The sun had already begun to sink.
The forest shadows stretched long, and the wind had grown cold.
Only when the scent of stone brushed the tip of his nose did Bido realize it.
The cave that had been their destination.
Its entrance gaped open like a crack split through the rock,
and not even the last light of the sun reached inside.
Miryeong stepped in first and said,
“We’ll have to sleep here tonight.”
Bido and Jincheong followed her in.
Gravel rolled beneath their feet with a clatter,
the sound bending once more along the cave walls.
Near the entrance, Muryeong came to a halt.
“I’ll guard the entrance.”
Miryeong nodded.
“All right. We’ll switch later.”
“It doesn’t seem like they’ll come after us right away… but you never know.”
Instead of answering, Muryeong tightened his grip on the haft of his axe.
His hand sank into the shadows.
Bido, Jincheong, and Miryeong moved deeper inside.
The red light outside grew farther and farther away, and the cave’s chill drew closer.
Miryeong stopped by one wall.
Then she took out a small ember and lightly started a fire.
As the flames rose, it felt as though the cave’s black breath retreated for a moment.
The three of them sat before it.
Miryeong took a strip of jerky from her coat.
“We had to prepare in a hurry, so this is all there is.”
Bido, too, felt around inside his coat and took out a piece of bread,
while Jincheong put a strip of dried meat in his mouth.
After that, only the quiet sound of light chewing continued.
Bido stared into the fire,
then suddenly felt again that this place was not unfamiliar.
This cave.
When his sword had broken, and he had first taken up Tiamar’s sword—
he had come here.
Back then, under Muryeong’s guidance,
his first resonance with the sword he had drawn forth.
So much had happened since.
Bido chewed his bread and clenched his fingertips once.
Now, the skin beneath his eyes was no longer hot.
No red scales remained.
But the “discord” from the moment the lock had engaged still lingered thinly somewhere within him.
Just then, Jincheong was the first to speak.
“It’s been a while since we came to this cave.”
Miryeong answered while chewing her jerky.
“Well, we don’t use it much normally.”
Then she looked at Bido and asked,
“Bido. You came here last time too, right?”
Bido nodded.
“…Yes. That’s right.”
As if stirring the flame, Miryeong adjusted the firewood with a stick.
“It’s a good place to take shelter.”
“If it comes to it… if we go farther in, we can hide our presence too.”
Bido paused mid-bite.
“Farther… in?”
Miryeong nodded and gestured with her chin toward the darkness.
“Yeah. There’s a small gap over there.”
“And beyond it… Derauls live there.”
Bido was not familiar with the word “Deraul.”
He rolled the piece of bread around in his mouth, swallowed, and asked,
“What are… Derauls?”
Miryeong chewed her jerky, then narrowed her eyes as if thinking for a moment.
“Mm… a race that lives in the dark.”
“They’re incredibly timid.”
Bido was about to feel a little relieved at those words, but when he heard what Miryeong added right away, he stiffened again.
“But you have to be careful. They’re dangerous.”
Bido’s eyes widened.
“Dangerous? In what way…?”
Jincheong quietly added,
“They’re timid, but they’re strong.”
“Almost on par with magical beasts… and some individuals are even stronger.”
Miryeong nodded.
“That’s right. If they’re cornered, they’ll shut their eyes and try to wipe out everything in front of them.”
“So if you mess with them for no reason, you’re in serious trouble.”
Bido swallowed the bread he had been chewing along with his saliva.
The flame crackled softly.
Miryeong added, as if lightly wrapping up the subject,
“But normally, you won’t run into them at all.”
“And there’s hardly ever a reason to go that far in.”
At those words, Bido let out a small breath.
But at the same time, the word “normally” stuck in his mind.
The moment he looked past the fire into the darkness—
somewhere deep inside, somewhere among the cracks in the rock, came the faint sound of a single stone rolling.
For a moment, Bido could not tell whether the sound had come from outside the cave or deeper within.
With an unconcerned face, Miryeong tore off another bite of jerky.
“Eat and rest.”
“Tomorrow… might get even busier.”
—
After some time had passed.
The party lay down to sleep.
Whether it was actually “time to sleep” did not matter.
Today, they had run, fought, and endured,
and everyone was already exhausted.
Bido was no different.
If he closed his eyes, the scenes of the day seemed as though they would rise before him again.
Kyle’s sword, the alien sensation of the moment the lock engaged, the heat that had climbed up through his fingertips.
But his thoughts did not last long.
His body collapsed first.
Before he knew it, Bido was sinking into a deep sleep.
That was when it happened.
A cold touch brushed past his ear.
Bido drew in a breath and opened his eyes.
His heart gave one great thud.
The fire had nearly gone out.
Only a faint ashen red remained in the embers, dimly illuminating the cave walls,
and Miryeong and Jincheong’s breathing sounded steady.
Farther away, toward the entrance, it was even darker.
That was the direction where Muryeong was.
‘Am I… just being oversensitive?’
Just as he tried to think that—
a voice came to him.
“What… are you…?”
It was a voice like a child’s.
But it was not a sound heard with his ears.
Words so quiet they seemed to settle directly into his mind.
That made them even more certain.
Bido instinctively tried to sit up, then stopped himself.
Holding his breath, he looked toward the source of the sound—
toward the deeper part of the cave, where the darkness was thicker.
At first, he saw nothing.
No, it only seemed that way.
The instant the embers gave a small crackle,
a shape appeared within the darkness.
It was small.
About the size of a child.
A single small horn on its forehead.
But its arms were strangely long.
Too long for its small body,
and drooping far too large.
Most of all—
its skin was a faint purple.
Bido’s throat went dry and stiff.
‘Deraul.’
The moment that thought surfaced, the voice settled over him again.
“Why… are you mixed…?”
Bido could not part his lips, then spoke in a voice that was almost only breath.
“…Who are you?”
The figure did not answer.
Instead, without taking even a single step closer, it fixed its gaze straight on him.
Just from that gaze touching him, Bido felt his skin grow cold.
As if a hidden “grain” within him had been discovered.
Just then, a low voice cut in from beside him.
“Talking in your sleep…?”
It was Miryeong.
Her eyes remained closed, her voice sunk in sleep.
She let out one irritated breath and added,
“Be quiet. Go to sleep.”
The moment those words ended—
the figure disappeared.
Truly, it went out without a trace.
There was nothing on the wall illuminated by the embers.
No breathing, no footsteps.
But at the very end,
from somewhere deeper in the cave, an extremely faint whisper remained.
“…Scary.”
Bido swallowed his breath.
The one who had said “scary” was the other side,
yet he could not understand why those words made his own spine turn even colder.
Unable to move, Bido kept his eyes open and stared into the darkness.
The fact that they were not the only ones
inside this cave—
that, in itself, was terror.
—
“Hup—”
Bido inhaled sharply and opened his eyes.
A faint light was leaking in from the entrance.
The embers had already gone out,
and the darkness hanging on the cave walls had grown thinner than the day before.
It was an ambiguous light, hard to tell whether it was dawn or morning.
‘When did I fall asleep…?’
Bido pressed a hand to his chest and steadied his breathing.
‘Was it all a dream?’
The cold touch, and the voice that had pierced into his mind.
That was when it happened.
Something was caught in his hand.
Bido slowly opened his palm.
A small stone.
Its surface was smooth, and even in the darkness, a strange luster lingered over it.
As though the stone itself contained light, an extremely faint energy touched his palm.
“…”
Just then, Jincheong, who seemed to have gotten up at some point, walked over and said,
“Hm? Bido, where did you get that?”
Bido froze for a moment, then answered honestly.
“What? Ah… when I woke up, it was in my hand…”
Jincheong leaned in as if to take the stone and examined it closely.
His fingertips could still be seen trembling, but his eyes moved quickly.
“Hmm…”
“This looks like a Deraul stone.”
Bido’s eyes widened.
“What…?”
At that moment, Bido recalled the darkness of last night.
Purple skin.
A small horn.
Long, large arms.
…And.
The voice that had settled into his mind.
‘Mixed.’
Those words would not leave his ears.
Had it meant the blood of Haraya and human, or something tangled together with the sword?
Bido’s grip tightened around the stone.
That was when it happened.
Once again, an extremely quiet sound reached him.
“Mixed one…”
“That… my gift…”
Bido reflexively turned toward the darkness.
There was nothing there.
The inner part of the cave remained as deep as a black hole.
Jincheong, not understanding Bido’s reaction, asked,
“What’s wrong?”
Then he pointed at the stone and added,
“That… try striking it against the ground.”
Bido hesitated, then lightly tapped the stone against the floor.
At that moment—
the stone gave off light.
It was not a strong light.
But like a small ember that had been lit,
it cast a gentle white glow over the surroundings.
Jincheong said in a low voice,
“That’s it.”
“This is a stone that only comes from where the Derauls live.”
He looked at the glowing stone and said,
“Hardly anyone knows about it… but if it’s struck, it gives off light. It’s quite useful.”
Bido swallowed dryly.
The shining stone in his hand felt heavy.
He could not know its intention.
Why it had given him something like this.
Still.
Toward the darkness, Bido quietly said,
“…Thank you.”
Jincheong looked at Bido with an even more puzzled expression.
Then—
from the direction of the entrance came the sound of footsteps.
They were not the footsteps of a single person.
The sound of feet stepping on stone was carefully—
but unmistakably drawing closer.