A few months had passed.

Life with Cedric’s group had settled into something Aries hadn’t expected.

Training in the mornings until someone’s legs gave out. Traveling in the afternoons arguing about food. Laughing at things that weren’t that funny and somehow laughing harder because of that.

Even Adrian, who’d arrived with nothing and barely spoke above a whisper, had turned into someone none of them could imagine not being there.

Now they were deep in Xylaris, clearing the dungeons Alaric’s plan had pointed to.

____

SLICE!

A Dranox split apart as wind magic cracked through the air.

"There are too many of them!" Valea dropped to one knee, gasping, pink hair plastered to her face with sweat. On her shoulder, Slopy gripped tight and went "fuu fuu"

"Valea, behind you!"

Vine whips shot out from the side and wrapped the lunging Dranox before it could land, tearing it apart mid-air. Adrian touched down beside her, breathing hard. "Be careful, Valea."

Valea looked up and wiped her cheek. "Thanks, Adrian. Those vines are getting scary good."

"How sad, Valea." Nico walked past with his hands in his pockets. "Even the kid’s doing better than you."

The vein on Valea’s forehead appeared immediately. "WILL YOU STOP PICKING FIGHTS WITH ME, YOU DUMB-HEADED RAT?!"

"Bring it on, broomstick witch."

"Say that again and I’ll roast you alive—"

"There they go," Adrian sighed, clapping a palm to his forehead.

Eren stood beside him, watching the exchange with the expression of a man who had accepted his reality. "They argue more than they fight Dranoxes."

Then—

"FLAME EMPEROR!!"

The shout boomed through the dungeon and every head snapped toward it.

A massive coil of fire tore through the air, driving straight into a packed cluster of Dranoxes with the force of something that had been building for a while.

"RUN!!" Eren yelled.

Everyone dove sideways in the same instant—

BOOM!

The ground shook.

Fire swallowed the cluster whole and left nothing behind but charred ash, drifting smoke, and a singed patch of stone floor where a dozen Dranoxes used to be.

When the air cleared, Aries was sitting on a rock nearby with his red hair slightly scorched at the edges, fist still faintly glowing, breathing like he’d just finished a sprint.

"Good hit. Wrong targets though." Cedric walked up beside him, grinning.

The group turned slowly from the smoke.

"TARGETS?!" All four of them at once. Valea, Eren, Nico, Adrian — staring at Cedric with expressions that had moved past anger into something deeply, personally offended. "ARE YOU BOTH TRYING TO KILL US?!"

Cedric grabbed his stomach laughing. "You all dodged fine! That was reflex training!"

"Reflex training my ass" Nico started.

"ARIES!" Valea pointed directly at him. "Next time you blow up a cave, WARN US FIRST!"

"I almost became fried salad!" Adrian added, completely serious.

Aries rubbed the back of his neck. "The cave is still standing."

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!"

Eren wasn’t listening to any of it. His stomach growled. He pressed a hand to it with the look of a man fighting a private war. "I don’t care about any of this right now. I’m starving. If I don’t eat something real in the next hour I will actually drop dead."

Cedric sheathed his sword, still smiling. "We’re done here anyway. Let’s head back before our brave warrior collapses."

"YES please." Adrian threw both hands up. "Before Eren starts eyeing the Dranox."

Eren turned sharply. "I would NEVER—"

"The look on your face said otherwise," Nico said.

"It absolutely did not—"

The argument carried them back through the tunnel, boots echoing against damp stone, torchlight flickering along the walls.

Aries walked near the back, half-listening, watching all of them.

’Strange,’ he thought. ’A few months ago I woke up in a body that wasn’t mine, in a world I didn’t know, with nobody.’ He looked at Cedric ahead, at Adrian laughing at something Eren said, at Valea and Nico somehow still going. ’And now...’

He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The sound came from the darkness ahead.

"Impressive." The voice was smooth and completely calm. "These monsters must’ve been far too easy for all of you."

The laughter died instantly.

"Who are you?" Cedric’s hand found his sword. He stepped forward, putting himself between the sound and the group, blade half-drawn, eyes pushing into the dark ahead.

A silhouette moved at the edge of the torchlight. Tall and broad-shouldered.

"Me?" The figure stepped forward, into the light.

Cedric’s face changed.

Aries had seen Cedric shrug off a fight against creatures twice his size. Seen him Flash Step through five Dranoxes without breathing hard. Seen him stand in front of things that made everyone else step back and look completely unbothered about all of it.

He had never seen Cedric’s face do what it was doing right now.

Color draining. Eyes going wide.

"Y-you—"

The man smiled. "Lieutenant of Lord Alynkarnates in Korvath." He let the name land like he was used to what came after it. "Valkarion Vraxx."

Korvath.

The word hit Aries before his brain fully caught up with it.

’That’s Dravetian land.’

He looked at the man properly for the first time. Jet black hair loose to the neck. Two short curved horns jutting from his head, dark and sharp enough to catch the torchlight on their edges. Brown eyes.

A long sleeveless combat coat of dark leather. Black belts crossed his chest, each holding small glowing stones that pulsed faintly.

’A Dravetian, just like Zenith from back then’

Aries’s eyes moved back to Cedric.

’Gramps is sweating. Actually sweating.’ The realization landed cold and specific. ’I’ve seen him fight things that should have been impossible and come out the other side laughing. And this man is making him sweat just by standing there.’

Valkarion tilted his head slightly, the smile settling into something lazier. "As expected of humans. Reading the attack pattern — figuring out Xylaris was the real target." He gave a small, amused nod. "Impressive."

"What do you want here, Valkarion?" Cedric’s voice was flat and firm. "Say it plainly."

Valkarion brushed at his coat with two fingers like he was removing dust that wasn’t there. "Why so tense, Sir Knight? You’ll wrinkle that serious face of yours." His eyes stayed on Cedric, utterly unbothered. "Relax a little."

Cedric’s jaw clenched once. He closed his eyes for half a second. When they opened, they were focused.

"We’re about to fight, aren’t we."