Odyssey Of Survival

The footsteps behind him were unmistakable. He didn't need to turn his head to know exactly who followed. He could sense them—their presence like faint echoes in the quiet wilderness.

Tiaa was the first to approach, her strides slightly quicker as she caught up to him. Nefer, Djer, and Meni followed not too far behind, though they kept their distance, their expressions unreadable.

As Tiaa reached his side, she exhaled, seemingly hesitating for a second before speaking.

"Thank you," she finally said, her voice quiet but firm. "For saving my life."

For a moment, Nate didn't respond. He simply glanced at her, his gaze calm and indifferent, before giving the smallest nod of acknowledgment. He wasn't the type to bask in gratitude, nor did he particularly care for it. To him, what he did wasn't an act of heroism—it was simply what needed to be done.

He kept walking.

Tiaa didn't say anything else after that. She seemed to understand that Nate wasn't the type for prolonged conversations about emotions or gratitude. The silence stretched between them for a while, but eventually, after a few minutes of walking, Nate spoke—his voice carrying a tone of casual curiosity, though in reality, his mind was already analyzing the answer before she even gave it.

"Earlier," he said, "the others mentioned taking the beast crystal… What exactly were they talking about?"

His tone was light, feigning ignorance, as if he had no clue what she—or the others—had meant.

Tiaa, not suspecting anything unusual, answered honestly. "I don't really know what they are either," she admitted, "but the king showed us how to extract them. He told us that if a beast was too large to carry back alive, we should always take its crystal instead."

That response alone confirmed too much to Nate.

"And what does your king want them for?" he asked, his voice deceptively neutral.

Tiaa hesitated, as if contemplating whether she should answer. Then, after a moment, she sighed. "There are rumors," she said, keeping her voice even. "Rumors that all over the world, kings have ordered their hunters to gather these crystals. That they're planning on opening some kind of gate… A gate that leads to another world." Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

She paused, almost as if she herself couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Sounds crazy, doesn't it?" she added with a light chuckle, clearly dismissing the idea.

To her, it was nothing more than a baseless rumor—one of many absurd tales whispered among the people.

But to Nate, it was something else entirely.

His entire body tensed slightly, though outwardly, his face remained impassive. A gate to another world.

His mind instantly leaped to the Koryathans.

This was it.

This was why he was here.

Something had sent him to this time for a reason, and now, that reason had become painfully clear.

If what she said was true, then this—this exact period in history—was when they started. This was when they first planned to open the dimensional portal that would eventually lead to the Koryathans striking a deal with them.

He turned his gaze upward, his eyes following the gaps in the trees where the sky peeked through. Everything clicked into place.

Tiaa, noticing his change in demeanor, raised an eyebrow. "Why do you care so much?" she asked, sensing something in his voice—some hint of underlying interest she couldn't quite place.

Nate exhaled through his nose and shook his head, dismissing her question with a simple answer. "Just thinking."

Tiaa rolled her eyes. "Well, don't think too much about it," she said. "It's all nonsense anyway. Just stories."

****

Back on the island, a week had passed since Nate disappeared. Only a handful of people still spoke about him, and among them, even fewer truly missed him. To the majority, he was a fugitive, a criminal who had fled after committing an unforgivable act. No one wanted to admit the holes in the story, no one wanted to ask why it had all been so convenient, so perfectly timed. And yet, there were those who couldn't let it go.

Ray had been restless. He had spent the past several days tracking down every possible lead, following every whisper, every trail of suspicion, trying to unearth the true mastermind behind Claire's deception. But it was as if the enemy was toying with him, always a step ahead, always slipping through his fingers like sand. Whoever it was, they weren't just careful—they were calculated, methodical, and disturbingly confident. He had never encountered such an elusive opponent before. It frustrated him to no end.

Outside the cave, Bella and Alice trained relentlessly, their movements fluid and sharp as they sparred, each testing the other's limits. Nearby, Madison and Amara stood off to the side, watching their friends in silence. The four of them had grown closer in the past week, bound by their shared belief in Nate's innocence. That belief had cost them—many of the other survivors treated them with disdain, openly accusing them of siding with a traitor. It didn't matter. They knew the truth. They knew Nate, and that was enough.

Beside Madison, resting against a rock, was a bow unlike anything the island had ever seen. It glowed faintly, a deep, mesmerizing blue, as if an ocean of power swirled beneath its crystalline surface. The bow, forged from pure crystal by Ray's own hands, was a masterpiece, an embodiment of concentrated energy. It pulsed softly, radiating an aura of raw strength, almost as if it were alive. Madison treated it with unwavering care, her fingers gliding over its surface in reverence. She had trained endlessly with it, learning to channel its energy, to shape its power into something unstoppable.

Then the earth trembled beneath their feet.

A deep, guttural rumble echoed across the forest as the ground quaked violently. The trees surrounding them shuddered before cracking apart, collapsing in a cascade of splintered wood and dust. Bella and Alice immediately halted their sparring, their gazes snapping toward the disturbance. Then, in a blur of motion, something leaped from the forest's depths.

A creature.

Its skin was a sickly green, its body covered in patches of sinewy muscle, and its glowing yellow eyes locked onto them like a predator eyeing its prey. A long, whip-like tail swayed behind it, coiling and uncoiling as if anticipating its next strike. But it was the sigil on its forehead that made Madison's blood run cold.

The mark of Zoro.

It was just like the one they had captured the other day.

Bella acted instantly. She raised a single hand, her fingers tightening into a fist, and in that instant, the creature was frozen mid-air. It flailed, its limbs convulsing as it tried to break free, but Bella's telekinetic grip was absolute. Without hesitation, she closed her palm, and a sickening crunch filled the air. The creature's body crumpled inward as its bones shattered all at once. When she released it, its corpse dropped lifelessly to the ground, twisted and broken beyond recognition.

But that was just the beginning.

More emerged.

Dozens. No—hundreds.

The forest exploded with movement as an entire horde of these monstrous beings stormed out from the shadows, their screeches piercing the air. Panic spread through the survivors like wildfire. Those who had been working outside the cave had no time to react. One woman barely had a chance to turn around before a beast pounced on her, its jaws latching onto her throat. A sickening tear echoed as it ripped her head clean off, blood spraying in an arc before the creature set its glowing eyes on another victim.

But before it could take another step, a streak of radiant energy sliced through the air.

The beast didn't even have time to react. The glowing arrow struck its body with devastating force, and in an instant, it detonated. A shockwave rippled outward as chunks of flesh and bone splattered in every direction.

Madison lowered her bow, the faint hum of power still resonating from the string. Her expression was calm, her grip steady. She had loosed the arrow in an instant, but the precision was flawless. She glanced around, assessing the chaos unfolding before her. The survivors had snapped out of their shock and were now fighting back. More people poured out of the cave, armed and ready. They had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

Bella was already deep in the fight.

Dozens of creatures had fallen before her, their mangled bodies piling at her feet. She didn't hesitate, didn't falter. She leaped into the air, landing right in the middle of a cluster of the beasts. Before they could react, she lifted her hands, and in an instant, every single one of them was yanked upward. They floated helplessly, thrashing, snarling, screeching. Then Bella clapped her hands together.

The sound that followed was deafening.

The creatures slammed into one another with unimaginable force, their bodies mashing together in a grotesque explosion of gore. Not a single one survived.

But even with their efforts, the battle was far from over.

More creatures surged forward. More bodies fell. The war for survival had begun, and there was no telling how many of them would live to see the end of it.

****

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