Aira groaned, a sound that tore from her throat as consciousness reluctantly pulled her back from the abyss. Her head throbbed, a dull, insistent ache that radiated through her skull.
"Leo... Priya... Jean... they need me."
The names were a desperate mantra, a lifeline in the swirling fog of her mind. She pushed herself up, her limbs heavy and unresponsive, her body protesting with sharp, jabbing pains from her head, ribs, and every strained muscle.
She tried to run, to push her motility powers, but it was like trying to sprint through thick mud. The mysterious attack had left her weak, drained, her Aura reserves dangerously depleted.
'Whatever that person did to me... I have no idea what it was.'
The thought sent a shiver down her spine.
An attack capable of neutralizing her so completely, so effortlessly.
'Such a person does exist?!'
The realization struck her like a physical blow.
'This changes everything in this cycle... fuck... just when I wanted to gamble.'
Her plan, her desperate gamble for this tenth rebirth, was already being shattered.
To Aira, the gamble would still go on, as long as Leo was safe.
'But why was I attacked? What did he mean by 'we don't need you at the guest house?'
A cold dread seeped into her bones.
"Fuck! I should have thought of this... no... why would they need Leo?" Her mind raced, piecing together the fragmented clues from this chaotic cycle. "Do they know about Leo?" The question hung heavy in the air, chilling her to the core.
A fresh surge of adrenaline, fueled by terror, ignited within her. She pushed harder, ignoring the sharp pains that flared through her head and limbs. Her pace quickened, her motile Aura flickering around her, granting her more speed than she felt she possessed. The forest blurred around her as she ran.
The guest house was still standing, a silent, ominous sentinel in the pre-dawn gloom.
Aira didn't have time to appreciate its architecture or check the surroundings for beauty!
'Leo! Leo!!' was the only thing she cared about, the name a desperate cry on her lips.
Of course, Priya too... but without Leo, Priya would die again, for the tenth time, a tragedy Aira couldn't bear to relive. The cynical thought was a fleeting flicker in her desperate mind.
Jean wouldn't experience death in the same way, but he'd find himself back years ago, starting over after being "stabbed" in the future.
What a cool way to be re-birthed!
She burst through the guest house door, slamming it open.
"Leo!"
"Priya!"
"Jean!"
Her voice echoed through the ruined chambers, raw and desperate as she searched, yelling into the silence. The rooms were a disheveled mess, a scene that definitely looked like World War II had been fought within its walls. She scanned every corner, every overturned piece of furniture, her heart pounding with growing fear.
No reply came. She was becoming scared.
She finally found them in what remained of the main common room, the same space where Jean had fought Sophia. Jean knelt on the floor, his body trembling uncontrollably, confusion and utter bewilderment etched across his usually composed face.
Jean had always been an emotional person beneath his calm demeanor, but he had always tried to maintain his composure, to be the steady anchor who would calm Aira during their shared traumas. Not this time.
The entire reason for the gamble of this tenth rebirth – Leo's safety – had just been taken away, and he had been utterly powerless to stop them.
Aira's eyes darted around the room again. It was a wasteland of shattered furniture and broken decor. Priya was still lying unconscious, exactly where Jean had left her, untouched amidst the devastation. Jean continued to tremble like a newborn baby, trapped in a silent, internal scream, unable or unwilling to let out a cry.
"Je...an... where's... Leo?" Aira's voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, as she scanned the room one more time, as if Leo might magically appear, perhaps hanging upside down from a broken chandelier in some unseen corner.
"Where's Leo?"
No reply came from Jean. He just stared blankly, a broken figure. Aira walked up to him in a strange, almost predatory manner, her composure snapping under the weight of her fear. She grabbed his shoulders, her grip tight, and started shaking him violently.
"Where's Leo?! Jean, Where's Leo?! Answer me, Jean!" she yelled, her voice raw with a mixture of terror and fury, glaring into his vacant eyes.
"Aira..." he rasped, his voice barely audible. He took a shaky, deep breath, trying desperately to compose himself, to gather the fragmented pieces of his mind.
'It is time to comfort Aira.'
The familiar mantra from a hundred past traumas resurfaced, an automatic response even in his broken state.
"Leo's gone," he forced out, the words a raw, painful confession.
"What do you mean he's gone...? Where's Leo!" Aira's voice cracked.
"They took him, okay...? Leo's gone, Aira."
His voice was clearer now, the stark reality of the situation cutting through his own despair.
She stumbled back from him, as if physically struck, the raw, crushing weight of emotional breakdown hitting her. The realization that Leo, the sole focus of her millennia-long struggle, had been taken, was a blow unlike any she'd endured before.
The emotional breakdown lasted for exactly one minute.
Then it came. What I always called the 'Melanthos Resolve.'
It was something Aira possessed, a unique psychological procedure she had honed over countless cycles. She always knew how to immediately get rid of her emotional breakdowns, no matter how devastating, by following a simple, practiced procedure: think, where next, draw out a plan mentally.
This was how she had survived; this was how she had prevented herself from succumbing to despair, solving emotional breakdowns for different occasions and different cycles.
This time, however, it was a little bit different. The sheer anomaly of this cycle, the new players, required faster, more desperate calculations.
The Rebellion is involved!
The realization solidified in her mind, a cold, hard fact. They knew about Leo. They wanted him. They had cleared the path.
"The seaport!" Aira yelled out, a sudden, blinding flash of discovery. Her voice was sharp, cutting through Jean's daze.
"Huh?" Jean was back to his normal state of mind, the Melanthos Resolve, even if unpracticed by him, having a ripple effect on his shock. But what did Aira mean?
It was simple, agonizingly so. Every cycle, during each major Division caused by the war amongst the two factions, all Dormants (and sometimes Ascendants who sought escape or freedom) in different countries would flock to the nearest seaport and sail away, claiming both victory and freedom, or just seeking refuge.
Which meant...
"....Leo's going to be at the seaport..."