Chương 72: Sometimes, simply talking is enough.

Lloyd and his new team sat silently around the campfire. Casper leaned against a tree, staring up at the starry, if fake, sky as always — his dark eyes reflecting the occasional spark leaping from the fire, his face just as unreadable as it had been the moment they first met.

Every now and then the wind carried distant forest sounds across the clearing — the snap of a branch, the rustle of leaves — but none of them flinched at these sounds anymore, as if two days of fighting side by side had made them numb to any lurking danger.

Lorian had settled somewhere high up among the tree branches, clearly finding it unpleasant to stay too close to humans — every so often a faint rustling of leaves reminded them of his presence up there, hidden in the darkness of the canopy, and occasionally a lone leaf drifted down, spinning slowly in the firelight.

Brand stared into the flames, their glow dancing in his eyes, reflecting the color of his own fire, still smoldering faintly and evenly across his shoulders, lending his whole figure a strange, otherworldly glow amid the deepening night. Lloyd, meanwhile, finished roasting the meat from the monster they'd killed earlier, skewered on an improvised spit whittled from a branch, watching drops of fat fall and hiss against the glowing coals.

His team, strong as it was, had absolutely no teamwork to speak of — they hadn't even bothered setting up a sleep schedule, each of them simply drifting off and waking whenever they felt like it, relying on luck and general vigilance — or more accurately, on the quiet trust that had formed between them in such a short time.

Once the meat had developed an appetizing black crust, crackling with heat and giving off a rich, smoky aroma, Lloyd pulled it from the fire and, swallowing back saliva, turned it over in his hands, checking that it had cooked evenly all the way through.

"Well, let's take stock." Lloyd bit off a large chunk of meat, juice trickling down and dripping onto the ground in dark drops, leaving a greasy sheen on his fingers.

"I've been here two days now. This whole time, we've only run into other Players and Shadow-rank monsters. Not even a hint of a Phantom, let alone a Nightmare. So what's the catch? Or am I just overthinking this..." He took another bite of meat, chewing thoughtfully, staring into the darkness of the forest beyond the ring of firelight, where the shadows of the trees wove together into an impenetrable black wall.

"Well, I guess there's no point racking my brain over it — everything's going to be over tomorrow anyway. With a team like this, I clearly have nothing to worry about." Suddenly Lloyd felt a heavy gaze fixed on him. Looking around, he noticed Brand staring straight at him without looking away, as though weighing something important that had been troubling him for a while. Lloyd swallowed nervously, feeling a faint chill run down his spine, the bite of meat catching for a moment in his throat. — Something wrong?

Brand stayed silent for a few seconds, as if lost in a trance, his gaze fixed somewhere through Lloyd, at some point far beyond the present moment, but then he snapped out of it abruptly, giving his head a short shake. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. — Yeah, there's something I wanted to say. Lloyd stopped chewing, setting the meat down on a flat stone beside the fire, showing he was listening closely. — Sorry, I was wrong back then.

Your appearance was identical, but now I'm sure it wasn't you. Anyway, I owe you. Lloyd studied Brand intently, feeling a faint unease stirring in his chest. At first he didn't even understand what Brand was talking about — that whole situation had slipped his mind over the past two days, lost somewhere among the endless skirmishes and constant moving from one danger to the next. But still, something about it nagged at him, scratching at the edge of his awareness.

"Identical appearance? Now that's something new." He took another bite of meat and, chewing, said thoughtfully, trying to sound calmer than he actually felt. — Can you tell me more? You'd be doing me a favor. Brand simply nodded silently, the firelight flickering across his skin trembling slightly, as though responding to a rush of memory, the flames flaring a touch brighter for a moment before settling back down. — That day was, to put it mildly, not my best. I saw you...

He scratched the back of his head, clearly choosing his words carefully, his gaze drifting back into the darkness of the forest. — Well, your copy, I mean. Beating a kitten. I'm not exactly an animal lover, but I couldn't let that slide either. When I got closer, I saw his face. It was identical to yours — the only thing different was the eyes. They were almost the same, but something about them was off, colder somehow, like there was nothing alive behind them.

In the end, unfortunately, I couldn't catch him — he was faster than me, disappeared somewhere among the streets. After a day like that, I didn't even bother figuring things out when I saw you, and, well, you know the rest... Lloyd listened in silence, feeling his appetite fade, the meat in his hand suddenly tasteless, as though the whole story had killed his hunger entirely. — So there's an evil twin of mine wandering around the city somewhere? Well, that's news.

Brand looked at Lloyd with clear surprise, raising an eyebrow, as though he'd expected an entirely different reaction — anger, offense, anything but this calm. — You don't look angry. Lloyd turned his gaze toward the beautiful silver moon hanging above the treetops, its cold light filtering through the leaves, casting strange patterns across the ground that trembled along with the light night breeze. — Well, I'm not the type to hold a grudge for long, especially since you saved me.

It'd be pretty stupid to still be upset about it. Brand only lowered his head silently in response, and his flame grew noticeably dimmer, settling into a soft, even glow, like the smoldering embers of a dying fire.

Over these two days, Lloyd had come to understand that this was how Brand prepared for sleep — the flame shrinking down to its smallest state, though it never went out completely, as though the fire inside him could never truly die, only quiet down during rest, continuing to crackle softly somewhere deep beneath his skin.

But Lloyd had neither the time nor the desire to pepper Brand with more questions — after a satisfying meal, the pull toward the Realm of Dreams was irresistible, his eyelids growing heavy, his body aching with exhaustion after two straight days of fighting. The fire in front of him slowly burned down, crumbling into glowing embers, while the cool night air pleasantly chilled his overheated skin.

Giving in to that pull, he curled up right beside the smoldering fire, feeling its warmth against his face, the sounds of the night forest — the occasional chirp of some unknown insect, the rustle of leaves, a distant hoot that sounded almost like an owl — gradually fading away at the edge of his consciousness, giving way to a deep, dreamless sleep.