Gilded Ashes: When Shadows Reign

Raizen stared at Atman's face for a long second, waiting for it to change.

It didn't.

Atman remained in the exact same pose as before - feet planted, arms stretched outward, hands open as if he were holding the fog in place through sheer strength. Dark-blue smoke coiled around his forearms and wrists in slow spirals, and the darkness in the air still obeyed him, rolling and weaving in the same vast, muffled sea.

Only his eyes were closed.

And his breathing was… unsettling.

Slow. Shallow.

Raizen's stomach tightened.

"Okay" he whispered. "This is fine. It should be normal."

It wasn't.

Elin was gone into the sky with an Anathema in her hand. The knife in Raizen's sleeve was wrapped in red threads like a living signal. The fog covered ten kilometers of Ukai, swallowing bridges, wind and sound.

And Atman was standing here like a statue that had forgotten to stay awake.

Raizen took a cautious step closer.

"Atman?" he whispered.

No response.

Raizen swallowed and leaned in. Atman's face was calm. Too calm. If he'd been dead, it would've been insulting how peaceful he looked.

Raizen's brain, in a moment of panic, suggested a dozen solutions.

Shake him.

Shout.

Punch him.

Cry.

Pray.

Run into the Ruler's house and pretend this wasn't happening.

Instead, Raizen chose the dumbest possible option.

He poked Atman's arm with his index finger.

Just a light poke.

Atman didn't react.

Raizen frowned and poked him again, harder this time, like he was testing whether Atman was real or just an extremely life-like statue someone had abandoned there.

Nothing.

Raizen poked again. Then again. Then again, the pokes turning into firm little hits.

"Atman" he hissed, "wake up."

Atman remained unconscious, still holding his arms up like the world's most committed street performer.

Raizen stopped poking and stared at him.

His eyes narrowed.

This was absurd.

This was criminal.

This was actually… Kind of impressive.

Raizen poked him in the shoulder. Still nothing.

He poked him in the chest. Felt weirdly firm, that man was all muscle, despite his weak appearance.

He poked Atman's cheek.

Atman's head shifted a fraction of an inch and returned to center like it had bounced off invisible rules.

Raizen's jaw fell down.

"You have got to be kidding me."

He poked again.

Atman didn't even twitch.

Raizen's panic rose into a new form. Not fear.

Offense.

Personal offense.

After a few minutes of poking, jabbing, and hissing like a stressed parent trying to wake a teenager for school, Raizen finally stepped back and exhaled hard.

Fine.

He's unconscious for real.

Now what?

Atman was still controlling the fog. The fog was still expanding outward in heavy silence. The power was still active, the kind of power that could hide an entire city's movements.

Raizen was one person with a knife wrapped in red threads and an order to confront a dying ruler about a contract.

And his "support" was… Asleep. Somehow standing up.

Raizen rubbed his face with both hands, then froze when he remembered his sleeve.

The knife was still there, still warm against his skin, still wrapped in threads that moved like tiny red serpents. They didn't loosen. They didn't fade. They just kept circling and weaving, endlessly patient.

Raizen stared at Atman again.

"What do I do?" he muttered. "Do I drag you? Can I even drag you? You look like you weigh a hundred kilos and half of that is ego."

As if the world wanted to mock him, a new sound entered the fog.

A small, quiet sound.

A soft, rhythmic sound.

Raizen blinked.

It took his brain a second to accept what he was hearing, because it didn't belong here.

It was snoring.

Atman was snoring.

The loud, dramatic kind. A calm, steady snore like a man who had decided this platform was as good a bed as any, and standing upright was the best sleeping position.

Raizen stared at him in disbelief so intense it nearly became offensive.

He looked around the fog, like maybe someone else was doing it as a prank.

Nothing.

Only Atman, holding a ten-kilometer shroud over Ukai while sleeping like a baby.

Raizen's expression turned slowly.

He stepped closer, raising his hand.

Then, with the kind of gentleness you used when you wanted to hurt someone's feelings without technically committing violence, he slapped Atman's cheek.

Not a punch. Even though he really wanted to punch him.

A light, offended slap.

Atman snapped awake instantly.

His eyes flew open. His head jerked up. His body lurched like he'd been yanked out of a dream by a hook.

"WHAT -" Atman choked out, blinking rapidly. "What happened!?"

Raizen looked at him with a really uninterested look on his face.

Atman looked around wildly, arms still raised, smoke still coiling. For a second he looked like a man waking up mid-fight.

Then his eyes landed on Raizen's face.

"…Wh- why are you here!?" Atman asked, genuinely confused.

Raizen's mouth opened.

Before he could answer, Atman's knees suddenly wobbled.

Atman stumbled two steps like a drunk trying to remember how gravity worked, and then his feet tangled on absolutely nothing.

He fell.

It wasn't a controlled fall.

And not graceful at all.

Atman hit the platform with a thud. He fell on his bottom.

And the fog hit Raizen.

The moment Atman's hands dropped, the darkness in the air turned heavy.

Not oppressive in a mystical way.

Heavy in a physical way, like the mist had suddenly gained infinite weight and decided to sit on Raizen's shoulders out of spite.

Raizen's knees gave up immediately. The fog weighed more than any weight he tried in the Rust Room.

"Wha -" he gasped, and then the fog shoved him down hard enough that his face kissed the platform.

For a second, Raizen was pinned to the platform by air.

He grunted, teeth clenched, and tried to fight his way up like he was pushing against a tide. The, suddenly, the weight eased after a heartbeat, as if the fog remembered it wasn't supposed to crush people, then it stabilized into normal thickness again.

Raizen got to one knee, coughing.

Atman was already sitting up, rubbing his head like he'd been personally betrayed by the floor.

Raizen stared at him with wide eyes.

"What were you doing?!" Raizen blurted. "Are you insane?"

Atman blinked at him. "I -"

"You were standing there like a statue!" Raizen snapped. "Eyes closed! Breathing like you were unconscious! And you were SNORING!"

Atman's brows lifted slowly, as if this was interesting information.

Then he said, completely casually, "Oh! I fell asleep."

Raizen froze.

"You… Fell asleep…"

Atman nodded once, like he'd just confirmed the weather.

Raizen's voice went higher. "Wha- why- how!?"

Atman blinked again, then raised his shoulders.

"I don't know" he said honestly. "I just did."

Raizen stared at him, waiting for the punchline.

It didn't come.

Atman scratched his cheek and added, "It's two in the morning, kid! Chill out, would you?"

Raizen's brain stopped.

Then restarted with a violent jolt.

"Two in the -" Raizen sputtered, then hissed like the words were acid. "TWO AM?!"