Even after confirming that Nox and the Scourge Champion were gone—completely vanished without a trace—Valkor and Lumi didn't return to the others. Not immediately.
Day one passed with only the wind and the unsettling silence of the ruined battlefield.
Valkor refused to rest, stumbling through the area. Even after receiving healing, his body still required rest to fully recover. But he didn't rest. He searched every broken tree, every scorched root, looking for anything—anything—that might hint at where Nox had gone.
Lumi stayed quiet. Not because she wasn't concerned, but because she knew how stubborn Valkor could be. After spending just a day with him, the little girl had a grasp of his personality. Any protest would fall on deaf ears. She simply followed him, glowing sword in hand, scanning the area with her radiant sight for disturbances.
Soon they stumbled upon corrupted dragon scales. Faint scorch marks that didn't match the Champion's usual flames. And a deep, unnatural crater in the ground that extended several meters—as if a force far more powerful than any of them had torn through the battlefield.
Valkor stood over the crater for a long time, staring in silence.
Lumi watched him, her wings folded behind her.
"You think it was the Champion?" she asked in a low voice.
Valkor shook his head slowly. "No… this is something else."
He crouched, placing his palm against the earth. "Something tore open the ground. Dragged something—someone—through it."
Lumi frowned. "You think Nox was taken?"
"I don't know." He clenched his fist. "But he didn't run. That's for sure."
They barely slept. The air had grown colder, and thick mists curled between the twisted trees, hiding movement in the shadows.
Scourge dragons attacked during the night—
Lumi dealt with them swiftly, her radiant sword slicing through their corrupted bodies with ease.
Of course, Valkor didn't sit idly. He turned every dragon in his path to ashes, thanks to his powerful purple starlight flames.
On the morning of the third day, Valkor finally collapsed beside a shattered log, gasping for breath. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips.
"I can't keep this up…" he muttered.
Lumi sat across from him, looking pale. Even her glow had dimmed slightly.
She placed her hands together, summoning a healing glyph and pressing it against his chest.
"Your ribs still haven't healed fully," she said. "You keep pushing yourself."
"I have to," he gritted out.
"Even me, I want to find him. But... deep down, considering his personality from our short time together, he would most likely tell us to regroup."
Valkor didn't respond.
"You keep saying you hate him," Lumi continued, "but you act more obsessed than the rest of us."
"That's because I am," he snapped, then paused, realizing what he'd just said.
He looked away, eyes narrowing. "I hated him. During the competition, and even when the Scourge dragons first attacked. He was always one step ahead—always calm, always in control."
Lumi remained silent.
"But now…" Valkor sighed. "Now I just want to fight beside him again. Just once."
That night, under the moonlight, they returned to the crater one last time.
The sword still stood there, unmoved.
Its blade shimmered faintly with mana, as if resisting the forest's corruption.
Lumi stepped forward and raised her hand. Her magic glowed gold as she drew a symbol in the air—a glowing glyph shaped like a circle with wings and thorns. It wrapped around the sword slowly, forming a barrier around it.
"A beacon," she said softly. "In case he returns."
Valkor stood beside her, shoulders slumped.
"That's it then?" he asked. "We just leave?"
"We're no help to him ," she said. "Also, I believe he's alive. Let's regroup. Big brother Kawl will definitely meet up with us."
"Big brother Kawl?" Valkor raised an eyebrow.
"Yup, I adopted him. Though he has no idea about it."
"I see." Valkor gritted his teeth, but eventually he nodded.
They took one last look at the crater before spreading their wings and taking off into the sky.
The others had made progress.
The forest had become denser, and the mana had reached dangerous levels—making it hard to breathe, hard to concentrate.
Drake guided them carefully, using the map as a reference and tracing a path around the forest. Celestis had been maintaining a defensive barrier to keep the ambient mana from interfering too much with their senses.
When Valkor and Lumi finally returned, they landed just outside the group's temporary camp.
The others immediately stood, startled.
Zara was the first to rush forward. "Valkor! Lumi!"
They looked behind them.
Elise's steps slowed, and a deep frown appeared on her face.
Zara lowered her head, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "…He's not with you."
Drake stood silently, watching Valkor with unreadable eyes. He knew Valkor didn't like Nox. A part of him couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with the disappearance.
"No body," Valkor said after a long pause. "No Champion. No clue where they went."
Lumi added quietly, "We searched for three days. All we saw was his sword."
Drake finally spoke. "Where is the sword?"
"We left it where he fought. I marked it. If he returns… he'll find us."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Zara sat down, hugging her knees. Her head was lowered, and no one saw the look in her eyes. She exhaled sharply, brushing her hair back. "Of course he'd disappear without a word. He never thinks about how others feel."
"It's not like he had a choice," Drake said quietly.
Raziel, sitting a bit further off, clicked his tongue. "So what now?"
Drake turned to him. "We continue. To the Marked Zone."
"And if kawl never comes back?" Raziel asked.
"Then we survive long enough to find him ourselves," Drake replied in a steady voice, eyes burning with resolve. "One thing I'm sure of is that he's alive."
Valkor sat near the edge of the camp, staring into the distance.
He didn't speak. But inside, a fire burned. He would not rest until he met Nox again—not as a rival… but as an equal.
That night, as the group huddled around a small, flickering flame, the forest remained silent.
In the ruined crater where a lone sword still stood—glowing faintly with protective glyphs—
…a breeze passed through.
And for the briefest second, the glyphs pulsed.
Almost like a heartbeat.