Chương 4: Ponytails

"I thought you were the other twin, the pretty one," an annoying, cheeky voice called out, followed by an exasperated grunt from a girl wearing… ponytails.

"Why, out of everyone, did I have to see you first?" Anadis lowered the Weak Shield.

"I'd rather it were a Grull instead." Although he said that, underneath his sarcasm, he actually felt relieved to have found someone—even if it was her.

"Right, keep lying to yourself," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"You do know my brother and I are twins… right?"

"Uh-huh. So?"

"You called him the pretty one," Anadis said, his voice low.

"We look the same."

"No!" she protested, her face flushing slightly red.

"His white hair and those blue eyes make him handsome—charming, even." She let out a dreamy sigh.

"He's definitely going to become a high-ascension Blessen one day, and he'll need a good, strong, and beautiful woman by his side. Someone like me." She proudly placed a pale hand on her chest. Anadis smirked.

"I don't think you fit any of those words."

"Ugh, shut up…" she huffed, planting her hands on her hips.

"Now that we've found each other, you'd better listen to my orders so you don't drag me back." With a shake of his head, Anadis ignored her and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she asked in a panic, running to his side.

"I don't want to drag you back, as you said," he replied, not even slowing down.

"So I won't. You're free. Bye."

"No, no, no," she repeated, gripping his arm tightly.

"You heard what the pastor said—we need to stay together. We have to find the others, or we won't survive."

"I don't need you to survive. Besides, it's not like I want to spend time with a haughty girl who looks down on others just because they're bronze class."

"Forget about that," she said, raising her palm in a stiff, somewhat formal gesture.

"Listen…" she hesitated for a beat before continuing, "I'm sorry for what I said in the cathedral. But we have to put that behind us. In here, we need each other to survive."

"Are you really sorry?" She nodded uncertainly, then offered her hand to shake. Anadis looked at her, narrowing his eyes, then meekly shook her hand.

"I don't know if I believe you, but I suppose we should stick together." A pause.

"But you have to apologize to the other girl, not to me. She was the one you insulted."

"I'll… think about it," she said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Nope. No thinking about it—you have to," he insisted, making sure to keep his gaze sharp.

"Just because she's lower class than us doesn't mean we get to treat her like she's beneath us. Because she's not." That kind of thinking was everywhere. Diamonds were the pinnacle—families of the Archons or their generals. Gold-class were high nobles or High Ascension Blessens, while Silver-class were abundant merchants or First Ascension Blessens. And every single one looked down on those below them like dirt beneath their boots. Except for bronze, because there was no one below them.

Slaves, he supposed, though they weren't even worth a class to society. Anadis had never understood such behavior. The only reason his own family even held silver status was because his father happened to be a Blessen. Something the gods had decided, yes—but why should that make him better than anyone else?

"Fine. You're so frustrating," she finally said, sighing and shaking her head. Well, better than nothing, I guess.

"What's your name, by the way? I don't want to keep referring to you as 'the ponytail girl' in my head." Anadis scratched his neck. He'd never been very good at talking to girls.

"Zoe," she said.

"There, now you can stop calling me ponytail girl. I'm more than just that, Anadis."

"How do you—" He stopped himself, coming to the realization.

"Right. When my core was being checked."

"Yeah. So what's the plan? I see you have a…" She eyed the musty old shield on his hand.

"An attempt at a shield."

"Hey! I don't see you with any weapons. Was your grey core not good enough for the gods?"

"I got two Boons, actually," she said, a hint of boast creeping into her tone.

"Lucky you," he replied, his voice flat. Not bitter, just… stating a fact.

"Let's see them." Specks of shimmering grey light appeared as a curved sword materialized in the air, and she gripped it before it could fall.

"It's only a common sword," she said.

"Its effect is that the edge will always remain sharp no matter how often I use it."

"Not that great," he muttered, swiping his tongue over his teeth before asking, "What about your other Boon?"

"A utility Boon. It lets me blind everyone but myself in a ten-meter radius for two to five seconds, depending on how much stronger they are than me."

"Wait," Anadis said.

"Does it affect allies too?" She blinked.

"I… don't know. The Divine Voice didn't say."

"Great," he muttered, then sighed.

"Let's get moving; we need to find the others." She nodded in agreement. They walked in silence for a long while before he realized the untrodden path wasn't leading them anywhere useful. It was the same uphill stretch of forest, the same raging river far below. There were still no signs of the other Core bearers, no signs of life at all. Not a single bird or insect, only the eerie creak of branches every few seconds, as if something was watching them. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere.

Support the author by seeking out the original. He glanced up at the twin suns. One was already low on the horizon, while the other lagged behind. At least that tells me we're still on the same planet of Gaelora and not in some weird realm. Well, not exactly, he corrected himself. I don't even know if the gods can create realms and replicate the twin suns inside them. Time remaining: 32 hours, 12 minutes. The voice spoke as he focused inward. Three and a half hours gone just walking.

As he was about to pick up his pace, something shifted up ahead—a branch snapping, or just the wind. The sound was faint, but it burrowed under his skin. Zoe jumped, clutching his arm with a little squeak.

"Hey," he whispered, "you're the one with the sword. Don't hide behind me." She shivered uncontrollably. Anadis raised his shield, bracing for whatever was coming— A small family of beavers emerged, their flat tails dragging over the damp earth. The largest one stopped and stared at them for a heartbeat, then scampered away, its little offspring scurrying close behind. He let out a shuddering sigh of relief.

"That almost gave me a heart attack." Then he looked at Zoe, who released her grip on his tunic and was breathing erratically.

"What was that? Why did you freeze?!"

"I-I don't want to be here," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

"What? Those were just small rodents."

"I know!" she shouted, fists clenched.

"But what if it were an actual Grull? We would've died."

"You don't know that," he said, brows furrowed.

"You have that sword, and another Boon. We can defend ourselves."

"I don't know how to use this thing." The sword clattered once against a small boulder as she hurled it aside.

"I'm just a jeweler's daughter. I never expected to awaken a Divine core, so I never tried to learn a thing about defending myself."

"How can you not?" he asked.

"I know the chances are minuscule, but everyone should prepare themselves for this very reason."

"You know, my family was Bronze-class until just three years ago," she said, scratching her elbow hesitantly.

"My father worked hard and managed to get a couple of Gold-class clients, lifting us from Bronze to Silver. But you know how extremely rare it is for people who don't come from a noble family to become Blessens. He never bothered, nor could he afford to hire a well-trained Blessen to teach me." Anadis had to agree.

Most Blessens disproportionately came from nobility, not because the gods favored them more than regular people, but because—although the odds were slim—gods did tend to bless the children of other Blessens more often than not. That was why noble houses only married other Blessens and even went as far as placing non-Blessed nobility into lower stations.

"And the classes at the Learning Hall weren't that good either," she added with a soft, wry chuckle. That was also true: there was a course called the Blessed Trial Readiness course that offered basic preparation, but since fewer than one percent of kids ever manifested a core, most students, and even the magisters, barely paid it any attention. Not everyone had the chance to be trained by a Blessen since the age of five as he did; everyone was different, and so were their circumstances.

"I understand," he said softly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know I'm not the best person to hear this from, but you can lean on me. If danger appears, I'll be here. And if you promise me you'll stay calm, I promise we'll get out of this alive." Zoe nodded, a small smile on her face.

"Also, sorry for calling you ugly back in the cathedral," he whispered.

"That was wrong of me." She chuckled a bit.

"For a second, I thought you were blind. There's no way someone would see me," she proudly lifted her chin, her ponytail wagging behind.

"And call me ugly." That actually got a chuckle out of him. They walked a little easier after that, the silence between them lighter than before. After a moment, Zoe spoke again, quieter this time.

"For what it's worth… I'm glad it was you I found first." He glanced at her sideways.

"Don't make it weird," she added quickly, eyes fixed forward.

"I just mean, I'd rather be lost in a Grull-infested forest with someone who argues back than someone who just agrees with everything I say." She paused.

"My friends started doing that after my family became Silver-class, and…" She let out a sigh.

"I do it with my Gold-class friends too. It's exhausting."

"So you just agree with everything your Gold-class friends say?" Anadis asked.

"Why? That sounds kinda fake."

"It is," she said, almost to herself. Then she tilted her chin up, her expression suggesting she didn't want to argue.

"Still, don't read into it. Don't go believing you have a chance to be my friend."

"I don't want a chance."

"Good."

"Good." Her lips tilted up slightly, and she let out a small chuckle. He did as well. Then, one moment they were laughing, and the next, her breath caught—sharp and sudden. He looked into her eyes. They were wide and dark, dread flooding her expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked, voice cracking. Zoe pointed a trembling finger behind him. He spun around and saw something wrong and unusually slimy. A bloated frog-thing, pale as bone, the size of a large dog. Where its eyes should have been, it was just hollow black pits, a mist oozing. Its front legs ended in grotesquely long, human-like fingers. It moved in stuttering jerks, like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Damn… It's a Grull." The words came out in a whisper, barely audible. Anadis's shield went up, but his hands shook.

"Grab your sword. We have to fight it." But Zoe didn't respond. She stumbled backward and collapsed to the ground, curling into a tight fetal position with her hands clamped over her face. The frog jerked into a hop, its feet sticking to the bark of a tree. Its tongue lashed out. Anadis barely had time to react—he grabbed Zoe's hand and threw himself and her into a roll.

"Zoe, use your Boon!" Anadis shouted.

"Blind this thing and let's escape!" She flinched at his shout, her hands trembling as she brought them together. A small, floating pale orb, almost like a fist-sized water drop, appeared in her hand. She pressed them together as if trying to squeeze the small jiggling light.

"Blessed Gla—" But the Grull had other plans. It jolted toward them, leaving splinters of bark in its wake, its long blue tongue lolling out. Zoe shuddered, and her light vanished. He didn't know for sure, but he would bet everything he owned, which wasn't much, that if that tongue hit him, pain wouldn't be the only thing he'd have to worry about. He dashed toward the Grull and evaded its tongue by a hair's breadth. A sticky substance formed where the Grull had just attacked, and a thin mist radiated from it.

I knew it, this thing is venomous. Looking at Zoe, he saw that she was still in shock.

"Zoe! Snap out of it. I need you if we're going to survive this." She staggered up, the watery light emerging in her hand again as she shouted, "Blessed Glare!" A white, blinding light radiated from her palm. Anadis shielded his eyes, but it was futile—her Boon had blinded him as well. He grunted. The brightness was such that he could barely stand still. If the Grull were to attack him now, it'd be over. About five seconds passed before he could open his eyes again.

As blurry as his vision was, a piercing cry cut through the air, making his heart quicken. The sight that met him stole the words and breath from his throat. Then the Divine Voice spoke in a somber tone. Divine Light Extinguished. Core Bearer: Zoe Mort has perished. Total cohort count: 5.