Chapter 103: Beyond the veil.

The panther jutted her chin toward the glittering wall, gave Zyra a respectful nod, and walked deeper into the cave with her cubs to rest.

Tessi smiled widely. "She is thanking us for saving her babies. I have never healed a mutated beast that wasn’t bonded to a human before. They told us it was a crime, at the academy."

Hunter raised his brows, while Gilby and Zyra tilted their heads. What was criminal in this? What exactly were they teaching Soul maidens in the Main 7 Academy? That place was truly a hot mess.

Tessi giggled. "I feel like we have just completed a quest in a game and an NPC has given us rewards."

Zyra turned around slowly, crossing her arms and giving Hunter the smuggest, most triumphant look humanly possible. "You, see? What did I tell you? Doing good deeds is rewarding."

Hunter pursed his lips. She had not said anything like that to him. But rather than argue about this, he preferred to take care of this and leave before the panther decided it was hungry.

"These are high-grade energy stones!!" Gilby whispered, his eyes turning into the size of saucers. "I have never seen white ones before! There are so many, Crispus would literally pass out from joy if he saw this!"

"I have never seen white ones." Zyra said, pulling one from the wall. It felt cold to the touch, even through the gloves. She had a feeling that they could provide energy to ice cellars.

They instantly got to work. Zyra didn’t even need a bag; she just touched the highest quality stones, and Beauty sucked them straight into the beast realm. Meanwhile, Hunter, Gilby, and Tessi were stuffing their pockets and their bags until they could barely move.

Zyra stood back, watching Hunter meticulously cramming one last big high-grade stone into his leather pouch under her heavily accusative eye.

Hunter froze, his hand still on the stone. He looked at her, let out a defeated laugh, and threw his hands up. "Okay, okay! You were right to help the panther. Are you happy now?"

Zyra flashed a brilliant smile, popping her knuckles. "Extremely happy. Now keep packing, partner, we’ve got a business to run!"

*******

Beyond the veil.

The world on the other side of the veil didn’t just look dead, it looked like it had been chewed up by an alien toddler and spat back out.

The Somnivore world like it was called was a grey graveyard of rusted, giant war-machines and twisted metal towers that looked like broken teeth against a bruised, brown sky. The air smelled like sulfur and old iron.

The forests here were eerie dark hallways with thick light blue and gray fog. Sounds coming from within gave hints of the strong but deadly beasts that lived within.

Ava and her team of ten stood at the ridge, completely frozen. None of them had ever stepped foot inside the veil before so they had not known what to expect. The Soul maidens who used to lead teams inside many years ago had never been allowed to share what they saw. This was a rule enforced to curb fear.

This was not what they expected!

"My God!" Lilly Bang whispered. In her sheer awe, she did the stupidest thing possible, she pulled down her breathing mask.

The toxic air hit her instantly. Lilly hacked, coughed violently, and slapped the mask back over her nose, her face turning bright red.

"Oh, brilliant, Lilly," whispered Travis, the trail master. He was a tense man whose entire job was finding beast dungeons. "Why don’t you just shout ’Yoo-hoo, we’re over here’ to alert our enemies?"

Several team members glared at Lilly, silently accusing her of trying to get them all killed.

"The Somnivore knights patrol the veil constantly," Travis hissed, adjusting his own gear. "A cough down here sounds like a gunshot so they will be coming at any moment. We move. Now."

The team started their quick exit from the area. But a few steps in, Ava stopped dead in her tracks. A strange, static-like flickering buzzed inside her brain, making her wince. Then, a voice cut through the static_ clear, warm, and achingly familiar.

"Ava? Can you hear me? Ava?"

Ava’s breath hitched. She completely forgot about the knights, the beasts, and the toxic land. "Mom?" she whispered aloud.

The team stopped again. Travis groaned so loudly it rattled his mask. "Ava, what are you doing? We have to keep moving!"

But Ava wasn’t listening to him. Her mind was locked onto the soul frequency. In her head, she could hear her mother, Ritah, cheering lightly as their soul-connection locked into place like two puzzle pieces.

"Ava, thank the heavens! Where are you?" Ritah’s voice was frantic but filled with hope. "Tell me what you see!"

Ava blinked, looking around to gather her bearings. "I’m... I’m near a massive ridge. There’s a green river of acidic sludge to my left. There is something that looks like a forest beyond it and the ground looks like it was littered with black salt. I am not far from the veil."

"I know exactly where that is!" Ritah cried. "We are not far at all. Listen to me, Ava_ stay right there. Do not move!"

"Travis, we have to stop," Ava said, turning to the trail master. "My mother is here. She’s coming for me. We need to wait."

Travis stared at her like she had grown another pair of eyes. "Wait? In the middle of a hot zone? Are you out of your mind? We have a schedule, Ava. The beast dungeons won’t harvest themselves."

"Then go without me," Ava said flatly, squaring her shoulders.

Travis didn’t even hesitate. He looked back at the rest of the group.

"Well, we have another Soul maiden on this team, so... sounds like a plan. Good luck, Ava." He said rudely.

"Wait, seriously?" Lilly Bang protested, her voice still raspy from the cough. "We’re just leaving her? We haven’t even found a single resonance stone and our group is already splitting up? This is how people end up dead."

"Move out!" Travis ordered, ignoring Lilly completely.

The group moved on, leaving Ava standing alone by the acidic green sludge. She didn’t care. She kept talking to her mother in her head, counting the seconds, looking around nervously. Every sound she heard made her want to run for the hills.

Within minutes, three figures broke through the thick haze. Two men with pointed guns and right between them_ her mother.

"Mother!" Ava shouted, her heart leaping. She broke into a run, tears blurring her vision, stretching her arms out for a hug.

She never made it.

Something big, dark, and oily dropped from the sky like a falling boulder. It slammed into Ava, pinning her instantly to the sharp, black salt ground. The air rushed out of her lungs.

When she looked up, her blood ran cold. A mutated beast had found her; it was a round and shapeless with wings and claws like knives.

Further back, Ritah froze. The joy vanished from her face, replaced by pure, unadulterated terror. "No... no, a night reaper!"

In the Somnivore world, everyone knew the golden rule: where there are night reapers, the knights are already watching.

"Get off her!" Ritah screamed. She aimed her gun and began shooting at the beast. The bullets hissed through the air, but the night reaper just snarled, unbothered. Worse, the noise triggered a nightmare.

More reapers dropped from the cracks of the ridge and forest. And behind them, stepping out from the shadows, came the knights. Figures that were nine to twelve feet tall. They wore heavy, metallic armor from head to toe, looking like walking tanks.