Chapter 16 - Spoils

Chapter 16 – Spoils

The silence after the battle was unnatural—like the air itself held its breath.

Caleb stood slouched, body shaking, his wounds raw and stinging. The frozen corpse at his feet no longer moved. Her severed tentacles curled like dead vines, twitching in the snow. Where her face had split apart in a grotesque maw, only stillness remained.

He didn't cheer. He didn't smile.

He barely breathed.

The fight had drained him, cracked something in him. For the first time, he'd come close—too close—to death.

Yet, somehow, he was still standing.

He staggered toward the altar, not thinking, just moving. Past shattered pews and ruined prayer stones, toward something—anything—that would justify this pain.

Behind the altar, under collapsed rubble and frost-covered bricks, he noticed it: a seam in the stone. Faint. Deliberate.

A hidden coffin.

His heart pounded as he knelt beside it. Using the kukri as a lever, he slowly pried the stone lid open. It groaned like a dying thing, the cold fighting him every inch.

Inside lay a skeleton, untouched by time. Draped over its body was a dark blue robe, long and finely woven, with fur lining the collar and sleeves. The cloth shimmered faintly beneath the dust, almost regal.

But what caught his attention even more were the bracer and breastplate already strapped onto it—part of the same set, built into the robe itself.

It was a survivor's garb—made not just for warmth, but for resilience.

And on the bony hand: a simple silver ring, without inscription, but polished clean.

He reached out and lifted the robe gently, the fabric warmer than expected. He slipped it on slowly—shoulders first, then arms, letting the bracer and breastplate settle naturally.

A perfect fit.

The fur lining shielded him almost immediately. The church's biting chill no longer pierced so deeply. And then, as he placed the ring on his finger, a cold pulse climbed his arm.

[Spatial Ring Acquired – Bound to User]

Storage Capacity: 1.5 cubic meters

Non-living items only. Contents preserved.

Accessible via intent.

Caleb exhaled, awe slipping into the breath.

No more dragging bleeding carcasses. No more stuffing gear in half-frozen pouches. This changed everything.

He turned to the coffin one last time and closed the lid with quiet respect.

That's when the message appeared. No sound. Just glowing words, drifting gently across his vision like falling snowflakes:

"Let the Warden rest beside the Cherished.

Only then shall stillness return."

Caleb froze.

He remembered the grave outside the church. A lonely marker buried in frost. Nameless, simple, untouched.

He turned toward the monster's corpse. Her grotesque limbs slumped against the stone, a body once filled with rage and frenzy now just… empty.

It had once stood watch over this place.

It had once been more than a monster.

He didn't understand the full meaning—but he understood enough.

Hours later, blood dried on his skin, muscles screaming, Caleb dragged the broken corpse to the stone coffin, as if making it possible for the Guardian to fulfill her duty forever. Through the snow. To the grave beneath.

It took everything he had left.

But as he lowered her near the unnamed resting place, he felt something shift. Not in the wind. Not in the snow.

In himself.

And without another word, he turned, and walked back into the cold.

End of the 16th chapter.