"Are you okay?" Vesta's voice was low, deliberate, as though she was trying not to startle him. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Sezel blinked and looked forward. She was sitting right in front of him, so close he could see the faint reflection of light trapped in her ruby eyes. It was already morning, yet the thunderclouds still roared, and the patter of rain had only grown dense overnight.

He dragged a hand through his sweat-matted white hair. His shirt clung wetly to his skin from how much he had been sweating. "Yeah… something like that," he muttered.

"Here." Vesta reached for a water bottle and held it out.

He took it, the plastic cool and slick against his palm, and pressed it to his lips. Half the bottle was gone before he lowered his hand again, the taste of stale, stored water trickling down his throat like a blessing.

When his gaze lifted again, his crimson eyes met hers, and for just a moment, he froze. Her eyes looked as if they were sparkling in the oppressive dark environment.

Then a jagged bolt of lightning split the clouds and, for the briefest heartbeat, the room was washed in silver-white brilliance. Every detail sharpened in that moment.

Her pale skin reflected the light perfectly, though a little dirt had settled over, it was still smooth as silk, and strands of black hair fell across her face like a half-drawn curtain. Sezel couldn't move his eyes off of her.

She was, for the most part, the most beautiful lady he had seen in his entire lifetime. A true princess indeed.

And then the light was gone, swallowed quickly by the storm. Sezel blinked, once, twice, then tore his eyes away, anywhere except on her. Only now did he realize that Mari was no longer curled on his lap.

His chest tightened. He scanned the room quickly, muscles tense, then exhaled when he spotted her. The little girl was by the window with Shiki, staring out at the strange, copper-tinted rain tumbling from the black sky.

Sezel took a breath of relief and sat down, cross-legged. The room was more clearly visible now that his eyes had adjusted. It was nearly empty — save for the rotten, half-eaten remains of what must once have been furniture: a wooden table reduced to skeletal planks, mostly devoured by time and bacteria.

Vines had crept inside high along the corners, ready to claim the room entirely.

Though it was daytime, the clouds outside strangled nearly all light. The world felt no less oppressive than it had under the moons.

_

_

_

Sezel stood at the fractured glass window, looking out through rain-streaked panes at the endless downpour. Vesta, Shiki, and Mari were asleep, as it was Sezel's turn to keep watch.

Fifteen days. That was how long they had been stranded here. Fifteen days since the venomous rain began. It was relentless, without pause, not even a second worth of mercy. There was no trace of life anywhere near, not even beasts. That hadn't happened after the rain, instead it had been like this since they entered this area.

They had explored the building methodically to pass the days and confirm its safety. A former school, there was no mistaking it once they found the classrooms. Rows of ruined wooden benches, rotted at the joints, their metal frames still stubbornly intact.

Even if the rain stopped now, they wouldn't be able to walk out. The floodwaters below had risen dangerously over the last two weeks, submerging the entire ground level and pooling in the streets beyond. The heavy rains over the last 15 days had caused the water levels to rise and caused floods.

It would take days, perhaps weeks, for it to recede enough to be traversable.

A normal, natural phenomenon. What was unnatural was the continuity of the storm for 15 days without stop.

Sezel was lost in some distant thoughts. His gaze drifted inward, unbidden, to the memory that had not left him since the night the storm began — the dream that felt like more than a dream. The bound man's hoarse cries, the tears falling into a pool of his own blood, the hopelessness as he whispered for someone to release him…

The nightmare hadn't repeated itself since. But the man's voice and the memory still clung to Sezel's mind vividly.

A few days ago, he and Shiki had ventured to the top floor. There, they discovered that the high wall behind the building was exactly as tall as the school itself, so if they could climb up to the roof, they would be able to look at what is beyond.

Their condition was certainly not what one would call hygienic. None of them had taken a bath from the moment they entered the Spirit Realm. There was no opportunity to.

The worst was their supplies.

Their food would most likely run out in another ten days. To stretch it, they had gone down to one meal a day, and Sezel had cut himself back even further, feeding Mari his portion and eating only once every two days.

The bottled water they had scavenged from the mall was coming to an end soon.

The condition summarized — if the rain wouldn't stop, they would all die here of thirst and starvation.

Sezel exhaled slowly, leaning one arm on the cracked window frame. A-Rank gate… this place is too massive. Could be twice the size of a continent, maybe bigger.

Unless some lucky bastard stumbles on the Heart by sheer accident, we could be looking at nearly a year before this expedition ends.

Nearly 500 Slayers were sent in from three countries, and so, fifteen hundred Slayers had entered when the gate opened.

The official goal was clear, collect Spirit Essence, map the unknown sectors. And Sezel and his newfound team were lacking on that aspect.

But Sezel's reasons for being here had nothing to do with Spirit Essence or proving himself. He had been told by the purple-haired girl that the answers he sought were here, and he was sure for some unknown reason that he would.

He might die here. But before that happened… he would learn what this place was.

A shift in sound pulled him from his thoughts, snapping his focus outward. The hiss of rainfall had… slowed.

He straightened instinctively, crimson eyes narrowing as he scanned the glass. Outside, the darkness was absolute, the sky still a ceiling of clouds. His heart picked up, thumping in his ears as he counted the seconds between each drop streaking down the cracked pane.

One… two…

The rain thinned further, tapering into single, isolated droplets.

Then, the last raindrop fell. Sezel lingered for a long moment. No drop followed.

After 15 days of relentless downpour, the rain had finally stopped.