Neo stayed hidden behind the veil of roots and leaves, one hand hooked against the edge of the opening while he watched the gray-haired boy below.

The bastard had stopped near the statue.

For a while, he only stood there, staring up at it with the kind of attention people gave to expensive things they had no right to touch. Then Neo heard him mutter to himself.

"Would this sell for a lot? If I could get something like this outside the Breach... yeah, some collector of exotic garbage would pay absurd money for it."

Neo almost snorted.

He wasn’t wrong about that. A giant white angel statue from inside a sealed Breach probably would fetch a disgusting amount of Creds somewhere.

The image came to him at once.

A few rich idiots bidding over a piece of stone while pretending they understood history.

Then he let the thought go.

The main door was opening again.

Neo shifted his attention there at once.

Three more entered.

Two of them were the larger men from the gray-haired boy’s group, broad enough that the chamber looked smaller around them. The third was built more like the one already inside, another leaner fighter of similar age. Neo had seen all of them before near the entrance.

So it wasn’t just curiosity.

They were doing this regularly.

One of the bigger men rolled a shoulder and said, "We should move fast and squeeze as much out of this as we can before the rest of the camp finally grows a spine and tries to clear the tower."

The other gave a short laugh. "Most of them are still scared. Let them stay scared. All five of us reached Vein because of this place. Nico’s outside guarding the entrance."

Neo held his position and kept listening.

’Squeeze as much out of this as we can.’

So that was it.

He had guessed they were using the tower for something, but hearing it from their own mouths was enough.

They weren’t standing at the entrance to protect anyone. They had turned the tower into their private hunting ground and the camp’s fear into free time to grow stronger.

Filthy and effective.

They had found a camp too frightened to move and built a little kingdom out of it. As long as the tower stayed wrapped in fear, they could keep walking in and taking what they wanted.

Neo watched them a little longer, trying to judge whether they were heading upward or working only on the lower floors. The answer didn’t come fast enough, and the light outside had already started changing.

Morning.

If he took much longer, he’d walk back into Byron’s hut smelling like old stone and trouble, and Snot would start asking questions he didn’t feel like dodging on an empty stomach. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Neo began climbing down the way he had come, faster than before but with enough care not to become a corpse splattered against the cliff.

By the time his boots touched ground, he was sweating, dirty, and badly in need of something between a bath and divine intervention.

He flexed one hand and glanced up at the sky.

’It could rain. That’d be nice.’

The camp was still half asleep when he crossed back through it. Most of the fires had burned low. A few people were already awake, moving with the slow heaviness of those who had gone to bed tired and risen the same way. Others stayed buried under blankets and rough furs, clinging to the last scraps of rest they could get in a place like this.

The black-haired girl was outside too.

She noticed him this time.

And, strangely enough, lifted a hand in a small greeting.

Neo paused by instinct, then returned it with the barest motion before continuing.

’She looks better than last night.’ The grief was still there, but it no longer looked like it might drag her into the earth with the rest of them.

By the time Neo reached the hut, Snot was already awake.

He stood near the entrance stretching one arm across his chest, his hair a mess, his face still carrying the remains of sleep. Max, meanwhile, had kicked half his blanket away and was snoring on his back with his shirt off, one hand absently scratching across the absurd wall of muscle that passed for his torso.

Snot glanced over first. "You weren’t sleeping?"

Neo stepped inside. "Went out for a walk. Hard to sleep beside that." He jerked his chin toward Max. "Every few breaths he sounds like a wounded beast trying to curse the world before it dies."

A grin spread across Snot’s face.

"Yeah," he said. "I can’t even argue with that. I didn’t sleep well either."

Neo sat down across from him and rolled his shoulders once. "Byron’s making the announcement today."

"He is." Snot rubbed at the back of his neck. "Hopefully people take it better this time. I’d love to get out of this place, honestly. We’ve already spent weeks in this Breach."

Neo studied him for a beat before speaking.

"Is someone waiting for you outside?"

Snot didn’t joke this time.

"Yeah. My little sister. She’s ten."

Neo leaned back slightly. "You take care of her?"

"Since a while ago, yeah."

"What about your parents?"

Snot exhaled through his nose. "Dead. Breach work."Snot said it plainly. "Yours?"

"My father died when a Breach opened and they failed to close it in time. Soul Beasts got out." Neo answered without changing tone. "My mother died sick. I couldn’t afford to treat it."

Snot went quiet for a breath.

"Any brothers or sisters?" he asked.

"None. Just me."

Snot nodded once. "So yeah. I raised her alone."

Neo looked at him a little longer. "That’s rough."

Snot gave a crooked smile. "Life’s got a nasty sense of humor. But I don’t regret it. She’s..." He gave up on finding the right word and shrugged. "She’s the reason I keep moving."

Before Neo could answer, Max stirred, stretched both arms high enough to make half his frame bunch and shift, and blinked himself awake.

"Oh," he muttered, voice still thick with sleep. "You’re both up already?"

Snot turned toward him at once. "With your snoring, I’m amazed anyone in this camp managed it."

Max frowned. "I don’t snore."

Neo answered before Snot could.

"No. Of course not. Mountains don’t collapse either. They just occasionally scream in their sleep and shake the ground out of habit."

Snot barked out a laugh.

Max stared at the two of them in offended disbelief. "That’s exaggerated."

"Nah, he’s being generous," Snot said.

The flap at the entrance opened before Max could defend his dignity any further.

Marika stepped in first, Alice right behind her.

Marika took one look at Snot’s face and asked, "Why are you two in such a good mood this early?"

Snot pointed at Max as if presenting the answer. "Because Max woke up and reminded us that subtlety was never one of his gifts."

"I heard that," Max muttered.

Alice’s mouth twitched faintly.

Snot clapped his hands once. "Anyway. Breakfast together? Byron’s giving the announcement after, so we may as well eat before the camp starts screaming at itself again."

Marika nodded. "That sounds good."

Neo stayed quiet.

He wasn’t thinking about breakfast. He was thinking about the four men inside the tower. About Vein. About the way they had spoken, not like explorers gambling their lives, but like men revisiting a profitable corner shop before the crowd noticed the stock.

And he was thinking about Snot.

’Tonight,’ Neo thought, glancing at him from the side. ’I’ll tell him.’

He wouldn’t tell Snot everything. The hidden chamber would stay buried for now, just like the Divine relic resting inside his soul.

But he would tell him enough to make sure he wouldn’t go in alone next time.

Neo had no intention of wandering in there again alone if he could avoid it. Two were better than one, and Snot was worth more at his side than as one more risk behind him.

For now, though, he left the thought there for later and joined the others for breakfast.

Before long, the whole camp would be at each other’s throats again.