No one spoke.

  The forest wind moved slowly through the trees, carrying the smell of wet soil and distant smoke from the fortress in the valley below.

  Kaito stood in front of us, looking exactly the same as he always had.

  Same messy hair.

  Same tired eyes.

  Same silver lighter in his hand.

  But now it felt like I was looking at a completely different person.

  An alien.

  A soldier from another world.

  A man who had been waiting ten years for me.

  Shouta finally broke the silence.

  "So… you're not human."

  Kaito shrugged slightly.

  "This body is."

  He flicked the lighter open.

  Click.

  A small flame appeared.

  For a moment the fire looked normal.

  Then it shifted.

  The orange flame turned white.

  Then blue.

  Then a strange violet color I had never seen before.

  The air around it bent slightly, like heat coming off asphalt.

  "Fire is just the closest thing your planet has to what my people can actually do," Kaito said calmly.

  He closed the lighter.

  The strange flame vanished.

  Yuna stared at him.

  "You knew Zero before all of this."

  "Yes."

  "You knew the Seven Kings before they ruled the world."

  "Yes."

  "You knew Raizen was going to become… this."

  Kaito looked at me.

  For the first time since his reveal, his eyes softened slightly.

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  "I hoped he would."

  My head was still spinning.

  I looked down at my hands.

  Golden Zoryn flickered faintly between my fingers.

  This power.

  Zero inside me.

  Kaito waiting for me.

  It all sounded like something that should belong in a myth, not my life.

  "So what am I?" I asked quietly.

  No one answered immediately.

  Even Zero stayed silent.

  That scared me more than anything.

  Kaito leaned against a tree.

  "Right now?" he said.

  "You're a kid who accidentally woke up too early."

  I frowned.

  "That's not an answer."

  "No," Kaito said.

  "It's the only honest one."

  Zero finally spoke.

  His voice echoed inside my chest like distant thunder.

  “Your vessel is unstable.”

  Yuna and Shouta couldn't hear him, but I felt every word like a weight pressing on my ribs.

  “What does that mean?” I thought.

  “It means,” Zero said slowly, “your soul was never meant to hold this much Zoryn this soon.”

  A cold feeling crept into my stomach.

  “So I’m… breaking?”

  “Not yet.”

  That not yet didn't make me feel better.

  Kaito watched my face carefully.

  "He's talking to you right now, isn't he?"

  I nodded.

  "What did he say?"

  I hesitated.

  Then I told them.

  Kaito sighed quietly.

  "That makes sense."

  Yuna stepped forward immediately.

  "Wait, what makes sense?"

  Kaito pointed at me.

  "His Zoryn output is abnormal."

  Shouta frowned.

  "We all have powers now."

  "No," Kaito said.

  "You all opened a door."

  He tapped Raizen’s chest.

  "He broke the entire wall."

  The wind shifted.

  Down in the valley, the golden-armored High Lord was still floating above the fortress.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  Even from this distance, his presence pressed against my lungs like gravity.

  Kaito noticed me staring.

  "Don't worry about him yet."

  "Yet?" Shouta said nervously.

  Kaito gave a small smirk.

  "If he actually knew we were here, we would already be dead."

  Yuna crossed her arms.

  "So what now?"

  Kaito didn't answer immediately.

  Instead, he looked at the sky.

  The clouds were moving slowly across the pale afternoon sun.

  For the first time since we escaped the Sector, everything felt… quiet.

  Too quiet.

  "Now," Kaito said slowly,

  "we stop running for a moment."

  That surprised me.

  "You spent ten years waiting for me to wake up," I said.

  "And now you want to wait?"

  Kaito looked back at me.

  "Raizen."

  His voice was calm.

  Serious.

  "You just learned that the world is controlled by seven tyrants who betrayed a god."

  "You just found out your best friend is an alien soldier."

  "And you have a cosmic parasite living in your soul."

  He paused.

  "You are allowed to take five minutes."

  Shouta actually laughed.

  A short, tired laugh.

  "Yeah," he said.

  "I vote for the five minutes."

  Yuna sat down in the grass.

  "For once," she said, "Shouta has a good idea."

  For a moment…

  None of us spoke.

  The wind moved through the forest.

  Birds flew overhead.

  The High Lord continued hovering over the fortress, unaware that the future of the world was sitting quietly on a ridge nearby.

  Inside my chest, Zero whispered softly.

  “You are still weak.”

  “I know.”

  “But the Kings will eventually notice you.”

  “I know.”

  “And when they do…”

  His voice faded slightly.

  “…they will not send soldiers.”

  A chill ran down my spine.

  “What will they send?”

  Zero answered with a single word.

  “Hunters.”

  Kaito suddenly straightened.

  His eyes narrowed slightly toward the valley.

  "What is it?" Yuna asked.

  Kaito didn't answer immediately.

  Then he spoke quietly.

  "Looks like our five minutes are over."

  The High Lord below had finally stopped scanning the fortress.

  Slowly…

  Very slowly…

  He began turning his head toward the forest.

  Toward us.

  Zero whispered inside my mind.

  “He felt you.”

  Golden Zoryn sparked in my palms.

  Shouta stood up.

  Yuna’s blue shield flickered to life.

  Kaito flicked his lighter once.

  Click.

  A thin white flame appeared.

  "Stay calm," Kaito said quietly.

  "But get ready."

  The High Lord began rising into the air.

  Coming closer.

  "A hunter has noticed the scent."

  To be continued…