Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 55: The Last Favor

Ivor did not loosen his grip on the sword. His hand remained steady on the hilt as he looked straight into Luna’s eyes. Blood was already spreading across her chest, soaking into her clothes, dark and heavy.

She lifted her head with effort. Her breath came unevenly.

"Why?" she asked.

The word was soft, almost fragile, yet it carried more weight than the chaos they had just escaped.

For a brief moment, Ivor did not answer. The forest around them felt distant. He searched himself for answer and fount something which was simple and clear.

"I am following my instinct."

Luna’s eyes widened faintly at the reply. Then, unexpectedly, a weak, breathless chuckle escaped her. Whether it was disbelief or understanding, even she did not seem to know.

Her strength gave out.

She stumbled backward as the life drained from her limbs. Ivor pulled the sword free as she fell, the blade sliding out with a wet sound. Luna’s body hit the ground on her back, her gaze moving upward to stare at the tree tops and the faint blue visible sky.

Ivor remained standing over her, his expression unreadable. The forest wind moved softly through the trees, stirring leaves that had witnessed too much.

A faint sense of relief lingered in him, the knowledge that the danger she represented had been removed. Yet beneath that relief something more complicated had begun to stir. He had acted because he understood what her knowledge meant. She had seen him awaken. She knew the line he walked between two worlds. From the moment he had opened his eyes after returning from the Instinct Realm, his awareness had kept circling back to her.

His instinct had not allowed him peace. It had whispered of risk, of exposure, of consequences that would not remain contained. So he had done what the whisper demanded.

And now, as he watched her blood darken the soil, he found that the certainty did not quiet everything inside him.

The tightness in his chest felt familiar. It was the same hollow pressure he had once felt with Grunty. He did not regret the action. But he did not like the feeling either.

"I need... a favor."

Her voice was so faint that anyone else would have missed it. Only his sharpened senses caught the sound.

Without thinking, Ivor dropped to one knee beside her.

"My sister..." Luna breathed, each word thinning as her strength faded. "She’s with Nara. I was paying... for her safety." Her eyes struggled to stay fixed on his face. "She’s just a kid."

Her fingers twitched weakly.

"She’s a beast... like us. She hasn’t awakened yet."

A faint tremor passed through her body as she forced the last of her strength into her voice.

"Don’t let them chain her."

Her gaze searched his, pleading.

"Can you do that?"

Her hand lifted slowly, trembling, reaching toward his face. It did not reach him. The strength left her before her fingers could touch his skin. Her arm fell.

Ivor caught her hand before it hit the ground. Her eyes remained open, fixed on him. The life within them faded gradually, not in an instant, but in a slow retreat that left only silence behind.

Ivor stayed kneeling beside her for several long breaths, still holding her hand. It felt lighter already, as if the weight inside it had gone somewhere else. He had seen death before. The rolling head of Grunty was still fresh in his mind.

But this felt different. She had spoken to him moments ago. She had run beside him. She had fought for him and with him.

He slowly lowered her hand onto the ground.

For a few seconds, he simply stared at her face. She did not look angry or afraid. Just surprised, as if something unfinished had been taken from her too quickly.

He did not feel sad. The feeling inside him was not sharp enough to hurt him, but it was not empty either. It sat in his chest like a stone, heavy and unfamiliar. He tried to name it and failed. Regret? Maybe. Not for killing her. He understood why he had done it. If she had spoken about what she saw, everything would change. He would be hunted in ways he did not understand.

But he did not like that it had been her. He pushed that thought away.

His eyes shifted to the trees around him. There was no one around. Humans or skeletons.

He looked back at Luna.

"Instinct," he murmured quietly, more to himself than to her. "It is said beasts follow them."

His jaw tightened slightly. He reached forward and gently closed her eyes with his fingers.

For a brief moment, his thoughts drifted to his parents. If they were here, what would they say? Would they question him? Would they condemn what he had done?

No.

He knew they would not. He remembered the first rule they had taught him, the one repeated so often that it had become part of how he breathed.

"Do not be seen unless I choose to be," he whispered under his breath.

He had been seen. So he had acted.

The uneasy feeling in his chest did not vanish, but it settled into something firmer, something he could carry without stumbling. He placed it away, the same way he had done with Grunty. It did not disappear. It simply became part of him.

Then his thoughts shifted to what mattered now.

Her sister was with Nara. He did not fully understand what she meant by payment, but he understood this much that Nara did. He remained still for a few seconds, weighing the risk. Ryker and the others would have returned to the clearing. The injured would slow them. The chaos would create gaps.

He made his decision.

He wiped the blade of his sword clean against his torn pant leg, leaving dark streaks behind, then bent and lifted Luna’s body into his arms. She felt lighter than before. He kept the naked sword in his right hand, ready.

Without another glance backward, he changed direction and began moving toward the clearing where he believed Nara would still be.

His expression hardened.

His senses stretched outward as he advanced, listening for any sign of Ryker or his group. Every rustle, every shift of wind through the trees, every distant movement passed through him with new clarity.

He continued forward. Time passed as he crossed a significant distance without any disturbance when he suddenly heard a faint disturbance carried through the trees ahead of him.

It was not the heavy stride of a group moving together, but the uneven rhythm of two boys running side by side. He adjusted his path slightly and slipped behind the thick trunk of a tree, lowering Luna’s body carefully as he pressed his back against the bark. His breathing steadied, and his senses stretched outward.

Two figures rushed past along the narrow path ahead, their voices low but tense.

"We have to pull out of the Scar again," one of them muttered between breaths. "First yesterday, now this. We’ll lose days at this rate."

The other gave a short, irritated laugh. "Who would’ve thought Ryker would be pushed back by some no-name kid? And with that kind of backup too." His tone dropped further. "If this spreads, it won’t look good for him."

The first boy shook his head. "Yeah, but who even was that guy? Did Nara bring him? I’ve never seen him in the inner district."

They continued jogging, their voices fading as they disappeared deeper into the forest.

Ivor remained still for several seconds after the sound of their footsteps vanished. Only when he was certain the path ahead was clear did he step out from behind the tree, lift Luna once more, and continue moving. The wound on his back remained dull to his senses because of the Ember Seed, but it continued to bleed.

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