ERA OF DESTINY-Chapter 156: WHERE SHOULD WE GO– I

Darkness did not yield to light. Light did not retreat from darkness. They pressed against one another without sound. The dandelions continued circling above Kiaria and his companions, their rotation remained steady and patient.

Hours passed.

Many fiends eroded beneath the slow grind of existence, their forms thinning into fragments of shadow. Yet the fog did not lessen. It thickened. It gathered closer to the luminous boundary, no longer testing it blindly but leaning against it with intent.

Inside the barrier, Kiaria listened.

Azure Dragon Emperor noticed hopelessness in Kiaria’s face. His voice surfaced. "This is why I hesitated to say."

Golden Dragon Emperor rose from the inner sea and stood beside him. "If none fear, perhaps you survive the night," he said evenly.

"But that condition does not exist. Where there is attachment, fear follows. Where there is care, the desire to protect gives it root. In your case, the little girl. The chrysanthemum girl. The others as well. Each carries something they cannot abandon."

Azure Dragon exhaled slowly. "Do not corner him, Golden Brother. He is still young. If you wish to live, travel beneath daylight. Find shelter before night returns. This land no longer belongs to balance. It has chosen ruin. Survival here depends on fortune."

Kiaria did not answer.

–

Diala and Princess had not slept. They watched the barrier in silence until they were certain the others had fallen into exhaustion. Only then did they approach him.

Diala’s fingers closed around his palm. "What are you thinking?"

He turned slightly. "Nothing unusual. Speaking with Grandfathers."

"Chief Azriel lost his hearing," she said quietly. "Can you restore it?"

"It is already restored," Kiaria replied. "He simply has not noticed. His mind is still elsewhere."

Princess studied him instead of responding. "He is stable."

"Sister," Kiaria said, "you should rest. Morning will demand distance."

"Leave that aside." Her tone did not rise. "Give me your hand."

Kiaria understood. "I am healed."

"Oh? Then what are you afraid of?" she said flatly. "Stop talking. Give me your hand."

"Sister, this one."

Diala lifted the hand still holding hers and placed it before Princess.

Princess pressed her forefinger against his pulse. A thin Anatomy Chrysanthemum vine entered without resistance and spread through his meridians, threading quietly through circulation and strain. What his crown had smoothed, she measured precisely. What remained hidden, she rejoined without comment.

"You could have convinced me before we stepped into this land," she said. "Not now."

Kiaria’s smile was small. "Sister... rest."

"Alright."

She turned to Diala. "Shade. We sleep. He cannot outrun us."

They returned and closed their eyes.

Outside, more fiends eroded into nothing.

The fog did not.

–

Morning arrived without announcement.

Light filtered through the thickness of the ruin and pressed downward. The fog retreated with it, not defeated but withdrawn. The Dread Wolf Fiends faded into the deeper recesses of the land.

The dandelions continued circling.

At some unseen moment before dawn, Kiaria’s body had yielded to sleep. The barrier did not falter. It turned without interruption until the first full reach of daylight spread across the plain.

When he opened his eyes, the dandelions lifted.

One by one.

They returned across the abyss toward the Dandelion-Feather Land.

The silence they left behind was heavier than the night.

Kiaria stood slowly and surveyed the surroundings. What had been a battlefield of shadow now appeared barren. Bones had sunk. Cores had dulled. The soil lay flat and indifferent beneath daylight.

He woke the others.

They rose without speaking.

Day had come but nothing in the ruins felt gentler.

Everyone stood.

Kiaria did not wake Azriel. Instead, he looked toward Aizrel. "Wake him."

All eyes shifted to the still-sleeping man. Aizrel knelt and shook his shoulder gently.

"Father. Father."

Azriel stirred. "Aizrel... why are you shouting? I can hear–"

He stopped.

The words reached him.

He froze, then rose abruptly and closed his eyes, straining to catch the faintest disturbance in the air. The others watched, barely containing their amusement as he turned his head from side to side, searching for sound where none existed.

Aizrel laughed softly. "Father... this is barren land. What can you hear? Even the wind is absent."

Azriel opened one eye. "Ah. Is that so."

Embarrassment passed quickly across his face.

"Breakfast," Kiaria said.

He took out simple provisions–those that would spoil first if left untouched. No excess. No waste. The meal began in quiet rhythm.

The memory of the night had not faded. It lingered in their movements, in the way no one spoke too loudly. Ru and Yi’s gazes drifted repeatedly toward the scattered bones and dulled beast cores. Mu Long tore into the remaining meat with habitual force, though his eyes were distant. Princess and Diala shared their food between them, yet their attention did not leave Kiaria.

He did not join them.

He walked the perimeter instead.

When they finished, he returned at the exact moment the last bite was taken.

"Listen," he said.

They straightened.

"This land is the true danger. We travel only in daylight. We rest only within shelter before night returns. Not all shelters protect. Some merely delay death."

Silence held.

"What you faced last night cannot be killed. If you fear, they trace you. Control yourselves. Trust yourselves. Trust each other. Even if fear exists, do not let it govern your breath."

Princess frowned slightly. "To disregard life so completely... is that not selfish?"

Mu Long answered before Kiaria could. "We do not have alternatives."

Kiaria’s tone remained even. "Keep doubts for later. We speak of them at night. Move."

Azriel nodded. "Stay close."

Ru and Yi rushed briefly through the plain, gathering remaining cores and fragments that still held value. Soon the barren stretch was stripped of what could be carried.

They moved forward.

–

After hours of walking, an old hut appeared in the distance.

Kiaria stopped before it.

Within the Obsidial-Diamond ring, the Yaksha Queen’s voice arrived through spiritual transmission. "Master. Do not use direct sight. Use the cloth."

Kiaria took out the black obsidial cloth and tied it over his eyes. The Eyes of Insight awakened beneath it.

What stood before them was no hut.

It was a land snail, vast and unmoving, its shell weathered into the shape of a dwelling.

"Do not worry," Yaksha Queen continued. "Harmless in daylight. But do not touch the hanging chimes along its shell."

"Understood," Kiaria replied inwardly.

He removed the cloth.

"Does anyone need rest?" he asked calmly. "If so, rest inside. But do not touch the chimes. This is not a hut. It is a shell."

Azriel looked around. "None of us are tired, Patron. We continue."

They passed it without disturbance.

–

Further ahead, the path split.

A ’T’ shaped road.

Kiaria halted.

The others stopped behind him.

"Patron, which way?" Diala asked.

Princess exhaled lightly. "Shade. He is here for the first time as well."

Azriel asked again, "Patron, which direction shall we explore first?"

Princess and Diala both turned toward him.

Kiaria remained silent.

It was not uncertainty from unfamiliarity. It was calculation. He weighed not which path was safe–but which carried lesser death.

Within him, the Blood Moon Wolf bloodline stirred.

Left.

The impulse was subtle. Not command. Not instinct.

Temptation.

Kiaria recognized it immediately.

So he decided.

Right.

He opened his mouth.

"Left."

The word left him before correction could follow.

The others began moving.

Kiaria did not stop them.

He felt it at once–the shift inside his chest. It had not been confusion. It had not been accident.

The temptation had moved faster than his will.

He walked after them.

Kiaria increased his pace and moved ahead of the group. The others followed closely behind him.

After nearly half an hour of walking, they saw it.

A small village.

It was alive.

Voices filled the air. Children ran across the street. Conversations echoed from doorways. Wooden carts rolled over stone. The sound of daily life carried clearly toward them.

Kiaria attempted to contact the Yaksha Queen.

Nothing.

Spiritual transmission did not connect.

He slowed.

What is happening? He thought.

He continued forward carefully. The others followed.

They reached the entrance arch of the street. Kiaria stepped close and looked inside.

"Thi–This..."

He stopped.

"Rushway Street?" Princess said.

Diala turned back toward the barren land behind them. But something else happened.

How did this happen? She thought.

She turned back again–

This time, grassland was gone.

They were already inside the street.

Cobblestone beneath their feet.

Wooden houses on both sides.

Laughter passing by them as though they belonged there.

"How?" Aizrel whispered. "Grassland’s street..."

"We are in an illusion," Diala said immediately.

"No."

Kiaria’s voice was calm.

"If it were a mere illusion, Eyes of Insight would have pierced it."

He did not activate them.

He did not need to.

This was not simple deception.

Ru and Yi stepped forward. Without speaking, both knelt and pressed their ears against the ground.

The group fell silent.

The street did not.

Footsteps continued. Children shouted. Someone argued over price.

Ru and Yi remained still, listening carefully.

After a few breaths, they opened their eyes and nodded to each other.

"This is not Rushway Street," Ru said.

"In Rushway, Immortal energy saturates the ground," Yi added. "Beneath the street flows a spiritual river. We would hear it."

Ru looked toward Kiaria. "There is no such flow here."

Kiaria watched them steadily.

"Follow us," Ru said. "We can pass this land."

"You are confident?" Kiaria asked.

"Yes, Patron. In this matter, we are certain."

Azriel stepped forward. "Trust them, Patron. That is what you advised us before we began this journey."

Kiaria looked at him.

"What did you say?"