Their Tree

Kaiden blinked awake to the soft light filtering in through the infirmary curtains. It had been a couple of days since the Margin went haywire.

His chest hurt. His back ached. His side throbbed where the void-touched warrenhop had slashed him. But he was alive. He had vague flashes of shouting, the distorted screech of æsther-strained creatures, Irna's expression before her arrow vanished — and reappeared at the back of the monster's skull.

A knock at the door.

[ Niklaus ]

"You're awake..."

"Good."

[ Kaiden ]

"Pops..."

His tone was flat, but his eyes betrayed a tight relief. Nik stood at the doorway with a familiar face beside him.

"...Rio."

[ Rio ]

"The doctors brought you back, buddy..."

"You didn't make it easy."

Kaiden tried to smirk, then winced.

[ Kaiden ]

"You're welcome?"

[ Niklaus ]

"Don't joke about death, Kaiden."

"I taught you of Echo..."

"Not so that you could run straight toward it."

Angry. Maybe. But Nik's face definitely showed relief.

"You've been marked."

Kaiden's eyes narrowed.

[ Kaiden ]

"No story this time, Pops?"

"Hehe..."

[ Niklaus ]

"Heh..."

"The stories can wait."

"You just focus on getting those two feet of yours up and running again."

[ Kaiden ]

"Sure thing, Pops."

Kaiden slowly raised his hand, clutching, where Nik fistbumped it halfway.

Nik handed him a slip of printed æsther-paper — an auto-log from the HEART system. A phrase near the bottom glowed faintly in red:

[ HEART - Status Alert ]

Anomaly Resonance Detected

Trait Classification – Tier 0: Under Observation

[ Kaiden ]

"...What the hell does that mean?"

[ Niklaus ]

"The System is putting you under quarantine."

"Watchlisted."

[ Kaiden ]

"The creatures..."

"They weren't normal."

"Distorted."

Nik nodded.

[ Niklaus ]

"They're being called Phase-Touched Warrenhops now."

"Something to do with æsther fold anomalies."

"The Empire's sending people from the Capital."

"Serious ones."

Kaiden leaned back, processing. The æsther around that part of the Margin must've warped — something wrong, something unstable.

[ Rio ]

"People are whispering about what happened out there."

[ Kaiden ]

"Let them..."

"Whisper."

[ Niklaus ]

"Be careful, boy."

"Not every story about anomalies ends kindly."

Nik left with a final look over his shoulder. A warning. A truth.

"I'll be back..."

"There are people I have to meet."

The door clicked shut behind him.

Kaiden exhaled. His heart hadn't stopped pounding.

A beat later, the door opened again — this time less formally.

[ Dessie ]

"Well, well."

"Sleeping Beauty lives."

Kaiden turned his head slowly.

[ Kaiden ]

"...You bring sweets."

[ Dessie ]

"Of course, I brought sweets."

"But if you're going to be cheeky, I'll eat the strawberry mochi myself."

She dropped the paper box on the table, settling beside him with a huff.

"Your name's all over the gossip lines."

[ Kaiden ]

"I..."

"Don't care."

[ Dessie ]

"Figures."

"But Irna does."

Kaiden blinked.

Then he noticed her — sitting on the chair in the far corner of the room, silent, half-shrouded in the curtain's shadow. Her hands rested in her lap. Her gaze had been fixed on him the entire time.

Dessie raised an eyebrow and gave a low whistle.

"Well. I guess I'll..."

"Leave you two to whatever this is."

She winked at Kaiden on the way out, but her eyes lingered on Irna with a flicker of something — half teasing. Half something else. Jealousy, maybe.

◈◈◈

Back at the dorm, the world had fallen into uneasy calm. Nerim and Rio were the only ones still awake.

[ Nerim ]

"...You think we'll all survive this place?"

Rio didn't respond right away.

[ Rio ]

"We're not all meant to survive."

[ Nerim ]

"...Well, that's a bummer."

[ Rio ]

"But if we trust each other..."

He closed his eyes.

"Maybe we won't have to face it alone."

[ Nerim ]

"And."

"What do you mean by..."

"Pirates?"

"Like all the skull flags and eye patches, kinda pirates?"

Rio didn't answer. He was already asleep.

Outside, under the tree by the bridge, the wind whispered through the branches.

And Kaiden was standing by it.

His chest still ached. The bandages itched.

He rolled up his sleeve and stared at the wound, sealed, but glowing faintly with æsther shimmer. A scar now.

He glanced up at the sky. The moon wasn't out tonight.

[ Kaiden ]

"How did the shot..."

"Redirected."

The question was whispered to no one.

Just the night. The arrow had disappeared. Folded. Like the world twisted itself to honor a belief.

Trust.

He remembered Irna's gaze — steady, full of unspoken fear and certainty. She didn't hesitate. Not because she knew it would work, but because she believed it might.

His fingers brushed the curse mark on his back.

For a moment, a heartbeat not his own.

A shiver ran through the branches. His æsther trembled in sync.

Then it vanished.

As if something had blinked.

[ Irna ]

"You're not supposed to be out here, you know."

[Kaiden]

"I needed some air..."

Kaiden answered before he even turned.

"Irna."

She walked toward him with soft steps, her expression unreadable. She wore her academy cloak over her nightclothes, hair loosely tied back. In her hand: an arrow.

She held it out to him.

[ Irna ]

"I figured you'd want the one that saved your life."

"Or at least..."

"It's twin."

Kaiden took it slowly, turning the shaft between his fingers.

[ Kaiden ]

"You aimed at me."

[ Irna ]

"Yes... I did."

She stepped beside him under the tree.

"And I trusted the space between us."

The air stilled between them. Neither moved.

Then Irna exhaled.

"I've been scared, Kaiden."

He looked at her.

"Ever since I felt my æsther start to shift..."

"After our training, I knew something was changing."

"But I didn't know if it was right."

"Or safe."

"Or if it is even, me."

Kaiden didn't interrupt.

[ Irna ]

"When the arrow disappeared."

"And then..."

"When it worked, part of me wanted to cheer."

"But the other part wondered."

[ Kaiden ]

"If it means something's broken?"

She nodded.

"It means something's waking."

He turned back to the tree.

"And you're not alone."

"If you ever take a step toward the void..."

"I'll be there."

"Even if you hate me for it."

Irna blinked.

[ Irna ]

"Kaiden..."

[Kaiden]

"You don't need to thank me."

"Just keep trusting the space between us."

They stood quietly then, the tree overhead rustling with a wind that hadn't been there moments ago.

Their tree.

The æsther shimmered faintly around the roots.

And somewhere deep in the dorm's walls, a system flag was updated. A silent note to the hidden Emergency Aptitude Assessment (EAA) rubric:

[ HEART - SYSTEM LOG ]

Observation: Accelerated Emotional Resonance Detected

The next trial waited...

Already watching.