Ryn was moving before Kharvos hit the floor.

He turned on his heel and sprinted back across the chamber, boots splashing through shallow water as steam continued to drift lazily overhead.

"Fritz!"

Amelia was already there, skidding to her knees beside him. She grabbed Fritz's shoulder, then his wrist, eyes sharp and focused.

"Hey—hey, stay with us," she muttered, though his eyes were already closed.

Jay slid in a second later, hands glowing immediately as he pressed them against Fritz's chest. The healing light flared brighter than before, steadier this time.

"He's alive," Jay said quickly. "Pulse is weak, but steady. The blade missed anything vital."

Ryn exhaled, tension finally slipping from his shoulders in a single, shaky breath.

Taylor knelt on Fritz's other side, chains retracting back around her arms as she scanned the chamber once more, making sure nothing else was coming.

For the first time since entering Central—

They had breathing room.

Then Ryn heard it.

A sound that didn't belong.

A small laugh.

Wet and ragged. Barely there, but unmistakable.

Ryn's head snapped around.

Kharvos lay where he'd fallen, body half-submerged in runoff, black blood still slowly seeping into the water around him. His chest rose shallowly, unevenly.

And he was smiling.

Ryn stood slowly.

"Jay," he said without looking away, "don't stop."

Jay nodded, already increasing the flow of Essence into Fritz.

Ryn walked back toward Kharvos, Snow dissolving from his hand as he crouched beside the fallen Hero. Up close, the damage was worse than he'd thought—corrupted blood stained the floor, the wound through his back still faintly glowing where Orion had passed through.

Kharvos's eyes were half-lidded, unfocused.

Still aware.

Ryn reached down and grabbed the front of his armor, rolling him onto his back with a grunt. Water sloshed aside as Kharvos coughed weakly, a thin line of black spilling from the corner of his mouth.

The smile didn't fade.

"Why…? Why did you do all this?" Ryn asked quietly.

"The drug, your tribesmen…" he paused before continuing. "Aligning with the Cult."

A pause.

"Why go that far?"

Kharvos exhaled slowly, as if the effort alone cost him something.

"You think those were the point?" he said. "They weren't."

A thin cough wracked him. Black stained his teeth when he smiled again.

"The drug was never meant to last," he said. "And the Cult… they were just another match. I didn't care who struck it."

Ryn's voice hardened. "People died."

"Yes," Kharvos said immediately. No hesitation. No denial.

"That's the part you're not supposed to forgive."

Ryn held his gaze. "Then say it. Say you did this knowing that."

"I did," Kharvos said. "Because pretending otherwise would've been the real lie."

Silence stretched between them.

"You could've tried to hold them together," Ryn said at last. "You had everything. Central, power, time."

Kharvos laughed quietly, then winced.

"Hold them together?" he repeated. "Like a dam already cracking?"

"No, no, no Ryn Arctis," he laughed softly. "You've already placed a curse on us."

"A curse that none of us could dispel."

Ryn tilted his head at the question, but Kharvos gave him the satisfaction.

"Hatred."

Ryn's jaw tightened. "Hatred was already there."

"Yes," Kharvos said. "Because it had to be."

"Your kind drove us here," he continued. "Into a dog-eat-dog environment."

His gaze flicked toward the darkened walls of Central.

"Every generation after that learned the same lesson," he said.

"They didn't just exile us," Kharvos went on.

"They taught us how to live like this."

A weak laugh escaped him.

"And then you arrived."

Ryn's fingers curled.

"You didn't create the hatred," Kharvos said.

"You inherited it."

His eyes locked onto Ryn's.

"But you believed you could fix it."

The words landed heavier than accusation.

"Did you think you could solve everything?" Kharvos asked quietly.

"That you could step into this place and correct us?"

Ryn didn't answer.

"You can't," Kharvos said. "Not like that."

He swallowed, breath hitching.

"You ask about the Cult," he went on. "About the drug."

"But none of them were the culprit for what's about to happen."

A thin smile crept back onto his face.

"This time," he said softly, "you were the spark."

Ryn felt something drop in his chest.

"The drug…" Kharvos finally revealed. "It only worked on me."

His eyes never left Ryn's.

"For the rest," he said, "it might as well have been dyed water."

Dheam's Hero finally breathed once…twice.

The strength finally left his body.

Ryn watched it happen, unmoving, as the tension drained from Kharvos's frame and his gaze began to lose focus. The smile lingered anyway, thin and stubborn.

"Remember," he rasped.

Black blood slid from the corner of his mouth, dissolving into the water below.

"You doomed us."

His eyes went still.

The last breath left him in a quiet, hollow exhale, barely louder than the hum of Central itself.

Ryn stayed where he was.

Kneeling in the shallow water. One hand still resting against Kharvos's armor. Black blood drifting away in thin, dissolving threads.

The chamber felt distant—like sound and space had pulled back from him, leaving only the steady hum of Central and the echo of words that refused to fade.

You doomed us.

Ryn didn't blink.

Time passed, seconds, maybe longer.

The air trembled.

Water rippled outward in soft concentric rings around his knees.

Ryn's head tilted slightly.

Above them, beyond the fractured ceiling and the steam-filled breach, something moved through the sky.

A shadow passed overhead.

The vibration resolved into the unmistakable thrum of engines. Unmistakably of dwarven ingenuity.

An airship.

Ours.

Ryn finally stood.

Amelia was already looking up, eyes narrowing as the sound grew louder. Jay glanced over his shoulder, still kneeling beside Fritz.

Taylor straightened, gaze fixed on the ceiling breach.

"…That's ours," Jay said.

Taylor nodded once. No hesitation. No apology.

"I called them," she said. "As soon as Kharvos went down."

Ryn turned toward her slowly.

"The summit's already in motion," Taylor continued, voice steady. "If we're going to reach it in time, this was the fastest option."

The cable dropped through the breach with a metallic snap.

Hooks bit into the floor. The boarding rig stabilized in seconds.

"Move," Taylor said, already grabbing the line.

Amelia went first, flames flaring briefly as she propelled herself upward. Jay followed with a quick glance back at Fritz, then secured him into the harness as the platform began to rise.

Ryn climbed last.

Hand over hand, boots scraping against wet stone as the chamber fell away beneath him. The hum of Central faded, replaced by the growing roar of engines above.

Cold air rushed past as they broke through the breach.

Crew moved quickly on deck, pulling them in the moment they cleared the opening.

Ryn stepped onto the platform.

Below them, Central vanished into mist and distance.

Ryn stood at the edge of the deck, hands gripping the railing as the ship turned toward the summit, toward whatever waited there.

For the first time since this began—

He hoped.

He even prayed.

That Kharvos had been lying.

That this time—

He was wrong.

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