It was the best possible explanation she could give. This way, they could seal in the radiation for a while but since they didn’t understand what radiation meant, she would stick to the poison logic.

​Kulu hesitated, his hand trembling as it hovered over his bone dagger. "Are you asking me to die right now, Hana?" He asked, his eyes filled with a mix of pain and something like pride.

"What are you talking about?"

"You are asking me to touch the very thing that has put my father in this state," Kulu said. "I thought you wanted to make me useful. Was this your plan to make me useful?"

His wings dropped, dejectedly, and Hana blinked.

Seriously, this guy... Did he even know what he was saying?

"Hey," Hana called, stepping into his space. "I am not asking you to die, and I am not asking you to touch that thing with your bare hands either. In order to follow me, you need to be able to trust me, Kulu. I protect my people once I have accepted them, despite our past grievances, so I would not do anything to hurt you." She explained.

Besides, you still haven’t given me that mark yet. I need to own you to get over fifty thousand points. I can’t have you dying now.

Kulu still looked a little skeptical, but he looked into her eyes, the very eyes he had been avoiding this whole time, and then he blushed.

Hana did not know why he blushed, but knew he was shy, given how he turned his head away as soon as she blinked.

"Then, if I touch the box... will my hands not become like my father’s?" He asked, and Hana nodded.

​"If you’re fast enough, and if you use the hide, you will not be affected at all," Hana said, her tone turning blunt again. "If you want to save him, as well as the future of your tribe, then you will trust me."

She sighed and then stepped away, standing in front of the box where the fusion cell was glowing, and a sweat rolled down her temple. The fusion cell was in the shape of a hexagonal cylinder.

It was dangerously beautiful.

"Every second you waste asking questions is another second your father breathes in the blue light," Hana said. "So, will you trust me on this, or will you paint me the villain before I even act like one?"

I’m trying to be a saint here, so hurry up before I change gears.

​Kulu swallowed hard. He looked at his father’s peeling face, then at Hana. The fear was still there, but a desperate, new spark of purpose was beginning to take root. He walked toward the rack and grabbed the thick leather.

Hana watched him, her mind already calculating the path back to the bunker.

He would have to carry it back first while she stays up, since he cannot carry her and the box at the same time. A small accident could make all of this come to naught.

"Wrap it triple-thick," she commanded. "Once it’s covered, the ’humming’ will quiet down. Then, take it down to the front of the bunker."

"Then why about you?" Kulu asked, turning to me.

"I’ll wait here for you. You can’t carry me and something so dangerous at the same time, you know," she said, and he turned his head, still skeptical, but he nodded.

​Kulu approached the stone box. As he threw the leather over the blue glow, the room suddenly plunged into a dim, shadow-filled grey. The loud, electric hum muffled into a low vibration.

​Hana felt the pressure on her skin lift slightly.

"Good. Now take it down fast."

Kulu nodded and immediately headed for the feather curtains before his mighty wings spread out, throwing himself off the cliff.

Hana watched and once he was out of sight, a familiar chime rang in her mind, accompanied by the blue glow of the window screen.

> ​[NOTIFICATION: ACT OF GENUINE PRESERVATION RECORDED]

> Description: You have removed a Tier-1 Biohazard from a primitive settlement, preventing the slow extinction of the Red Falcon Tribe.

> Moral Alignment: Kind / Protective.

> ​Reward: +10,000 Karmic Points.

> Bonus Item: [1x Grade-A Revitalization Pill]

> Directive: Administer to the Red Falcon Chief to stabilize genetic degradation.

> [CURRENT BALANCE: -1,173,380]

​Hana stared at the small, glowing white pill that materialized in her palm.

A kind act? she thought, a cynical smile touching her lips. I did it to get the door open, but I’m not about to argue with ten thousand points.

​She turned back to the bed of furs. The Chief looked even more pathetic now that the blue light was gone.

He looked like a heap of laundry left out in the rain to rot. His eyes tracked her movement as she approached, his gaze hollow and filled with a strange, lingering regret.

​"Is it... over?" the Chief rasped, his voice sounding like dry leaves skittering on pavement. "Will I get better... now that the Heart has stopped beating?"

​Hana stood over him, looking down at his peeling hands. "You changed your tune fast," she noted bluntly. "A few minutes ago, you were treating it like a god that shouldn’t be provoked."

​"I could not... move it," the Chief whispered, a tear of pain trailing down his raw cheek. "I thought it was a punishment. I thought the Sky Gods were rotting my flesh because I failed to take the lower lands... because I could not expand our territory for the young ones."

​Hana looked at the pill in her hand. This man was a conqueror by nature, but he was also a father and a leader who had been crushed by a technology he didn’t understand.

​"It wasn’t a punishment, and it wasn’t a curse," Hana said, her voice turning firm. "But if it’s expanding your territory you seek, then look no further. You’ve already lost Kulu."

​The Chief flinched, his breath hitching. "Kulu is... my heir. I have not lost him. He is..." he coughed, wheezing. "The future of this tribe."

​"Yeah, but he was the future of this tribe." Hana corrected, her eyes cold. "Now, he is mine. I will take him as my mate, and I will create offspring for him, along with the dragon heir already in my womb. I am building something, Chief. A place far more powerful than this cliff. If Kulu stays with me, your bloodline continues in a world that actually has a bright future."