The air in the hut suddenly felt much heavier than before, and Rion's face had turned pale.

Sovra and Morvak's eyes darkened, their grip around their weapons tightened so much that their arms' veins began to bulge.

A few minutes passed in that sharp and stifling silence, and Rion finally came to terms with Marin's words.

He looked at Marin, who no longer had his usual smile and kind eyes, and asked, "How is that possible? Wouldn't Father have already caught them?"

Marin didn't say anything and shifted his gaze towards Sovra.

Rion also shifted his gaze towards him.

Seeing that both of them were looking at him with eyes that said: Tell us, Sovra, tell us.

He heaved a tired sigh and spoke, "Marin sent Bari to my settlement, but before he could reach there — The Remnant... or a part of them took over his body."

Rion tore his gaze towards Marin and asked, "The guards know about them?"

Marin didn't answer right away; he began to massage his forehead and mumbled, "They shouldn't... most guards fell into trauma just by meeting lower-ranked Kareths... how would they even find out about them?"

Everyone frowned, and Sovra commented, "What if they didn't know of it either?"

Rion turned his head towards him and stammered, "What are you talking about? How would they not know while knowing of it?"

Sovra shrugged.

"I don't know how, but don't underestimate The Remnant. You have met them, right?"

Rion nodded. "I have..."

Sovra continued, "Did they look normal to you in any way?"

The memory of Tarek transforming into a complete vessel of The Remnant resurfaced. He shook his head and mumbled, "No..."

Sovra nodded, turned his head towards Marin and said, "Vice Lord, you should know that for most of the tribe members and even for us, The Remnant is no different than an evil deity. A being that exists by holding onto the souls of the damned and changes skins just by letting them know of their existence..."

He paused for a moment and added sombrely, "What certainty do we have that they can't tamper with others' memories?"

The hut fell into silence once again as everyone pondered over Sovra's words, and suddenly, Morvak muttered with a puzzled expression, "Why didn't they tamper with our memories then?"

Sorva looked at Morvak with an impassive gaze and shrugged.

"How would I know? I am just making a conclusion based on our knowledge of a being whose whole existence is a curse to knowledge."

Morvak scoffed, "Use that stupid brain of yours and think."

Sorva didn't react and simply looked away.

Rion, however, couldn't understand one thing; his lips parted, and he asked with a tilted head, "Father should have been able to catch them, no?"

Marin, who was ignoring the two, came out of his thoughts and explained to him with a shake of his head, "You have awakened your Zone, yes?"

Morvak and Sovra tore their gaze towards him, and Morvak asked with a tilted head, "You have awakened The Zone?"

Rion glanced at him and nodded.

Morvak's hands shot to the back of his head, and he muttered with his mouth agape, "How?! Only Haria has awakened her zone from all of us!!"

"Zoka and Drokan also awakened their five and three months ago," Sorva interjected.

Rion looked at him from the corner of his eye and commented inwardly, 'How does he know so much?'

"Ahem!" Marin cleared his throat and pulled everyone's attention towards himself as he added, "After awakening your Zone, you would have felt Sovereign's Zone that covers half of the mountains..."

"I did."

Marin nodded and continued, "But here's the thing... the Sovereign does not want to meddle in our lives, so most of the time he ignores everything that happens within the Basin and the Den... and The Remnant used that to infiltrate the tribe."

Understanding dawned on Rion, and his expression darkened.

Sovra and Morvak also fell silent.

Feeling the incoming storm, Rion asked, "Should we stop then?"

Marin frowned and mumbled, "What do you mean?"

Rion looked into Marin's burdened eyes and said, "The feast... should we stop it?"

Sorva and Morvak furrowed their brows, and Sorva's lips parted to ask about the feast, but before he could even let out a word, Marin asked, "Why would you do that?"

"Huh?" Rion blinked a few times and mumbled with a puzzled expression,

"I suggested it thinking that other group leaders don't want to listen to us, but now that we know that The Remnant were the ones stopping the information from reaching them, we have no reason to continue it."

A baffled chuckle escaped Marin's lips. He leaned back in his chair and mumbled, "Do you really think that I agreed with the feast just because of that?"

He leaned forward and continued, "Do you think I don't know how my group leaders are?"

"Then why didn't you feel it odd when they didn't answer your summons for the past two weeks?" Rion questioned with his brows knit together.

Marin's eyes shifted between Sovra and Morvak, and both of them looked away.

Seeing that, Rion understood what he was trying to say, but Marin voiced it anyway, "Because they don't want to leave their little kingdoms..."

Rion looked at them from the corners of his eyes, shook his head and said, "So your real reason to support the feast was to turn our spread-out strength into a trained military power?"

Marin smiled and replied with a nod, "I like that you catch on quickly."

Rion ignored the praise and muttered, "What about The Remnant infiltrating our ranks then?"

Marin's smile widened, and he added, "The guards aren't invited to the feast... but The Remnant should be able to guess its importance."

"They would try to join the feast one way or another, and when they do that, we'd be able to catch everyone who knows of them," Sorva stated while rubbing his chin.

Marin glanced at him and smiled.

"Indeed."

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