Chapter 50: Great Clans
Beneath the fractured desert floor, far below where the violet sky and burning orange streaks could still be felt only as a distant memory of light and heat, the world had closed around them like a sealed wound.
Three humans and two summoned beings remained alive within that buried stillness.
Yuto, Maya, and Tami were conscious, as were Shinny and the panther, yet none of them were crushed within collapsing rubble or entombed in suffocating soil. Instead, they existed inside a hollowed pocket of earth, a strange cavity formed in the aftermath of the collapse, as though the ground itself had folded inward and then paused, holding its shape with unnatural intention.
The pressure of the surrounding desert pressed in on every side, an immense weight of stone and sand suspended just beyond the thin boundary of their enclosure, threatening at every moment to give in and complete the burial. Yet something about the formation held, resisting the full force of collapse and preserving just enough space for air, movement, and life.
Yuto’s eyes opened slowly as consciousness returned fully to him, his body bracing instinctively for impact, for weight crushing down on his chest, for the suffocating absence of air that should have followed being buried alive beneath an entire desert.
None of it came.
Instead, there was space.
Confined, unstable, and fragile in its own way, but still space.
He inhaled cautiously, the air damp and faintly earthy, carrying the scent of crushed stone and mineral dust rather than suffocation. The realization that he was not immediately in danger of being crushed allowed a small but necessary shift in his awareness, forcing his mind to adjust to the reality of survival rather than panic.
A few steps away, Maya stood with both hands raised, her arms trembling under sustained effort, fingers splayed as though she were physically holding the weight of the world itself in place. Her expression was tight with concentration, every muscle in her body engaged in maintaining control over the surrounding earth.
The stone responded to her.
Not passively.
Not naturally.
But as if it recognized her intent and obeyed it under strain.
The surrounding rock walls of their enclosure pulsed faintly, shifting in controlled resistance as she shaped the structure into a hollow dome, maintaining just enough integrity to prevent it from collapsing inward while still keeping it open enough for survival.
Yuto’s gaze fixed on her, realization forming with quiet intensity.
So she has elemental ability.
His expression shifted slightly, not into shock exactly, but into a recalibration of expectation, as though a hidden variable had finally been revealed in a calculation he had been trying to solve without knowing it was incomplete.
The Seven Great Clans existed only as fragmented knowledge scattered across the world, spoken of in limited records and guarded rumors. Each was said to be tied to a fundamental force of nature, water, earth, fire, air, plant, metal, and lightning, though very little about them was confirmed, and even less was openly understood. Their influence was considered vast, yet their members were rarely encountered outside their own hidden systems.
Maya’s control over the earth placed her within that unseen structure.
Tami blinked, his voice breaking through the heavy stillness with disbelief that had not yet settled into clarity.
"What?" he said, staring at her. "You’re part of the Great Clans?"
Maya did not answer him.
Instead, she tightened her focus, her jaw clenching as the strain of maintaining the dome increased, the stone around them groaning under pressure as if resisting both collapse and control at the same time.
The rocky enclosure trembled.
Then, under her guidance, it began to fracture in controlled segments, splitting along lines that did not feel natural but deliberate, as though she were dictating exactly where the structure was allowed to fail. Light filtered through the widening cracks, pale and dusty at first, before expanding into full illumination as the dome opened.
The earth released them.
For a brief moment, gravity seemed to reassert itself with sudden clarity.
All three of them dropped to their knees as the structure collapsed outward in fragments, breathing sharply as the first full rush of open air reached them again, sharp and dry and real after the suffocating closeness of the underground chamber.
Yuto coughed once, steadying himself as he pushed a hand against the ground and forced his body upright.
The beetle summon remained nearby, its armored form intact despite the collapse, standing motionless as though it had weathered the entire event without concern. Shinny was also present, calm as ever, his gaze already scanning the surroundings with quiet precision.
But Shinto was gone.
There was no trace of him.
No presence.
No movement in the shifting dust where he had stood before the collapse.
Tami struck the ground with a clenched fist, frustration breaking through the exhaustion in his voice.
"That bastard."
He turned sharply toward Maya, anger cutting through his confusion.
"You were just going to hide that you were part of the Great Clans from us?" he demanded.
Maya straightened slowly, brushing dust from her sleeves with controlled, unhurried motions as though the accusation itself did not warrant urgency.
"Yes," she said simply.
Tami stared at her, disbelief hardening into irritation.
"So you really weren’t going to tell us?"
Maya met his gaze without hesitation, her expression steady and unyielding.
"We are not obligated to share everything," she replied.
Tami opened his mouth, words forming in frustration, then stopped as if realizing that arguing the point would not change anything. The anger remained, but it no longer had a clear direction to go.
Yuto stepped in before the tension could escalate further, his voice calm and grounded.
"She’s right," he said. "Our goal is the tower. As long as something isn’t directly tied to that, it doesn’t need to be shared."
Tami exhaled sharply and lowered himself onto a nearby rock, the motion carrying the weight of resignation more than agreement.
"I know," he muttered. "I’m just annoyed we got buried alive."
Maya had already begun to move again, pacing slowly across the cracked desert surface, her eyes scanning the disturbed ground with renewed focus as if reading traces left behind by their attacker.
"Shinto isn’t just after the gemstone," she said after a moment. "He’s actively hunting it too. That means this is no longer just a journey to find it."
Her gaze sharpened slightly, attention narrowing as the implications settled fully into place.
"It’s a race."
Silence followed, heavy and immediate, stretching across the broken terrain like something newly understood but not yet accepted.
Yuto nodded once.
"Then we don’t waste time," he said.
He turned toward the summons.
"Move."
Without further discussion, the group reorganized with practiced urgency. Yuto and Maya mounted the steel-plated beetle, its armored frame lowering slightly to accommodate them, while Tami climbed onto the panther, which responded with a low, steady breath before shifting into motion.
The summons adjusted their stance, grounding themselves against the uneven terrain, then surged forward together as the group reformed into movement.
This time, they did not travel at the same steady pace as before.
They moved faster.
