Volume 3 – Chapter 30: What the Silence Hides

Date: August 21

Last 30 Days. 

Rika and Kaito hardly spoke that next morning.

It felt as if it were one of those days where nothing could be said for fear something would break. Too much said, or a wrong word, and the world would simply implode.

Kaito sat near the door, meticulously cleaning his gear. Each wipe of the blade was an act of preservation, keeping the weapon safe through an act of magic; that small ritual was protecting him, not just the weapon.

Rika watched him from the opposite side of the room. Now, he seemed lost for longer spells each time, when she couldn't really reach him: not completely. But she wouldn't press him. Not yet.

Aya walked in on padded feet, map folded in her hands. "There are movements on the western rail line," she said. "Scouts spotted smoke. Small. Controlled. Maybe another group."

The words hung in the air like a question.

Rika asked, "Do we make contact?"

Aya shrugged. "We could. But if they’re hostile..."

Kaito stood. "We won't know until we go."

Another silence descended. This one was different—one for weighing decision.

"Then we go." Rika steadied her voice. "But with care."

When the afternoon came, the sky's shade had dulled to a pale, washed-out blue. They moved slowly through the ruins, threading along alleyways and between fallen scaffolding. This stretch of train track, animated once with the rhythm of working life, now just lay a long, rusted scar through a ghost town.

They easily found the smoke: a small fire kindled behind a collapsed warehouse. Two shadows were watching them as they walked forward. Huddled, tense.

One figure rose slowly: a thin young man, worn out. "You're not with the main camps," he said.

Kaito stepped out. "We are not. And we are not interested in trouble."

The stranger looked them over for a moment and then nodded. "Neither are we."

The girl standing next to the young man lowered her improvised spear.

"I'm Elian," the young man said. "We have been on our own since the break in the northern barricade."

"The north fell?" Rika's voice cracked just a little.

Elian's face darkened. "Three weeks ago. No one left. Just us."

Aya stepped forward with a small bag of dried fruit from her pack. "We will offer you shelter. And water."

He hesitated; looked at the girl; then he nodded. "We will come."

That night, with fire and two more bodies curling up near it, the silence was different.

Not empty. Not heavy.

Just...rich.

With strangers who maybe might become allies. With stories that are yet untold. With the quiet understanding that they are not so alone after all.

The world was still ending.

But for a time, something had begun.