"We’ll contact you once we’re ready."

Silas stood beside Cher and Darius as the shuttle lifted from the ground and disappeared into the dark sky. Just before it departed, Lara leaned out and shouted at them, sounding far more excited than someone heading into a dangerous mission should have been.

"I still don’t know why I didn’t go with her."

As the shuttle vanished into the distance, Cher looked from Silas to Darius. When Silas had explained his plan, he had made it clear that the team would have to split up. Lara would handle the first objective, and someone needed to accompany her.

Cher had volunteered immediately, but Darius had calmly suggested sending Alfred instead.

"Lara isn’t heading somewhere as dangerous as Silas is," Darius said, meeting her frustration with his usual composure. "Besides, Alfred excels at defence, and Lara is at her deadliest when she’s controlling monsters."

"Yet she released all her tamed monsters before leaving the outpost," Cher replied with a glare. "What exactly are you not telling me?"

"Nothing."

Darius shrugged casually, and Silas quickly stepped in before the conversation could deteriorate further.

"The combination of Lara and Alfred is more than enough for this task," he said as he started walking. "Let’s move. We need to reach the mine before noon."

The world remained cloaked in darkness, but a faint blue glow had already begun to spread across the horizon. Dawn was approaching, and within a few hours the sun would rise. According to their schedule, they needed to reach the mine before noon, which meant there was no time to waste.

Cher shot Darius one final suspicious glance before following Silas. Darius, however, remained rooted where he was.

"What’s wrong?"

Silas frowned.

"I need to take care of something."

The words came out of the blue to Silas and Cher. More surprising than the statement itself was the expression on Darius’ face. For a brief moment, he almost seemed caught off guard by his own decision.

Then he spoke again.

"I need to go. It’s important."

Without waiting for Silas to respond, he turned toward Cher.

"I’ll need the shuttle to extract me once I send the signal. I’ll message you my location every thirty minutes and let you know when it’s time."

"You..."

Cher’s patience finally seemed ready to snap, but Silas raised a hand and stopped her.

"What exactly are you planning to do?"

Darius wasn’t acting like himself. His behaviour had been strange all morning, and every instinct told Silas that something was wrong. Yet beneath that unease, he sensed something else: resolve.

The look in Darius’ eyes reminded him of someone willingly stepping into the jaws of death.

"There is something important you lost," Darius said carefully. "I’m going to retrieve it and join you afterwards."

Before either of them could press him further, he turned and walked away.

"It should take around twelve hours. Lara and Alfred will likely finish their task by then, so have them stay near my last known location and wait for my signal."

Silas and Cher watched his retreating figure grow smaller in the distance. A moment later, Silas noticed something that made him narrow his eyes. Darius was walking in the opposite direction from the mine.

Cher turned toward him.

"Do you have any explanation for that?"

"I know he’s acting strangely," Silas said with a long sigh. "But I trust him."

"That’s not the issue," Cher replied, narrowing her eyes. "We need to know whether whatever he’s doing is helping or hurting us."

Silas remembered all the guidance Darius had provided since setting the plan. More than once, his observations had pushed the plan in the right direction and played a crucial role in making it viable at all.

"I can vouch for him," Silas said after a brief pause. "Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it to help us achieve our goal."

Seeing how confident he was, Cher could only sigh and follow along. As they made their way toward the mine, Silas found himself dwelling on Darius’s final words.

’He said he was going to retrieve something I lost.’

The only thing he had lost that was essential to the plan was the magical flower. The Shadowheart had thrown it toward the thousands of Enhancers to divert the dragon’s attention and escape its pursuit.

The more Silas thought about it, the deeper his frown became. Every answer seemed to give birth to even more questions.

’I never told him about the flower.’

’Yet somehow he knows I no longer have it.’

’Darius... what exactly is your power? Can you read minds? See the past?’

He could not tell, though he felt as if he was circling the truth.

Regardless of the answer, one thing remained certain. Darius was trying to help, even if retrieving the flower meant risking an encounter with the dragon. What Silas could not understand was how he intended to take it back from the countless Enhancers who had it.

Their journey remained peaceful for a while. To distract himself, Silas questioned Cher about dragon blood, its effects, and the best way to make use of it.

According to her, consuming dragon blood directly could advance them to C-grade, but an alchemist could refine it into multiple potions worth far more than the blood itself.

"Then how do we find an alchemist?" he asked casually. "Through the academy?"

"The academy?" Cher raised an eyebrow. "No. Alchemists are incredibly rare, difficult to find, and even harder to hire. Their services are also outrageously expensive."

"How rare are alchemists?"

"The Elfine Kingdom only has one."

Silas nearly stumbled.

"Only one?"

Cher nodded.

"Becoming an alchemist requires extraordinary luck. You need to absorb a monster core that grants an ability related to alchemy. It’s similar to becoming a blacksmith, but the requirements are completely different. Blacksmiths rely more on physical strength and combat ability, while alchemists need intelligence, precision, and powers suited for refining materials."

Silas nodded slowly.

Although it was his first time hearing about either profession, the distinction was clear enough.

For a while, neither spoke. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Cher returned to an old topic.

"I still can’t get over what Darius did," she said. "I want to know what kind of ability he’s hiding."

Silas glanced at her and immediately understood that she would not let the matter go.

"Listen."

He stopped walking and turned toward her. For a brief moment, as she looked back at him, he noticed how unusually beautiful her eyes seemed.

"I know you’re hiding something from me, too," he said calmly. "Whether it’s an ability, a secret, or some hidden power, I know there’s something you haven’t told me."

Her expression changed instantly. The shock that flashed across her face only confirmed his suspicion.

"But I don’t care."

Silas held her gaze.

"I’ve never asked about it, and I’m not asking now."

Cher remained silent.

"I trust you," he continued. "That’s why I don’t pry into your secrets. I’d rather wait until the day you’re willing to tell me yourself."

He watched her widened eyes for another moment before turning away and resuming his walk.

"And you should do the same for me, for everyone, for Darius."

Cher stood motionless as she watched his back gradually grow distant. For a moment, she couldn’t find an answer, as no one had ever reacted that way before about what she was hiding.

A strange ache tightened around her heart.

’I wonder what you’ll do when you learn my secret.’

She sighed inwardly, as her secret was not a small one.

After all, even the person closest to her had once changed because of it, consumed by greed and ambition.