Chapter 6

The terrain is unwelcoming—lush overgrowth swallowing entire ruined cities, and clouds of spores and crimson mist hanging thick in the air. A portal pulses open midair, and out steps Captain Astera, flanked by Berwick and Asche Ace.

But someone else follows—uninvited.

Sanguinella steps out of the portal, blood-colored frost still glimmering on her boots. She clutches her weapon, Chiketsu, looking resolute.

Astera (firmly):
You’re not coming.

Sanguinella:
What? Why not?

Astera:
(stepping closer, voice hard but not unkind)
You’re sixteen.
You walk into a Primordial’s domain at that age, and you either die… or you come back a different person.
And not in a good way.

Sanguinella (defiant):
I beat Berwick. I can handle it.

Berwick (dryly):
Barely. And because I was feeling merciful.
I could have crushed you. (pause)
Still. Astera’s right.

Astera:
(sighing)
Lily and I—we’ve done this.
We nearly died getting Kifo’s fragment.
And that was from a dragon.
But with these two?
Wachstum is chaos incarnate—his realm mutates constantly.
Putrefacci? His mere presence causes diseases to manifest.
We’re going in with gear blessed by Emrys, and we still might not come out whole.

Asche (quietly):
It’s a miracle Alto made it out of the Starsea Sanctum with nothing but a few burns.

Sanguinella (gritting her teeth):
So I just wait?

Astera:
You trust me.
If I don’t make it back, then you can take my place.
Until then, hold the fort.

Sanguinella stares at the ground, fists clenched. Then finally nods.

Sanguinella:
Fine. But you better not die, Captain Bloom.

Astera (smiling faintly):
Wouldn’t dream of it.

She turns and vanishes back through the portal, mist trailing her exit.

Berwick:
…Think she’ll listen?

Astera:
Nope.
But she’ll be smart about it. Hopefully.

Asche:
So what’s the plan?

Astera (scanning the horizon):
We find the fork in the overgrowth.
One path leads to the Putrefaction Basin, the other to the Spiral Bloom Cradle.
We split up.
You take Wachstum. Berwick and I will handle Putrefacci.

Asche:
Understood.

The three Captains vanish into the plague-lit jungle, the sky overhead turning from dusk… to something far more unnatural.