Heading Up Stream (8)

The sun pressed gently through the leaves as the group continued upstream. Birds chirped overhead, some with sounds too unnatural to belong in the real world. The breeze danced along the water's surface, and for once, the forest didn't feel like it was trying to kill them.

Warren walked beside Vin, the silence between them more comfortable than it had been days before.

"You said something back at camp," Warren started, keeping his eyes on the path ahead. "About will… being what made you strong. What did you mean by that?"

Vin didn't look at him. "Exactly what it sounded like."

"You're saying... just wanting to be strong makes you strong?"

"No," Vin said flatly. "Everyone wants to be strong. That's not will. Real will is deeper than wanting. It's something you carry with you in anything you do every fight , every breath. It's what shapes the world around you."

Warren furrowed his brow, clearly unsatisfied.

Thankfully, Kaela chimed in.

"What he's trying—and failing—to say. Is that will isn't just a concept here. It's a kind of... spiritual energy. A force that lives inside you. The more powerful your will, the more you can affect the world."

"That sounds..." Warren tilted his head, "vague."

"Then let me make it clearer," Kaela said, quickening her pace to catch up to Warren. "When you kill something in this world, especially something with strong instincts or spirit, you inherit a piece of its will. That's how people grow stronger here."

Warren's eyes widened. "Wait, so... when Vin used the Kanabō, and I did too—he was stronger because...?"

Kaela nodded. "Because his will was stronger than yours. The weapon responds to it. Bound items feed off your willpower. That's how you summon them. That's how you wield them."

"And sometimes," she added, her tone lowering slightly, "if the creature had a strong enough will, its death can leave behind something more than energy. Weapons. Armor. Even relics of immense—"

"You don't need to worry about that," Vin interrupted, voice sharp.

Kaela paused. Warren looked between them.

"Oh?" he said.

Vin continued walking, hands behind his back.

"Once we get you to the base, you won't have to come into the woods again if you don't want to. There are plenty of people who never step outside the walls. Honestly, most of them don't."

Warren blinked. "So the Veil has people... just living? Inside a settlement?"

Vin nodded once. "A fortress. Bigger than any city you've seen. Guards, medics, traders. People trying to build a life out here, despite everything."

"And you two? You come and go from the settlement often?"

Kaela answered, but her tone was... hesitant. "We're scouts. That's our job. In and out."

"So then..." Warren frowned. "When we get there, I guess I won't be seeing much of you anymore."

Kaela's gaze drifted downward.

"That all depends on you. If you choose to become a scout... well, then maybe."

Warren raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very sure."

Vin cut in.

"Scouts are always sent out in pairs. Unless they're mentoring a probationary member. And even then, no one chooses their partner or trainee. It's assigned."

Warren's shoulders slumped. "So there's a chance I could get trained by you guys...?"

"Not likely, Kaela and I are part of the elite unit. We handle priority missions. Dangerous ones. Missions where dragging along a new recruit would only slow us down."

Warren didn't respond.

His thoughts drifted to the fight with the red wolves. He remembered Vin's injured arm. Kaela flying into the river. The blood. The pain. And his own useless fear.

'Is that what I am to them? Just dead weight?'

Kaela must have noticed his expression, because she moved beside him and gently nudged his arm.

"Don't get too worked up about it," she said with a crooked smile. "We haven't even made it to the settlement yet."

Warren looked over, meeting her gaze.

"Like I said," she continued. "Planning is useless here. Just act. Don't think."

"...Right." Warrens tone rather dejected.

The three of them kept walking, the sound of the river filling the quiet between their words. But Warren's mind kept spinning.

'If I want to stay with them... I have to get stronger. I can't afford to be useless.'

His eyes flicked between the two walking ahead of him. Vin moved with mechanical precision, every step measured despite the faint limp that still lingered. Kaela kept close, her gaze drifting toward the water every now and then, lost in some thought Warren couldn't guess.

He cleared his throat. "Can I ask you both something?"

Vin gave a subtle grunt. Kaela glanced over her shoulder with a small smile.

"Have either of you ever heard of something called the... Will of Envy?"

The reaction was immediate.

Vin stopped walking mid-step. Kaela froze too. The air between them went rigid.

They turned slowly.

Kaela's voice came first, carefully measured. "Where did you hear that?"

Warren hesitated. His heart began to race. But he'd come this far.

"In the cave... where you found me, there was a stone. I was bleeding, and when I touched it, I heard a voice. It said I acquired the 'Will of Envy.' That's all I know."

Vin's eyes narrowed. His expression unreadable, but intense. Warren couldn't tell if it was suspicion, disdain, or pity. Maybe a mix of all three.

"Are you sure?" Vin asked.

"Pretty sure," Warren replied, forcing confidence into his voice he didn't feel.

Kaela and Vin exchanged a long, silent look.

Warren had traveled with them long enough to recognize when they were silently weighing something between them. And this wasn't the kind of silent glance people gave when deciding who should carry the supplies.

No, this was heavier.

This was fear. Calculation. Something Warren didn't want to think too hard about.

Vin opened his mouth to speak.

Kaela cut him off. "It's... probably just like the relics I mentioned. You might've triggered one that was dormant. Usually, that only happens when someone kills something with a strong enough will."

"But I didn't kill anything," Warren said quickly. "I just touched it. The stone, I mean. It was already there. I haven't killed anything since I got here. I swear."

Kaela nodded slowly. "Right."

"Then it might've been leftover," she added, softer.

Vin finally turned away, his voice sharp and clipped. "We should keep going."

His tone was back to the one Warren first remembered. Cold. Calculated. Distant.

Kaela followed suit without another word.

Warren stood still for a moment, the river flowing beside him, whispering just loud enough to fill the silence the others left behind. He hurried after them, but something had changed.

They were different now.

It was subtle—barely noticeable—but the shift was there. Kaela no longer glanced back to check on him. Vin's strides had lengthened. The comfortable quiet had become heavy.

'They're hiding something.'

'And I just became a liability again.'

They walked in silence for a while longer, the bubbling river the only sound between them. Warren didn't know what the Will of Envy meant—but whatever it was, it scared them.

And that scared him.