CHAPTER 271: 271: THE ASHES OF HEAVEN, THE WEIGHT OF A CROWN

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The sky was quiet again. Not peaceful. Not healed. Just quiet. The kind of quiet that made the stars blink slower, like they too had held their breath for too long and were now unsure what came next.

Kai’s body lay still in the crater, legs sprawled, chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. A halo of scorched earth circled him like a battlefield crown, the air above still shimmering with the remnants of burned aura. His antennae twitched once. Then stopped.

"He’s alright," Vel whispered.

"Barely," Sha added, crouching at his side. She gently pressed two fingers to his temple ridge, where faint pulses of energy flickered like a dying candle.

Naaro’s arms were crossed as always, but her knuckles were white. "We need to move him. This place is unstable."

Akayoroi scanned the sky. "It is not unstable. It is cursed now. This land has witnessed a monster tier predator fall. The balance of fear will shift."

"I do not like the sound of that," said Azhara, who was still lounging dramatically across Kai’s torso as though it were a chaise longue. "Should we also shift? Maybe... to a hot spring?"

Vel rolled her eyes. "We need shelter. Aura shelter. One with reinforced grounding and spiritual dampeners."

"And a bed," Azhara added helpfully.

"And medical supplies," Naaro snapped. "His blood is seeping into the dirt."

Alka let out a low croon. She flapped her wings once, then knelt beside Kai. Gently, her beak nudged his side. She chirped. "We can take him to the mirror caves. I remember the way."

Vel nodded quickly. "Yes. The aura there is calm and dense. He will recover faster."

Akayoroi raised one hand. "Wait."

Everyone turned.

"The Crown has not faded," she said softly.

Indeed, above Kai’s unconscious body, a faint silver shape still lingered. A spectral crown of power. No longer blazing, but stable. As if Kai’s soul refused to let go of victory.

Vel held her breath. "He did not just win. He... claimed the sky."

"And that means others will come," Naaro said flatly. "The ones who saw. The ones who felt it. Beasts, predators, rulers, even humans might come. They will come."

Azhara blinked. "Let them come."

"You would say that while wearing his underwear on your head," Sha muttered.

"I call it courage fashion."

Alka let out a louder squawk to end the bickering. "Enough. I will carry him. Pack up. Now."

The group moved quickly. Vel gathered scrolls, sealing their aura traces. Sha wiped the blood from Kai’s carapace and wrapped his arms in bandages soaked in soul salve. Naaro scouted the air currents, scanning for new threats. Akayoroi stood guard, her antennae twitching to any shifts in aura. Azhara built a pillow nest for herself atop Alka’s back.

With a single smooth motion, the bird lifted Kai onto her back, his limp body cradled between her wing joints. His spear floated beside him, still humming faintly with heat.

As they took off, the crater below shrunk into the distance. It would remain a scar on the land. A warning to others.

The flight to the mirror caves took nearly an hour.

Vel crouched near the edge of the Alka’s back, her eyes narrowed as she gazed toward the shimmering distortion in the cliffside below. "That... is the Mirror Cave," she said, voice hushed as if the rocks themselves might be listening.

Azhara blinked. "Mirror? As in shiny and pretty? Or creepy and cursed?"

"Both," Vel answered grimly.

Sha, her blade already half-drawn, added, "It is not made of actual mirrors. The name comes from what it shows you. The cave is layered with star crystal veins that reflect more than light — they reflect your essence. Step inside, and it will reveal parts of you that you have buried. Memories. Doubts. Desires. Regrets."

A gust of cold wind rippled through the group.

Azhara squinted toward the entrance, where the stone shimmered like rippling water. "So... it’s a mind trap?"

"No," said Akayoroi softly. "It is a truth trap. And the truth can break you faster than any blade."

Vel continued, "Some say the cave was formed by the first Ruler who fell to madness. His final cry was so powerful it shattered reality within the mountain. Others say it is alive — a beast that feeds on reflection, growing fat on your fears."

Azhara scratched her cheek. "Or maybe it’s just really weird and makes you see things. Like that one time I stared into sir Kai’s eyes and saw myself marrying him, surrounded by underwear."

Naaro snorted. "That was probably just you. Why are you obsessed with sir Kai’s underwear?"

"But the cave?" Vel pressed. "It’s real. Very real. If you go in, be ready to meet yourself. All of yourself."

"Then let us hope we like what we see," she said. Azhara totally ignored the underwear obsession question.

And they were ready to descend.

Vel activated a time dilation spell to condense the fatigue. Akayoroi spread a protective mist across the group to shield their movement. No beast approached them. None dared.

When they landed, the mirror caves greeted them like a secret womb. The walls shimmered with star crystalline reflections, each surface gently pulsing with ambient aura. Pools of silver water glowed at their feet. The air was cool, but not cold. Heavy with silence, but not hostile.

Sha knelt first. She pressed her palm against the entrance stone. "It accepts him," she said. "Barely."

Kai’s body was placed on a soft moss bed inside the largest chamber. The girls arranged around him— some standing guard, others resting nearby. Azhara refused to leave his side.

"I swear if he wakes up and does not thank me by giving me a kiss for guarding his unconscious body, I will be very sad."

"He cannot hear you," Vel said dryly. "He is unconscious."

"He hears through spirit loyalty," Azhara insisted, tapping her forehead. "That’s how romance works. Sir Kai and I are linked by soul, you won’t understand."

"No," Sha said. "That is how delusion works."

"Same thing."