Dawn illuminated Meira City’s rooftops, turning the slate tiles gold. The guild hall was quieter than usual Ludger, Viola, and Luna stood by the main doors with their packs strapped tight, travel cloaks pulled over their shoulders.

Gaius was already there, leaning against a support pillar with arms crossed. No bottle in sight this time—just the weight of a man who now had to let his pupils walk out into a mess he couldn’t control.

Viola bowed slightly, the stone sword on her back making the motion awkward. “Thank you for everything, Master Gaius.”

Luna inclined her head. “Your training kept them alive.”

Ludger just offered a small, crooked grin. “Appreciate the crash lesson in not dying.”

Gaius snorted. “Crash lesson, huh.” He straightened, eyes sweeping over them one by one. “Listen. Those low-lives you tangled with? They probably won’t take another direct swing at you any time soon—too risky after you slipped them. But they’re persistent. Cockroaches in cloaks.”

His gaze hardened. “Keep your guards up. Don’t get complacent just because daylight feels safe.”

Viola’s mouth tightened, but she nodded. Gaius exhaled through his nose. “I’ll dig into it from my end. See who’s bold enough to play games under my nose. Any solid reports I get, I’ll send them to Lord Torvares. He’ll know how to read between the lines.”

Viola blinked, surprised, then bowed again. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Gaius muttered. “Just stay alive long enough for the reports to matter.”

Ludger adjusted his pack straps, tone dry. “That’s the plan.”

They turned toward the doors. Sunlight spilled across the threshold, and for a moment the city smelled of stone dust and new beginnings instead of ambushes and secrets. Behind them, Gaius gave a single nod and went back to the pillar, already a man thinking of trails in the dark.

The road out of Meira City started as cobblestone and faded to hard-packed dirt between rolling hills. Dawn mist still clung to the grass, turning every step into a muted crunch. They weren’t running anymore—just walking—but the silence between them felt heavier than their packs.

Viola walked at Ludger’s side, her stone sword strapped across her back and her real sword on her side. The wide-eyed excitement she’d shown when they first entered the labyrinth was gone; her gaze stayed forward, jaw set, shoulders square. The ambush had carved a new kind of focus into her.

Ludger watched her out of the corner of his eye. Then he flicked his fingers subtly and sent a thin ridge of earth shifting under her boot.

She stumbled, catching herself with a startled step. “—Hey!” She swung her glare at him, cheeks flushing. “What are you doing?”

He raised his hands, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. “Relax. Training reflexes.”

Viola’s glare sharpened. “Not funny.”

“Didn’t say it was.” His tone stayed even, the smirk fading. “I’m not telling you to ignore assassins, Viola. But you don’t have to knot yourself up over every shadow, either. Especially not cowards who need cheap tricks to get anywhere.”

Her jaw loosened a fraction, but she still scowled. “You’re impossible.”

“True.” He adjusted his pack straps. “But you’re still on your feet.”

Luna walked a pace behind, eyes moving over the horizon, but a faint ghost of a smile flickered across her lips at the exchange. The road stretched ahead into the rising sun—quiet for now, but alive with possibilities.

Ludger walked a half-step ahead of Viola, palm trailing near the ground. Every so often a small depression bloomed under her next stride—just big enough for her boot to sink or twist.

Viola’s eyes narrowed. She managed to dance around a few of them, hopping lightly on the packed earth. Then one appeared under her heel and she stumbled with a hiss, catching herself on her sword’s hilt.

“You’re doing it on purpose,” she snapped, cheeks flushed.

“Obviously.” Ludger didn’t even look up, fingers sketching another pulse into the dirt. “Reflexes, footwork, situational awareness. Dungeon floors don’t always stay flat for you, you know.”

She shot him a glare, but the next hole she anticipated and skipped over cleanly.

Luna walked behind, silent and watchful, but the faintest smirk touched her lips at Viola’s muttered curses.

Ludger let the magic fade and straightened, rolling his shoulders. She’s getting better. And if I can manipulate the ground this fast…

The thought uncoiled like a new tunnel. Could I use it to move myself faster? Sliding plates, stepping stones, a ripple under my own feet instead of theirs…

He flexed his fingers, feeling the slow throb of mana in his core. He wasn’t in a rush—their trip would only last two days at a normal pace—but anything that kept his hands busy and sharpened his skills was welcome.

He cracked a dry grin. “Alright, Crimson Horn. Take five. You’re improving.”

Viola exhaled hard, brushing dust off her leggings. “One of these days, I’m going to trip you instead.”

“Looking forward to it.”

The road stretched ahead under a pale sky, and Ludger’s mind churned with ways to turn earth itself into his ally on the march.

Once Viola stopped complaining about “trip traps,” Ludger slowed his steps, letting her and Luna drift a pace ahead. He pressed his palm toward the dirt, feeling the grain and density through the thin trickle of mana he’d been feeding out all morning.

Moving others is easy, he thought. Moving myself? That’s different.

He tried a simple push first—shaping a lump of earth under his boot to rise and shove. The result was a clumsy hop forward that nearly threw him off balance. Viola glanced over her shoulder, eyebrow raised, but said nothing.

He exhaled, thinking it through. Stone Grip anchors, Earth Manipulation shapes. Combined… I could build a plate, grip it, and let it shoot me forward like a rail.

He drew a deeper breath and fed both skills at once. The road under his soles hardened into a narrow strip; his mana lashed around it like invisible fingers, gripping and snapping it forward. The earth bucked under him, launching him a meter ahead.

He landed awkwardly but upright, a small thrill prickling his skin. “Better.” Again he shaped the ground—smaller this time, less mana—and rode the lurch like a board skimming a wave. The push was smoother, more controlled.

Viola turned fully now, eyes wide. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Experimenting,” he said, stepping off the new plate and shaping the next one. “If I can make the ground trip you, I can make it carry me.”

Another pulse, another glide—this one almost graceful. Sweat beaded at his temples from the mana draw, but he grinned anyway. Not there yet, but it’ll come. One push at a time.

Luna’s mouth quirked at the corner. “Just don’t break your ankles before we reach the next town.”

Ludger let the plate dissolve back into the dirt and fell into step with them again, mind already calculating ways to refine the technique without burning through his core.

By midday of the second day the road had leveled out into low fields dotted with scrub trees. They stopped at a half-collapsed milestone to eat—dry bread, jerky, and water from a shallow stream. The sun burned high overhead, turning the dust white.

Ludger sat cross-legged a little apart from the others, eyes half-closed, palms resting on his knees. Threads of mana crept from his feet and spine into the soil. Small ripples trembled under the grass, shifting pebbles and blades without a single gesture.

If I have to raise a wall or set a trap in front of someone watching, waving my hands is basically painting a target on myself, he thought. Need to move earth like breathing. Invisible.

He inhaled slowly, shaping a tiny ridge to curl around his boot without lifting a finger. It sagged, reformed, then slithered away like a slow worm. Sweat pricked his temples. Each attempt got a little less clumsy.

A shadow fell across him. He opened one eye. Viola stood there, arms crossed, expression set.

“I’m heading home,” she announced. “I’ll sleep at Father’s house tonight. But tomorrow I’ll come back to my own place.”

Ludger blinked, letting the ripple of mana fade back into the ground. “That’s sudden.”

Viola shrugged, glancing toward the road back toward Meira. “After everything in the labyrinth, I…just need to see him. Remind myself why I’m doing this.” Her tone wasn’t defensive, just firm.

Ludger nodded once, reading the tension in her shoulders. “Fine. Just don’t return so suddenly, I need some time to prepare for all the noise and chaos.”

She gave him a quick, grateful look before turning away. Luna watched silently from under a tree, the breeze tugging at her hair. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes flicked between them, measuring the change in their little trio.

Ludger rolled his shoulders, feeling the earth under him settle again. Hands or no hands, I’ve still got work to do, he thought, and went back to shaping ridges with nothing but his will.

By the time night settled in, the road had turned familiar again—stone markers, neat hedgerows, and the distant glow of lanterns outlining Koa City’s walls. Crickets chirped in the grass and the smell of hearth smoke drifted on the breeze.

Ludger adjusted his pack straps and let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. The weight in his chest eased a little with every step toward the gates. After nearly two months away, the city’s warm glow felt almost unreal.

They passed through the outer checkpoint without incident, guards barely glancing at their travel papers. Inside, the streets were alive with evening voices—vendors packing up, children running across cobblestones, smiths closing their shutters. It smelled like spiced meat and iron instead of dust and mana-burn.

Ludger slowed near a fountain, watching the light ripple across the water. Two months, he thought. Longest I’ve ever been away from home. Longer than I ever planned to be.

He rolled his shoulders, feeling the stiffness there but also a strange calm. For the first time since the labyrinth ambush, he didn’t feel watched.

The cobblestones of Koa’s back streets gave way to the narrow lane where Ludger’s home sat, its familiar wooden eaves lit by a single lantern swaying in the evening breeze. Viola had rejoined them at the gate, her expression calmer after her stop at her father’s house, and Luna walked a quiet half-step behind.

Something felt off before Ludger even reached the door. The windows were dark. No clatter of plates, no smell of stew drifting out to greet them. At this hour his father usually had dinner half-served.

Viola frowned. “It’s too quiet.”

Ludger’s stomach tightened. He pushed the door open.

The dining room sat in a pool of muted lamplight. Arslan was there at the table, but not in any way Ludger wanted to see him—forearms on the wood, head buried between them. For a heartbeat Ludger thought he was asleep. Then he noticed the tension in his shoulders and the way his fingers curled loosely around a half-empty mug.

It was too late in the night for a nap at the table, and Arslan didn’t look drunk. He looked…drained. Like someone who had been holding up the roof of the world for hours and had just set it down.

The door creaked. Arslan stirred, lifting his head. His face was pale under the lamplight, eyes ringed but clear. When he saw them in the doorway he straightened slowly and managed a tired smile.

“You’re back,” he said, voice rough but steady. “Good.”

No slur, no bitterness—just exhaustion etched into every line of him. Ludger exchanged a glance with Viola and Luna before stepping inside, setting his pack down quietly. Whatever had worn Arslan down, it wasn’t a bottle. It was something heavier.

Arslan pushed himself up from the table, rubbing a hand over his face. The tired smile shifted into something wry as his eyes flicked from Ludger to Viola.

“I’m glad you’re both fine,” he said, voice low but clear. “If the two of you had come back in pieces…” He let the sentence hang for a beat, then added, “my spirit probably couldn’t hold it.”

Viola blinked. “Wait—your spirit?”

Ludger tilted his head, brow furrowing. “Since when are you talking like a dying sage?”

Arslan chuckled under his breath, the sound more like gravel than mirth. “What? A father can’t get dramatic about his kids coming home from playing hero in a death maze?”

Viola shot Ludger a puzzled look. Ludger met it with an equal one, both of them unsure if their father was joking, confessing, or half-serious. The exhaustion in Arslan’s eyes didn’t match the dry tone of his words, and that only made the moment stranger.

Arslan waved a hand as if brushing away the mood. “Sit down. Eat something. I’m too tired to lecture you properly tonight.”

Ludger and Viola shared another glance—silent question marks hanging between them—before stepping further into the room.

Ludger set his pack down by the door and stepped closer to the table. The air smelled of cold stew and burned lamp oil.

“Did something happen?” he asked quietly.

Arslan shook his head, slow and deliberate. “No. Everything’s fine.” He eased back into his chair, shoulders sagging. “Just tired, that’s all. Things will be fine from now on.”

He gave a faint, crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Now that you’re here, your mother will stop asking if I’ve heard from you every five minutes. I’ve been getting an earful about everything that could have happened to you—bandits, monsters, cultists, traps—over and over.”

Ludger blinked. The words settled like stones in his gut. So that’s what’s been wearing him down… not danger, but listening to every nightmare scenario on loop.

Arslan rubbed at the back of his neck. “Every night the same questions. Every rumor she heard at the market. I couldn’t tell her anything except that you were capable and still breathing.”

Viola’s face softened; she glanced at Ludger, who was suddenly aware of how his mother’s worry must have echoed in his father’s ears for weeks.

“Sorry, Father,” Ludger said quietly.

Arslan waved him off with a tired chuckle. “You don’t need to apologize for being alive. Just… eat, rest. Let me sit here for a minute without another question about cultists or collapsing tunnels.”

He pushed the cold stew toward them, still wearing that worn-out half smile.

Ludger exhaled, understanding dawning, and for the first time since walking through the door the house felt like home again.

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