern borderland is four days on foot," he said. "There’s a village on the third day where you can resupply."
"Have you been there?" Kai said.
"Once." Aldric drank. "A long time ago."
No one asked how long.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Aldric with the supplies ready. always ready. that man.
[Stephen_Summers]: "once. a long time ago." and Aldric didn’t elaborate. perfect.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ road to the northern borderland ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: four days on foot. with these four. this is going to be a trip.
[Bangsund]: #FirstChild already has the ranking updated with Mara. I’m prepared.
[Drakeking]: Aldric prepared four bags. one for each. he knows exactly how many they are.
[Zerox]: the updated #FirstChild ranking with Mara is: 1. Serah 2. Mara 3. Lira. the debate continues.
---
The first day established the unwritten rules.
Serah walked beside Kai or ahead of him. Always within the markings’ radius. Lira three steps behind or beside him depending on the terrain, depending on the temperature, depending on things no one else measured but that Lira measured.
Mara walked wherever she felt like.
Ahead of Serah on the first stretch because the road climbed and Mara read slopes better than anyone. Behind Lira on the second stretch because Lira found something in the trees that caught her interest and Mara wanted to see what it was. Beside Kai on the third stretch because the road turned to rock and Mara knew exactly how to move on rock.
Being beside Kai produced a pulse of Serah’s markings that Mara detected.
She processed it.
She kept walking.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Mara walking wherever she feels like. Serah processing that every time it happens.
[Stephen_Summers]: Mara has no unwritten rules because no one ever gave her rules. walking wherever she feels like.
[Warwolf]: Serah’s markings when Mara walks beside Kai. the day’s pulse counter.
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "Mara detected. she processed it. she kept walking." — Mara being Mara.
[Bangsund]: me counting Serah’s pulses for the #FirstChild ranking.
[Drakeking]: Lira found something interesting in the trees and Mara went to see what it was. that’s the start of a friendship.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ the group functioning. the dynamics emerging on their own. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
Kai talked with the stream at midday on the second day while they walked.
"Questions," he said to the air.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: how different does Aethon feel from your original world?
[Stephen_Summers]: how many locked abilities do you have left?
[Warwolf]: which martial art do you use most in Aethon?
[Martijn_Wiersma]: what do you miss most from your world?
[Bangsund]: do you think you’ll ever go back to your world?
[Drakeking]: #FirstChild says: do you have a preference? — ranking question
[Zerox]: ignore Drakeking. real question: what would happen if A_D_M decides you’re a problem?
---
Kai walked a stretch before answering.
"Aethon feels more real than I expected." He said it looking at the road. "My world had underground rings and small rooms and food I wasn’t supposed to eat. Here there are SSS creatures and A_D_M labyrinths and a Warlord who faked having a broken elbow for two days." He looked at Mara. "It also feels more real."
Mara didn’t answer but her ears moved slightly.
"Locked abilities: twelve."
"Muay Thai day to day. Judo when the opponent has more mass."
"What I miss most is the junk food forbidden during training. And videos with no purpose — I was disciplined with my training but I had guilty pleasures."
Pause.
"Will I ever go back? I don’t know. No one asked me if I wanted to come. I guess they won’t ask me if I want to leave either."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: "no one asked me if I wanted to come. I guess they won’t ask me if I want to leave either." — kai with the heaviest line of the day said with total calm.
[Stephen_Summers]: processing that. still processing that.
[Warwolf]: muay thai day to day. judo when there’s more mass. that explains EVERYTHING we’ve seen.
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "it also feels more real" looking at Mara. the ears. Mara’s ears.
[Bangsund]: the question about going back to his world. kai answered something that’s neither yes nor no and it’s worse than both.
[Drakeking]: Kai ignored my #FirstChild question. correct.
[Zerox]: "no one asked me." — that’s going to matter later. I’m noting it.
---
Zerox’s question came afterward.
"About whether A_D_M decides I’m a problem — they already decided I’m a problem." Kai looked at the road. "The Grimvast administrator escalated the case to architecture level. Someone at A_D_M is reading that report right now." A pause. "Them deciding I’m a problem doesn’t change what I do. It only changes what comes toward me."
Serah, without turning around:
"And what comes toward him goes through us first."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: SERAH. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Stephen_Summers]: "goes through us first." serah doesn’t turn. she says it to the air. for A_D_M.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ SERAH ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "us" — Serah included Lira and Mara without asking them.
[Bangsund]: Lira and Mara didn’t contradict her. that’s an agreement.
[Drakeking]: #TeamSerah in total eruption right now.
[Zerox]: viewers: 8,900,000. they went up on their own with that sentence.
---
On the third day they reached the resupply village.
Small — twenty structures, a market that opened three days a week, an inn that smelled like the cooking of someone who cooked well years ago and kept cooking well by inertia.
Mara looked at the village.
"How many people live here?"
"Eighty, maybe," Kai said.
"Mount Heiguers had three hundred people." Mara looked at him. "Why does a village of eighty need an inn?"
"For those passing through."
"How many people pass through?"
Kai looked at the street. It was empty except for them and a dog that had decided the sun on that specific stone was the best on the street.
"Right now, four."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Mara learning about civilian civilization. three hundred forty years in camps.
[Stephen_Summers]: the dog on the stone. that dog has the right life philosophy.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Mara processing the economy of a village of eighty people ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "how many people pass through" / "right now, four" — Kai perfect.
[Bangsund]: Mara has more questions about the civilized world than about any combat. that’s interesting.
[Drakeking]: Lira at the inn already ordering something. Serah looking at the market. Mara and Kai talking about rural economics. the group.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ the first inn night of the trip. something happens tonight. I sense it. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
That night Mara was outside the inn when the camp went dark.
Not sitting — standing, looking north where the northern sector sky had the specific stars of the journey to the borderland, different from Mount Heiguers’ stars although neither configuration resembled anything Kai recognized from his world.
Kai came out for no specific reason.
He stood beside her.
The silence of the village of eighty people at midnight.
"Do you always look at the sky when you can’t sleep?" Kai said.
"I can’t sleep when there’s something I don’t understand."
"What don’t you understand?"
Mara took her time.
"The group."
Kai looked at her.
"Me neither," he said. "Most of the time."
Mara’s ears moved.
"That doesn’t help."
"It wasn’t meant to help. It was so you’d know you’re not the only one."
Mara looked at him for a moment.
Then went back to the sky.
"The borderland stars are different from the mountain ones."
"How?"
"Closer together. On the mountain they had more space between them." Pause. "I don’t know if that means anything."
"Probably not." Kai. "And does that matter?"
"No."
Both in silence.
The village of eighty people asleep around them.
"What territory do you know?" Mara said.
"Only Aethon. And mine before, but that one was smaller than it seems."
"What was it like?"
Kai considered it.
"Gray. A lot of asphalt. The underground rings smelled like sweat and money that no one had enough of." A pause. "But at night it had lights. Colored ones. The streets looked different at night."
Mara listened.
"Do you miss it?"
"The lights, sometimes." Kai looked at her. "The rest, not so much."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Kai describing his world to Mara at night beneath the stars. (╥﹏╥)
[Stephen_Summers]: "it wasn’t meant to help. it was so you’d know you’re not the only one." — kai being kai without trying.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ first real moment between Kai and Mara. no combat. no provocations. just the two of them. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "the borderland stars are different from the mountain ones." Mara noticing things no one else notices.
[Bangsund]: Kai said he doesn’t miss his world much. that’s character development. he hadn’t said it like that before.
[Drakeking]: Mara’s ears moved again. at the same rhythm as the lake. #TeamMara taking notes.
[Zerox]: "the rest, not so much" — said looking at Mara or at the sky. I say at Mara.
---
On the fourth day they reached the edge of the northern border territory.
The marks were on the ground — five energy signatures of A-rank hunters who had passed through here and had stopped at this point.
Not retreated. Not continued.
Stopped.
Kai crouched down. He looked at the point where the marks ended.
He touched the ground.
The resonance Qi responded — not with Mara’s frequency, not with the administrator’s. Something different. Stillness.
Serah crouched beside him.
She placed her hand on the ground.
The markings pulsed.
"Do you feel it?" Kai said.
"Yes." Serah didn’t lift her hand from the ground. "And there’s another signature. Here." She moved her hand two meters north. "It’s not from the hunters."
"What’s it from?"
Serah read with her primordial aura.
She raised her head.
"I don’t know."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Serah doesn’t know. Serah with her primordial aura can’t classify it. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ
[Stephen_Summers]: five hunter signatures that stopped. a seventh one that Serah can’t classify. this is starting badly.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ the border territory. the marks. the seventh signature. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: "I don’t know" from Serah. that doesn’t happen often.
[Bangsund]: seventeen people retained. a classification system that can’t name the signature. and now a seventh one that Serah can’t name either.
[Drakeking]: Kai touched the ground and the Qi responded. whatever is there responded to Kai.
[Zerox]: it responded to Kai specifically. that’s not a coincidence. it’s never a coincidence with Kai.
---
[System — notification]
[Resonance Qi: responding to unidentified source]
[The system registers energy signature of a seventh entity not in the report]
[The system cannot classify the signature]
[The system registers that the signature responded to Kai’s resonance Qi]
[The system awaits additional information]
[Current viewers: 7,800,000]
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