❖ Chapter 11: The Way In
The fortress stood like a long-forgotten scar on the earth, its black stone towering and silent. The wind crawled through its old arrow slits, whistling low, as if trying to remember screams that once echoed through them.
Jio stood beside Havella, arms crossed, staring up at the high walls. His scarf flapped gently in the breeze. Behind them, the Wastes stretched endlessly in fading gray.
"So," he said plainly, "we're not using the front gate?"
Havella tensed, her eyes narrowing as she avoided his gaze. "No. Obviously not."
"Why?"
"…Because," she muttered, shifting uncomfortably, "I'm kind of a… I used to… steal things."
Jio looked at her. Not a flicker of change in his face.
"I was a burglar," she said flatly.
Still nothing.
Havella frowned. "Seriously?"
"What?"
"That's it? You're not surprised?"
Jio blinked once. "You called your magic steal. I assumed it came from somewhere."
A moment of silence passed.
Then her brow twitched. "Tch. Can't you react a little like a normal person? This is where you gasp and say, 'What?! No! You?! A criminal?!'"
"No."
"Ugh…"
She turned her back to him with a grumble, her ponytail flicking angrily. "You're no fun. You never ask anything, you never seem shocked, you just… stare with those eyes."
"I don't see the point in reacting," Jio said behind her, his voice low but steady. "You're here now. Not there."
She stopped.
Turned halfway toward him.
"…What if I was worse than a burglar?" she asked, quieter this time. "What if I did things even I don't want to remember?"
Jio looked at her, as unchanging as ever, and replied: "You're not doing them now."
That silence came again, not empty—weighted. Havella's eyes searched his face, as if trying to find a crack, a flicker, anything behind that neutral calm.
There wasn't one.
But somehow, it didn't feel cold.
"…You're such a weirdo," she muttered.
They crouched beside a collapsed drainage trench, hidden by jagged debris and dead roots. Havella inspected the old path down, rusted bars once meant to stop beasts now bent inward.
"This way," she whispered.
Jio followed without hesitation. No questions, no doubts. Just steps.
Inside, the narrow tunnel smelled of mildew and metal. It was dark—too dark. But from Jio's palm, light pulsed softly.
Bright Call.
The tunnel walls shimmered faintly under the beam.
"Still weird you just… learned that," Havella whispered. "Took me years to use Steal without bleeding from my nose."
Jio didn't answer. He just kept walking. She followed behind, a little closer than before.
"I hate this place," she muttered. "So many stories about these fortresses. Used to be outposts during the Realms Wars. Bloody things. Everyone that stayed too long either went mad or got recruited into something worse."
"Worse?"
"You'll see."
They reached a grated inner passage. Havella crouched and worked silently, her hands swift, her eyes focused. Years of muscle memory.
"You sure you want to come with me through all this?" she asked without looking. "You still got a chance to run. I'm not holding you here."
"I want to go," Jio said.
"…Why?"
A pause.
"I have nowhere else to be."
She hesitated—then clicked the last lock.
The grate creaked open with a groan.
"…Fine," she murmured. "But don't say I didn't warn you. Beyond this place... the next Realm begins. And if what I've heard is true…"
Her voice dropped.
"The one who rules it doesn't like visitors."
---
End of Chapter 11
---