They separated.

  However, the warmth of human touch remained on Asher’s skin for far longer.

  A small smile remained on Anny's face, like a sunflower that has bloomed on the first ray of sunlight.

  “You can see it?”

  She spoke with a surprised look and a tired laughter that followed behind.

  “It’s a long story.”

  Liber said as he walked closer to Asher and the others. His steps were far slower and weaker than Asher had ever seen. It was seeing the husk of a man he once knew.

  “You—Liber, are you injured?”

  Asher asked with a worried look draped on his face.

  “I don’t know… But I will be okay. It’s probably an aftereffect from fighting a monster not long ago.” He spoke as his iris darkened. “But anyways, Asher… It’s great to see you again.”

  Thup!

  Asher was pulled into another hug. This time he didn’t hesitate and wrapped his arms around Liber. He still felt the touching reunion; a small genuine smile played on the corner of Asher’s lips.

  “Yes, I am also grateful to see all of you.”

  Liber stepped back before sitting on an old chair in the corner of the room. Asher watched him stumble back, though unlike before, when Liber had a tired face, he now looked relieved, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

  “Wait, how did you get so many injuries? Did you use that ability?”

  Anny's voice pulled his attention. He turned back and saw her walking toward Chris with a worried gaze.

  Chris had several cuts and bruises on his body. Some seem to come from monsters, while others came from Asher himself.

  Asher averted his gaze in a heartbeat; Chris had looked at him with a dubious gaze but didn't wish to accept defeat in the fight so easily.

  'I had my doubts. That's why I held back. Yes, thats the only reason I got beaten up.' Chris muttered as Anny started to heal him. Her ability to heal seems to have been strengthened a lot; it was clear as day to Asher's eyes, as he saw Chris's injuries close one after the other.

  Anny took a step back as she completed healing Chris and turned her eyes toward Asher.

  Her gaze lingered on him for a while longer, making Asher raise his brows in confusion.

  'Hmm?'

  "Show me your injuries; you had been alone for so long... It could be dangerous."

  Anny spoke with her soft voice as she got closer.

  Asher turned his head down.

  Injured? Yes. He had likely sustained countless wounds—small, persistent ones that piled up over the span of a month. No one could avoid every cut, every bruise. The only thing he had truly escaped were fatal blows. Those he had dodged to keep his skin intact.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Asher nodded quietly and pulled off his cloak, revealing what it had been hiding from sight.

  Below showed skin that had turned purple at several corners and a fresh cut on his abdomen that painted his clothes crimson. While it was true Awakeneds like him could heal injuries like this as time passed, Asher just ended up sustaining new ones soon. His feet were red, ankles coated with small patches of blood. Anny drew an old breath and asked him to sit without making any comment.

  "Did you ever think of someone?" Anny muttered while she placed her palm on Asher's abdomen. Her hands felt unnaturally hot against his skin. It was as if the sun itself had been poured into her touch. Asher felt the sting of the wound ease away as she continued. The feeling of her hand pressed against him made him realize just how long it had been since he’d had such contact.

  "I don't think so... Being alive and returning back is all that matters."

  Asher did, however, think of someone; as time passed, his heart would start to ravel with strange emotions and thoughts that were meaningless.

  He had surely gone insane.

  Asher didn't let his thought slip out and leaned his head back.

  Chris, Enzo, Liber and SDummer watched him with silent gazes.

  He continued to speak.

  "I just prayed sincerely that you all were safe."

  Anny didn't speak back, but Asher could see a small smile form on her face.

  He looked at her for a while and then at the others.

  “Everything was going well. Just as planned, the Avenger reached the soldiers. The captain of the 2nd division—he was one of the plague’s avatars—and the two of them clashed. The fight was fierce enough to make the world tremble. I remember the sky turning dark. I remember seeing the plague’s true form… just for an instant.

  It wasn’t something that should exist. An incorporeal shape, too blurred to be real. A being made entirely of memories, without a shadow, without a body. That brief glimpse alone made my thoughts vanish, my vision bleed, and madness bloom inside my mind—or rather, our mind.

  I barely held myself together… only because I’d experienced something similar before.”

  Asher’s voice fell to a faint murmur, his fingers pressing into his thighs hard enough to leave marks. Anny’s healing touch traced down his ribs, growing hotter with each inch—warming his bones, yet failing to thaw the cold dread curdling in his stomach.

  Chris shifted in his seat, his knuckles glinting from freshly healed scars. Enzo’s eyes drifted toward Liber, who sat slumped in the corner chair—eyes closed, breath steady, but his brow creased as though he too was seeing that moment again… that nightmare.

  The room smelled of damp earth and aged wood. Underneath it all lingered the faint, metallic scent of blood—the part that Anny’s light hadn’t washed away.

  "In any case, more avatars soon appeared as more soldiers fell down, losing their sanity. That was a blessing for them, I think, since what happened next was terrifying." Asher let out a small self-deprecating laugh that seemed to resonate with all of them.

  "The avenger rained down a number of strings, piercing everything it touched as if it could touch anything and even nothing. One after the other, Plague's avatars were destroyed. I and Sion tried to save the fallen soldiers; she went along with every decision I made. Her struggle for survival and her happiness at saving others all seemed real. Until I found it wasn't. A string caught me; I struggled to escape and the fight between the calamity and avenger came to a halt. All avatars suddenly broke, coming together and weaving into one... Into Sion to be specific."

  Asher inhaled deeply.

  "We were too naive to think we could even remotely lead an ancient being like Plague. We, or more I, seem to have been dancing in her hand from the very start. She just... wanted."

  Asher hesitated and licked his lips, rubbing his temples together with his right hand. Anny stepped back and looked at him silently.

  "She just knew what we planned I think or just guessed it but played along. That's all I can say. She then saved me from the Avengers' grasp; all my backup plans failed one after the other. And then the sky crackled, a rift? Something like a door or a gate opened as monsters started to appear. In the end I got swallowed by it just like all of you did and appeared far, very far from this place. You guys should have some ideas on how those monsters were appearing in Klaista randomly now and why it took me so long to reach this place."

  Silence lingered—thick, unmoving, like clouds smothering the sky.

  Before anyone could rise from that quiet haze of disbelief, Asher spoke—steady, composed, his wounds nearly gone.

  “So, how did you rank up, Anny? And congratulations, by the way. I was really happy to see you—I… forgot to say that earlier.”

  Summer blinked, lips parting as if the words had escaped her. He’s joking? Now? No… He’s lost it. The thought trembled in her mind, but she didn’t dare voice it.

  Whether it was real or an act, none of them could tell. Not entirely.

  Their gazes shifted—slowly, inevitably—to Anny and Liber.

  The two faces, worn and weary, finally turned to speak.