They walked for hours.

They fought three more times. A pair of Ashen Stalkers that came out of a collapsed archway. A lone Stone-Shell Crab the size of a cart wheel that Emric pinned against a wall while Lyra finished it. A group of six smaller Crawlers that Renna thinned out before they reached the formation.

By the time Emric said "I believe that’s it," his shield had four new scratches and Renna had burned through most of her first arrow set.

"I believe that’s it" meant he could see the glow ahead through the fog.

The Safe Zone must have been a beautiful place once.

Once a huge temple, now it was mostly rubble, with just enough walls still standing to suggest the shape of what it used to be. But the formation circle carved into the stone floor around it was still good.

At its edge, the fog stopped.

Inside the circle, the air was clean. Holden felt it the moment they crossed the threshold. The pressure on his filter reduced to nothing. He took one breath through his nose and tasted fresh air.

Renna let out a breath that was somewhere between a sigh of relief and a tiny victory cheer.

"That," she said, "is the best air I have ever breathed. I will never take air for granted again. Not even bad air. Any air that isn’t actively trying to dissolve me is good air."

Several other teams were already inside, scattered across the temple floor in groups of four. Most of them looked like they had been through more fights than Holden’s team. Two students near the far wall were being wrapped up by a teammate with bandaging strips.

Everyone looked tired.

Holden scanned the space.

There was a good corner on the east side. It was a little higher than the rest of the floor and distant from the crowded middle area.

He pointed to it. "There."

He got three steps toward it before Draven’s voice cut across the temple.

"Oh, excellent. The discount squad made it."

Draven was at the best spot in the temple: the raised section near the back wall, right where the formation energy was densest. His squad of eight were spread out around him, looking almost offensively fresh.

Draven himself was resting against a carved column, watching Holden’s team arrival like he had been waiting for them specifically.

"I have to say," he announced, loudly enough that every other team in the temple could hear him clearly, "I’m genuinely impressed you made it. I had my doubts." His eyes moved to Emric’s shield with theatrical concern. "That’s quite a lot of damage you’ve picked up. Had a rough trip? I guess that basic shield doesn’t hold up well in a long fight. It’s just not made for real combat."

Emric’s hand tightened on the shield strap.

Draven moved his eyes to Renna. There was some grey dust on her arm from a monster that got too close in their second fight. Her boots were still damp from when she accidentally walked through a deep spot in the fog.

"And the archer," Draven continued, tilting his head with an expression of mock sympathy. "You look like you’ve been through something unpleasant. Are you alright? It must be difficult, doing all of this without proper equipment. Some of us prepared. Others..." He opened one hand toward Renna’s general direction. "Well. You end up looking like that."

A few students from other teams glanced over. Some looked away quickly. Some didn’t.

Emric took half a step forward.

Holden put a hand on his shoulder and then moved toward the east corner. That was all he did.

His team followed.

Emric came last. He was still looking back over his shoulder.

"Save it," Holden said quietly.

Emric turned around and sat down against the wall with his shield. He looked like a man who had decided to keep his mouth shut, but was still struggling with how much he wanted to say.

Renna dropped down beside him. "He’s not worth the energy," she said. "He’s sitting there all clean and smug because he bought better gear, not because he’s actually better. Those are really different things."

"They are very different things," Emric agreed. He sounded calmer already.

Lyra sat down last. She said nothing about Draven. She looked at the formation circle and at the entry path the other teams were still trickling in through.

"We eat," she said. "Then we rest. We need to be ready for whatever the next eight hours brings."

Nobody argued with that.

The ruins went dark fast.

There was no sunset inside the spatial rift.

Renna was fast asleep. She had finished her meal, leaned against her pack, and fell asleep. Her bow was still across her lap and her hand had stayed on it while she slept.

Emric lasted slightly longer. He made it through a full equipment check, organized both his and Renna’s remaining supplies, wrote several lines of notes in his small journal, and then sat back and closed his eyes.

Thump.

His head dropped.

Two seconds later, he was breathing steadily.

Lyra looked at Holden.

"I’ll take first watch," she said. "Four hours. Then you."

"That’s fine," he said.

She sat down, held her spear across her lap and watched the path they had come from. She didn’t close her eyes once; she was looking for any movement in the dark.

Holden lay on the floor and acted like he was sleeping.

An hour passed.

Renna’s breathing was deep and even. Emric had started making a very faint sound that wasn’t snoring but was clearly its close relative.

Holden sat up.

Lyra turned her head.

"Scout the perimeter," he said quietly. "Make sure nothing is working up to the circle edge."

She looked at him closely for a second. Her eyes were calm, but that worried feeling from earlier that morning came back to her face for a moment. She quickly hid her feelings and gave him a single nod.

"I’ll be right back," he said.

He walked toward the edge of the formation circle, stepped across the line, and the clean air disappeared.

The fog rolled back in around his ankles.

He kept walking.

Holden came to a stop about sixty feet away. A collapsed wall blocked the light from the camp, keeping him hidden in the dark.

He stood there for a moment, listening.

There was nothing nearby. He could tell that two things were moving far away to the north. In the west, there was one more creature that was huge and moving very slowly.

He reached inside himself and let go.

The mask he had been wearing all day dropped.

WHOOSH.

The 8-Star aura came up instantly around his body, and the fog around him evaporated. Every particle of toxic energy that made contact with his field broke apart before it could do anything.

He breathed in, and his body processed what came through before it reached his lungs.

He didn’t need the filter anymore.

He pulled it down around his chin and let the full 1,000x multiplier open all the way.

Everything around him lit up in his mind. Without using his eyes, he could suddenly see a map of his surroundings through the energy in the air. He knew exactly where the fog was heavy and precisely where the monsters were located, even from a distance.

Farther in, well past the areas any student was supposed to explore, he felt a flicker of energy. It was a slow, quiet heartbeat, like a plant fighting to survive in a place where nothing else could grow.

This was the Ashen Lotus.

Holden drew the Star-Forged sword and ran.