He slipped back over the rear palisade with a single, effortless leap, bypassing the frantic repair crews working on the shattered main gates. He didn’t want to deal with the warriors’ salutes or the staring elders right now. His mind was still processing the absolute, mind-bending reality check Elyndra had just delivered.

He dropped silently into his assigned place in Feline spire.

The wooden room was quiet and empty. Sol unbuckled the heavy belt at his waist, setting the spear and the various small daggers against the wall. He stripped off his sweat-soaked tunic and leather pants, tossing them into a corner.

He walked over to the large wooden washbasin sitting in the corner of the room. It was filled with cold, clean well water.

Sol plunged his hands into the freezing water and splashed it over his face, his chest, and the back of his neck. He scrubbed the dried mud, sweat, and the faint, lingering smell of Zephyra’s incense off his skin. As his hands dragged over his stomach, he traced the thick, jagged, angry pink lightning scar left by the Rockhorn Beetle.

Before today, looking at that scar had given him a cold, creeping sense of mortality. It was a brutal reminder of how close he had come to getting turned into meat paste.

But now? Now he just traced the raised tissue with a dark, satisfied smirk. His body had survived. His core had devoured the essence of his enemies, pushed past the absolute breaking point, and evolved.

He grabbed a rough linen cloth as a makeshift towel, drying his dense, coiled muscles. He pulled on a fresh pair of heavy dark leather pants and wrapped a clean, sleeveless black tunic over his chest, leaving his scarred arms exposed.

Just as he was buckling his clothes back into place, a sharp, double-knock echoed against the heavy timber of his door.

Before he could even answer, the iron latch clicked, and the door swung open.

Sol paused, his hands resting on his belt buckle, and raised an eyebrow.

Standing in the doorway, practically shoulder-to-shoulder, were Kira and Zeyra.

Kira was dressed in her usual practical, battered warriors leather, her stormy feline eyes sharp and searching. Zeyra stood right next to her, wearing a sleek, dark woven tunic that clung tightly to her curves, looking as hot as ever, maybe even a bit more, or maybe it was just his imagination.

But the tension between the two of them was thick. They were glaring daggers at each other from the corners of their eyes, their shoulders practically brushing in the narrow doorway, neither willing to step back and let the other go first.

Sol looked helplessly at both of them, not knowing what to say or who to support.

So, he wisely focused his attention on what they were holding.

Kira was balancing a heavy, wide wooden platter in her hands. Resting on it was a massive, thick slab of heavily roasted beast meat, still sizzling and dripping with dark, rich juices, surrounded by roasted root vegetables.

Zeyra, on the other hand, was holding an intricately carved clay bowl. It was piled high with glowing, translucent violet and gold fruits that smelled incredibly sweet and heavy with refined essence.

They both looked away from each other and locked their eyes directly on Sol.

"Where did you go?" Kira asked, her warrior discipline giving her voice a sharp, authoritative edge, though the underlying worry in her golden eyes was blatantly obvious. "You just woke up from a three-day coma. The healers just went to your room to check and found it empty. You weren’t at the gates, either."

"You vanished for hours," Zeyra chimed in smoothly, stepping just an inch further into the room to establish dominance. "It is not wise to wander the settlement unattended in your weakened state, Sol."

Of sol, he wasn’t about to mention the alien girl who had just erased a Layer 4 Apex predator from existence, nor was he going to mention the fact that said predator had almost eaten him. If Elyndra had actually taken care of the waking calamity in the deep rot as a "thank you," then the massive, tribe... ending threat was already resolved.

Bringing it up now would just cause absolute, uncontrollable panic in the tribe for absolutely no reason. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

And he definitely wasn’t going to tell Kira exactly how he had spent the last few hours purging his exhaustion with High Shaman.

"I just went for a walk," Sol lied effortlessly, his face a perfect, impenetrable mask of casual indifference. He walked over to the small wooden table in the center of the room and pulled out a chair. "The air in the room was suffocating. Needed to stretch my legs. I met with the Warchief near the gates to get a sit-rep."

He paused, clearing his throat lightly. "And... ahem... I paid a visit to the High Shaman to thank her for the healing essence."

Kira’s eyes narrowed slightly, scanning his face for any signs of physical distress, but she eventually nodded. Warchief Veylara was her mother, and High Shaman Zephyra was the ultimate medical authority in the tribe. If he was with them, he was safe.

Zeyra seemed to accept the excuse as well, her dark eyes flashing with a competitive spark.

"Well, you must be completely drained," Kira said, stepping fully into the room and walking over to the table. She slammed the heavy wooden platter down in front of him. The smell of the roasted meat was absolutely intoxicating to his newly evolved, starving Sun Core.

"This is a great, center-cut rib from a Layer 2 Stone-Horn," Kira explained proudly, "It was hunted fresh this morning. The meat is incredibly dense, packed with essence. It will instantly restock your depleted physical reserves, reinforce your bone marrow, and help the scar tissue fully bind. A warrior needs blood and meat to rebuild their foundation."

She shot a highly condescending, side-long glance at Zeyra. "Not some fragile little plants."

A.N:

Guys sorry if I’m not able to respond to all of your comments, my situation has been pretty bad since last few days, and it had taken a turn for worse since yesterday and I’m in hospital since last night due to emergency.

So, I ask for your understanding, I had somehow ws able to write yesterday’s Chapter with great difficulty and really thought I wouldn’t be able to write today’s Chapters, but thankfully due to number of injections and drips my situation has stabilized a bit and I was able to write today’s Chapter.

So, enjoy! (insert Victory sign)