Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 138: Dawn Whispers

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That night Luna found Kai in the half collapsed storeroom, carving new support beams from the eroded wall. Sweat glistened down his spine. Miryam watched from a perch, flicking her tail at stone chips.

"You never rest," Luna chided, stepping over rubble.

He paused, wiping brow. "The mountain feels alive. I hear it breathing through cracks. I must keep it strong."

She touched his arm. "We keep it strong together." She produced a woven moon-vine and coral thread doll. "I made this for Miryam, something soft to curl in."

Miryam eyed the bright ribbon, sniffed it, then dragged it into her cradle, delighted.

Kai’s chest warmed. "She likes it."

"She’ll grow out of it by next week," Luna teased. "But for now, let her feel beautiful." freewebnσvel.cѳm

They worked side by side until the wall stood whole again. Then, in the hush after midnight, they sat on the terrace roof, Miryam asleep between them.

Stars prowled overhead. Far to the east a faint silver glimmer throbbed on the horizon, the scar again, larger than that morning.

Luna leaned against Kai’s shoulder. "Storm’s coming."

"Yes." He wrapped an arm around her. "And we will meet it."

He gazed upon the sleeping wyrmling, upon the mountain halls alive with new purpose, upon the silver fissure beckoning like a challenge. Silence held them, not heavy but brimming like an inhale before the world shouted.

Silence held them, not heavy but brimming like an inhale before the world shouted. Kai slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The horizon blushed gray-gold when Kai finally rose from his perch on the terrace roof. Luna and Miryam still slept, one snug against his flank, the other coiled in a moon-vine sling across his chest. From this height the eastern scar pulsed faintly, a vertical smear of liquid silver etched against the paling sky. Each slow flicker made Kai’s Aura Insight tingle with invisible rolls of power leaked from the rent and drifted westward on the upper wind. He tasted them like dusted sugar on his tongue. It was a sweet, dangerous, impossibly rich in aura.

Essence pool... The words had churned in his skull all night.

With practiced care he shifted Luna’s head to a folded cloak, then lowered Miryam into her cradle of woven moss. The hatchling mumbled something in the link <...> and curled tighter around her doll. A giddy warmth fluttered through Kai’s ribs in response.

But the pulse of that distant scar would not let him rest.

He descended through sleeping galleries, passing torch stubs and half finished chitin panels. At the forge cavern Skyweaver slumbered upside down from a beam, her violet wings wrapped like a silk cocoon. It was molten rivulets in the crucible glowed a dull cherry, cooling from the midnight pour of star steel plates. The boar brothers guarded the vent tunnel, their snores rattling stone dust from the joists. Only Silvershadow stirred, a dark monolith stationed before Miryam’s door, ever wakeful.

Kai’s footfalls ghosted between columns until he reached the strategy alcove again. The crystal map still floated in mid air. He waved over its surface, and runes re-formed to depict the fissure’s approximate coordinates: three days east on hoof and claw, two if they forced a night march.

He traced his finger along ridgelines, counting choke points, natural hides. In his mental ledger he marked resource costs, risk factors, return projections. Essence pool. If it truly existed, devouring a few sips might yield more unallocated stat points than every wolf in Silvertail territory combined. Enough to leapfrog months of safe accumulation. Enough, if luck favored him, perhaps to push him close to the threshold of four stars or even more upper rank stats.

But the boons never came without barbs. Ancient aura storms, relic seed-beasts, rival hunters... There were many variables waiting for him.

A quiet footstep came behind him. He scented fresh moon-vine soap before Luna’s voice floated soft.

"You’re up early."

Kai turned. Luna had donned her travel smock, hair gathered in a loose twist. Sleep still shadowed her eyes, yet purpose already burned beneath.

"Couldn’t sleep," he admitted. "The scar pulls at me. I need facts."

She exhaled while folding her arms. "Facts are scarce. Legends... maybe." She joined him at the projection table, brushing fingers along the eastern quadrants. "My clan speaks of a legend of Abyssal Wells, places the world tried to heal but failed. When great beasts die in such storms their spirits do not scatter. But their aura bleeds, drop by drop, into the scar’s heart. A century later, that blood congeals... into an essence pool."

Kai’s breath hitched. "Essence Liquid," he murmured.

"Purest distillation. One sip might birth a three star rank beast from nothing." Luna’s tone carried awe and dread. "But pools breed guardians. Starved remnants of every soul absorbed, fused into something monstrous."

She met his gaze. "Few who search were able to return back alive."

Kai’s pulse quickened, but calculation steadied it. "Shadeclaw will send back proof soon. If the scar truly houses a pool, I must try."

"Must?" Luna arched her brow.

He turned his palm; the Monarch Brand glimmered crimson. "For Miryam. For you. For this mountain’s future. I cannot let rival dynasties seize that power first. I must become stronger."

Luna considered. "Then we do not go blind. We take survivors’ lore, gear for storms, sand-proof cloaks, surge dampeners." She slipped into commander cadence as if she’d never lost the warren. "And we choose who guards the lair, who journeys."

"Shadeclaw and Skyweaver are already east. They will scout. I’ll leave Silvershadow to defend Miryam. But I’ll need Stone Ram, Iron Rampant, Black Bastion, Tunnel Crown, and Heart Mason deer with me." Kai ticked names off on knuckles. "Five beasts plus you and me."

Luna’s ears pricked. "You trust the lair to a single sentinel?"

"Silvershadow’s worth ten lesser warriors and Miryam’s breath makes eleven." He smiled faintly. "Besides, we lace the approaches with beasts star core traps. Crescent Whisper (the spy wolf) can warn us if Roddick dares strike while shadeclaw is away."