“Ah, crap,” Rakna muttered as he caught the sight of his red tails. He blinked calmly and before he knew it, it turned back to normal. His eyes faded back to purple and he squinted. “It’s so easy now… it might not be dangerous anymore but I can’t have it change whenever I’m not focusing. Eye, lock it down unless I want to use it.”

|| Obsidian Blood Trigger Cannot Be Locked. Emotional Sensitivity Will Be Reduced Instead. ||

“That’s fine, I guess.” Rakna popped his neck and sighed. He glanced at the news feed and clicked his tongue. “This was already bad enough…”

“{What is so wrong about it? If I may ask,}” Fray raised his voice.

“Well, other than the problem of revealing one of my trump cards…” He trailed and very nervously opened his message list. He had turned off private notifications before because of a certain clingy vixen matriarch so he winced when he saw the unread messages he had.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna! Please respond. Where are you?

---

Rak, we saw the news. They say you healed and left but the girls are worried.

---

Hey, kid, you alright?

…

❮ ◈ ❯

“Shit,” he cursed. Thankfully, while they had shown him unconscious, they had also reported the fact that he was alive. “But those press mongers didn’t show any of it to generate as much traction as possible. It’s as bad as saying nothing,” he growled. “I hate reporters. It’s the same everywhere.”

“{Yes, well, what do you call it? Click baits, is it?}” Fray jested.

Rakna shook his head and turned to the person who messaged him the most. He knew his friends were worried about him, probably Flavia more than anything else, but he was aware of how much they trusted him and they knew what he mostly was capable of. Not to mention that Higure had a direct connection to him; she could tell if he was healthy or not.

“However,” he whispered and grimaced when he saw a certain message history of someone who had playfully forced him to change her contact’s name a few days ago.

❮ ◈ ❯

Wolfy! What the heck does it mean you’ve become an Emperor?! Even I don’t have a seat in the council!

Answer! I know mom annoys you but that’s not an excuse.

---

What happened?

Please. Wolfy, please say something. I'm not enough of a fool to not notice the severity of that injury.

Don’t do this to me, Rakna… Please…

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna could feel the anguish through the words alone. She rarely used his actual name and a knot formed in his throat. If he had to be honest, he was unsure of the relationship he had with Kaelith.

He had spent quite a fair amount of time with her in the past weeks and he enjoyed her company, but if she was something more than a friend, he wouldn’t even know how to ascertain it, much less deal with it.

“{Rakna,}” Fray spoke up and he stiffened at the serious tone. The Exalted Quill was many things, aggravating being on top of the list, but one other thing, the most important; he was wise. The man could empathize without even trying. He was as close as an empath a human could be.

Rakna was capable of reading people’s thoughts and intentions. But Fray was not only capable of that, but he also understood what people felt without even requiring prior experiences. He was a genius at understanding suffering. Much like the Crystal Sage once was.

“{Would you like me to give you some advice?}”

The therian didn’t say anything.

“{That is as much as an agreement I will ever get from you,}” he laughed lightly. “{This is something I have been meaning to tell you long since I met you. You call yourself broken, but you are not. You know it, but you look away. You believe that you must remain broken, lest you become a monster to everyone. Your journey, Weary Traveler, is slowly pulling you out of that mindset but this might be the best time to push you. The Dusk Lioness began this endeavor already; I shall end it.}”

“…”

“{Happiness does not come for you. You go after it. You hold it. When it passes by, you take every chance to grab it before it wilts. You, however, look at it, admire it, and let it go. I have been asked countless times in the past; how to find love? I have had centuries to formulate an answer for that one. I came up with many different ones. But, in the end, I settled with the very first answer that I came up with. Hundreds of years for naught.}”

Fray sighed and with a burst of soul power, he materialized as a ghost for the first time, right next to Rakna who merely glanced at him, not surprised by his ability to leave at any time he wanted.

“{What is the answer, you ask? Well, it is the simplest of all,}” he said and waved his fan. “{You take the chance and live it to the fullest. Love will never be yours if you do not try to take it. Especially… if it comes to you on its own and you ignore it.}”

Rakna held his gaze on the fabled author and looked back at his message window. “Go back inside, drama queen,” he said without much bite to it but Fray’s eyes widened as the therian’s soul power captured him and forced him to return to the soul realm.

“{Hahaha! Oh my, your soul has certainly grown strong,}” he said. “{To be able to cage me like this so easily. My, my, how scary you are,}” he added with a casual and joking tone, as per usual.

Rakna huffed. He selected Kaelith on his friend list and sent her a message. A very simple one that said that he was fine. He got an answer barely a second later.

❮ ◈ ❯ Where? ❮ ◈ ❯

He sighed.

❮ ◈ ❯

> Gravity Room

Stay put.

❮ ◈ ❯

He tilted his head at the reply and before he knew, Trii spoke up.

|| There is someone at the door, Sir. They- || The AI was interrupted by a deafening explosion that blew the door of the Gravity Room. Rakna blinked in shock as blue flames spread across the wall that faced him and a nine-tailed silhouette emerged from them.

“That’s the first time I see that break…” He muttered as a stone-faced Kaelith walked toward him. He almost felt scared because of her expression. ‘Is that what people feel like when they see me?’

“{Sort of,}” Fray said.

‘Poor them.’

“{Agreed.}”

Kaelith stopped in front of him with blue flames still lingering on her tails and ears. In his opinion, the silence that ensued was far louder than the explosion. When he was about to breach it, his eyes widened when he sensed danger. But even with his nearly 2 000 senses, he was not able to follow up physically.

Even Eye of Symphony failed to act, to the point where the pain simulation didn’t catch up nor was it capable of analyzing what happened. The next thing Rakna knew, he was being flung to the other side of the room. Pronos cried out as he was ejected by a small shockwave.

Rakna crashed on the wall and it surprisingly crumbled into pieces. It seemed that the room had lost its fortifications and its gravity control when she broke the entrance. Rakna grunted when the stinging pain from the program registered on his back.

‘Oh, really? I almost didn’t notice,’ he thought sarcastically as he sat up from the rubbles. Then, a hand grabbed his collar and pulled him up. He looked down and froze when he saw Kaelith in tears as she lifted him shakily. He was incapable of forming any thought until he formed the weakest smile that he ever made.

“I guess I deserved that, didn’t I?” He spoke softly.

“Yes… yes, you did,” she croaked out.

Rakna’s smile became a bit dimmer but Fray’s advice echoed in his head. He sighed and looked at her in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and she let go. He landed on his feet; his motor functions were better than ever and he didn’t stagger when he was dropped. The two stared at each other for a long time and this time, it was Kaelith who took the initiative to break the silence.

“I was worried…” She managed to say.

“I can tell,” he replied wryly.

She scowled at him and slowly wiped her tears. “That’s all you have to say?”

“…I apologize, Kaelith. I’m sorry for being inconsiderate,” he uttered and she trembled. “I’ve never had the need to reassure others. Years ago, whether I would get a bullet to my lung or my throat slit, I had nobody to tell of my survival. Not even Flavia or Allan. As for the old man… he’s another story. He was used to it as much as I was,” he paused and gazed at Kaelith who was listening to him. Pronos was watching them from the side, uncertain of what he should do.

Rakna’s wry smile was still there. “I could hide behind the excuse that this was shared without my knowledge, but I’m still as guilty for not even attempting to get back to anyone after something so important.”

Kaelith clenched her hands and breathed in. “This is unfair…” She muttered. “You should not have that smile on your face right now. This would be far easier if you just did what you always do and shrug off my hit with a snarky jab… Do you have any idea of how worried I was? I’ve spent the last thirty minutes assuming the worst and there you are, in a Gravity Room of all things.”

Rakna flinched at her shaky voice. As if the tears that were still flowing weren’t enough to stab a knife into his conscience.

“You-” She stopped and bit her lip. “Even if you don’t seem to want to hear it… I care for you.”

“{Poor girl, she must have tortured herself over the idea of losing you,}” Fray said but Rakna didn’t show any outward reaction to it. “{You are probably one of the very few, if not the only one aside from her family, that she decided to get close to without restraint. Rakna, let me pose you her very own question again. She is so much stronger. So powerful... But what does it matter if she cannot even save the life of her only friend? Her powerlessness… Do you understand how she felt?}”

Rakna closed his eyes and after five seconds of silence, Kaelith gritted her teeth. She stepped back and wiped her tears again before looking down. “Never mind. Pretend you didn’t hear-”

“Foxy.” His voice interrupted her and she almost thought she was hallucinating due to how warm and soft it sounded. She looked up and gaped in shock. Pronos’ jap literally dropped and he rubbed his eyes with the tip of his tail.

Rakna’s coldness had disappeared in its entirety and the smile wasn’t wry or forced on a mask of unfeeling flesh. The black color of his hair and fur slowly faded. But this was not the influence of Obsidian Blood, nor was it the Cold Star’s impact.

No, the color was pallid but not cold. It was icy but not but foreboding. It was a pale sky color that radiated nothing but a feeling of embrace and serenity. A soothing blue instead of the unmerciful white.

“I’ve never done this before,” he jolted Kaelith out of her stupor. His voice wasn’t distant like she knew it. It wasn’t cold. It was aloof but reserved and peaceful. And, dare she say it, caring.

“What do you-?” She closed her mouth instantly when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. It nearly made her hold her breath. She was hoping she wasn’t daydreaming.

“So, I guess I’ll settle this with a hug… Never done one of these before either,” Rakna chuckled from over her shoulder and she blinked. She didn’t know what was happening; she didn’t understand his sudden change. Did that bother her? No way in hell.

She slowly returned the hug, paradoxically feeling warm despite the chilly nature of the mana she could feel emanating from him. She gripped his coat tightly with both hands and rested her head on his shoulder. “Promise me something,” she whispered.

“…”

“Don’t do this to me again.”

“With all the weight that my words can possibly carry,” Rakna said wistfully. Even he wasn’t sure of what the color his fur meant. Nor did he care checking the warnings he was getting. All he knew was that he had never been more at peace with himself and he was about to say something that he could never take back… nor will he ever want to.

“I promise.”

* * *

Above a field of flowers, a certain star radiating merciless cold mellowed and turned to an icy blue in its entirety. A shell of shimmering and undulating crystal swallowed it and increased its shine to new heights; forsaking the white that held no color or ardor.

On the top of a crystal mountain, a sage being looked up with a smile as an enchanting blue snow began to fall along with petals. “This lonely peak will once again welcome the most enchanting of flakes. You are doing well, Bloodied Wolf. Mend your soul with splendor… and let us be again.”