Sacrifice.

  It was not something I had expected to come from Anny’s mouth.

  Sacrifice was something scary… something vile yet a sacred concept.

  Moving with the thought to protect and not recklessly charge into danger. Using your own body to shield something more precious than you. It was a very noble thought, enough to warm anyone’s heart.

  But I could feel mine ache at the thought of her getting that terrible wound.

  My jaw tightened and I pressed my hands together.

  If she had not become an awakened.

  If her powers had not been strengthened. The outcome could have been worse. Liber and Anny, I would have never been able to see any of them.

  I sighed and leaned forward from my resting spot.

  Reaching enlightenment at a desperate moment was not unheard of. I was one of the prime examples of that. I had gotten my enlightenment not long before the ruin expedition but I was unable to understand what it meant till the last moment.

  Anny had acted on the ritual without knowing it and succeeded.

  “That was brilliant, Anny.”

  I praised honestly.

  What she had done was not something anyone could have performed without hesitation.

  “Hmm.”

  Anny nodded, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  “Almost like a hero!” Chris chimed in with a smile.

  “Exactly.”

  Liber added with a laugh.

  “Stop…”

  Anny shivered, her hands plastered over her face as she leaned forward like a small animal trying to hide in shame.

  Her face was red like a tomato.

  “No shame in being a hero.” I told her as I covered my lips, trying not to laugh at her.

  Enzo and Summer stayed silent at the corner of the room before speaking one after the other.

  “Good work.”

  “I knew you could do it.”

  For a moment I forgot everything that happened before I reached them.

  All the suffering. All the pain… It truly went to the back of my mind, prompting me to smile.

  “...Thank you for your kind words.” Even when shivering in embarrassment, Anny answered with a clear voice.

  Summer seems to have wanted to say something but kept her mouth shut, stealing a quick glance toward me from time to time.

  We had not talked since the moment we met, and I guessed she had several questions still left unanswered. But I had no plans to tell more. It wasn’t about trust anymore. It was safety, their safety to be exact.

  I couldn’t bear the weight of them being involved with calamities anymore.

  That was not something ‘we’ humans could handle. Right now all I hope for is to find a way to send them back home.

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  Enzo took a step forward, gathering everyone’s attention on him. His face remained calm, eerily so, as if he had been thinking for a long time. He stared at our faces one by one without making a sound. Some shifted uncomfortably, while others just matched his gaze back.

  Finally his gaze landed on me.

  “I think you all should rest now.”

  He said to the others with his calm smile and even tone.

  "You all must be tired. I will accommodate Asher and tell him about the discovery we had in this place."

  Summer stiffened, her fingers curling into her sleeves. The way Enzo phrased it—too smooth, too rehearsed—sent an itch crawling between my shoulder blades. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't telling the whole truth either.

  Liber opened his mouth like he might argue, but Anny nudged his ribs with her elbow, shaking her head subtly. She'd caught it too. The others dispersed with murmurs and shuffling feet, leaving me alone with Enzo in the dim glow of the empty room. The air smelled of damp stone and something metallic beneath.

  I chose to ignore all of that and leaned back.

  Enzo wasn't this active. Not with me, not with anyone. The only time I had seen such actions was when he had betrayed Elric.

  Enzo, after hearing no footsteps outside, turned to face me and sat down in front of me.

  "What happened? You look serious?" I asked cautiously, though my hands went down as if ready to pull something out of nothing.

  I knew they were real; surely it was not another hallucination that I needed to cut down.

  My smile strained the longer my mind made various scenarios.

  I knew they were real; surely it was not another hallucination that I needed to cut down.

  My smile strained the longer my mind made various scenarios.

  "Anny's story was sad to hear, really. And I am extremely grateful she and Liber could return back safely."

  His fingers tapped a slow rhythm against his knee—one-two, one-two—before stopping abruptly.

  "But I didn't like something."

  Enzo muttered.

  'Hmm? He didn't like what?'

  I felt the corner of my lips starting to twitch as my smile faltered.

  "You... I didn't like how you changed the topic. We were listening to you, how you survived the Crownhead and Plagues fight. How you came here... But there were so many things missing in your story." Enzo's voice grew quieter as he kept his head low and hands clasped together.

  I exhaled deeply.

  'The past comes to bite my ass.'

  I thought bitterly before facing Enzo with a blank expression on my face.

  "Well, the attempt to change the topic was too forced, wasn't it?"

  Enzo chuckled and nodded his head.

  "Yes, it was. Others must have thought it was making you uncomfortable and didn't question you at that time."

  "Maybe... yes, all of you were kind, too kind even to me. Even after I have failed you guys so many times."

  I said with a wistful tone, looking out of the door.

  "So what happened?"

  Enzo asked mercilessly, making me chuckle.

  I closed my eyes. Should I first tell him how I was marked by the goddess? Or should I tell him how my soul had broken not long ago?

  Or should I tell them how the Plague had truly played us in her hand, played me, like a puppet?

  There was also the Temple playing like a mastermind and the lost prince and his followers.

  I opened my eyes, with so much to tell and so much to hide.

  "It's true that I didn't tell the whole truth. I am extremely sorry for that... to all of you."

  "You should tell it to them yourself."

  I nodded.

  "But I will not tell anything to anyone anymore. When I was out in that desert, I had a lot of time to think and reflect on my mistakes." I took a deep breath, my eyes narrowing coldly.

  "That's why I won't involve any of you."

  "You—"

  "Listen, Enzo. This world is extraordinarily large and dreadful; just this desert and this lost city are taking everything we can to survive and not die every second. No one could have expected such a place to exist but it does!"

  My voice cracked slightly. I didn't want to admit it, but it was true. The desert, the monsters, the Plague—everything was beyond us.

  "I know you never show it but you are worried, for all of us, even me. Your group even got so close with Liber and Anny. That already proves that you are trying to help and survive with everyone together."

  "So... you won't tell anyone anything? What is happening around us? Keep us in the dark?"

  Enzo's words were brutally honest today. It wasn't like him. He always cared about his group and their safety.

  What happened that could have possibly changed him so much in the past couple of days?

  I exhaled and kept my eyes on him, even when he averted his gaze, unable to bear mine.

  "Yes, if that's what it takes to send you all back home. I will do it."

  "I see."

  Enzo stood up, pushing his chair back with a creaking sound.

  Was he angry?

  I pursed my lips.

  I called it protection. But maybe… I was just afraid to watch them walk into truths I barely survived myself.

  "Ignorance is a bliss, a blessing for us mortals. Don't turn away from it; it's for your own good."

  Even if I sounded arrogant, that was an undeniable truth. Even Morgan, who has a secret, a burden she can't tell anyone, shares this sentiment with me.

  "Then do you regret knowing so much?" Enzo said without changing his expression.

  My lips curled up into a smile and I couldn't help but laugh—laugh at my own ignorance.

  "Haha... I can't regret something I don't know yet. But I am close to it; I can feel a pull that tells me I will find something here, in this lost city."

  Enzo didn't answer, but for a split second I saw him smile. That was enough for now.