The wind howled across the barren expanse, carrying with it the scent of dust and decay.
The ruins behind me were already fading into the horizon, swallowed by the endless wastelands. Each step forward felt heavier than the last, the weight of what had just transpired pressing into my chest like a phantom grip that refused to let go.
I should have felt relieved.
I should have been grateful that I had made it out, that I was heading toward the only place left in this world where people like me had a chance to survive.
Instead, all I felt was a hollow ache gnawing at my ribs.
Because I had left him behind.
Matte.
I turned my head slightly, looking over my shoulder even though I knew I wouldn't see him. He was gone, just as he said he would be.
"This is where we part ways. I'll see you in The Underground."
His words still echoed in my head, steady and resolute, as if this was just another calculated step in his journey. As if he hadn't just thrown himself into the depths of hell with no guarantee of ever making it out.
And I had let him.
I had to.
I knew the risks of traveling together. It was too dangerous. Ren was still out there. The Dracus were still hunting us. And whatever Matte was becoming, it was starting to draw attention from enemies far worse than any we had faced before.
But it didn't make it any easier to walk away.
I adjusted my cloak, pulling it tighter around my shoulders as I pressed forward, forcing my mind to focus on what lay ahead.
The Underground.
The last true sanctuary for those who refused to be controlled by the Dracus.
It was a city buried beneath the ruins of NuTerra, hidden in the depths where Interlogue's reach was weakest. A place where the awakened gathered in secret, where those who defied the system could still fight back.
It was where I needed to be.
It was where Matte needed to be.
But part of me wondered…
Would he even make it there?
Would he still be the same by the time he did?
I exhaled sharply, shaking the thought from my head. It didn't matter. What mattered was moving forward, reaching The Underground before Ren, before the Dracus, before the world closed in on me completely.
But even as I walked, my mind betrayed me, dragging me back to where it all started.
Matte should have died that first night.
When I found him in the wastelands, when I saw the state he was in—beaten, bloodied, barely breathing—I had no reason to believe he would survive.
But he did.
I told myself I stayed because I was curious. Because he was an anomaly.
A human without an Interlogue.
A ghost in a world that tracked every soul.
Someone who wasn't supposed to exist.
But it wasn't just that.
I had seen the way he moved, the way he fought—raw, relentless, unyielding. There was no refinement, no practiced technique, just pure survival instinct.
But it wasn't reckless.
It was intentional.
It was dangerous.
And then there was Voidscar.
That damn dagger.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It wasn't Null. It wasn't bound by the system. It felt… alive. Like it had a will of its own, a hunger that couldn't be satisfied.
And Matte wielded it like it had always been a part of him.
That was what scared me the most.
Not just the weapon.
But the way he used it.
As if he had done it before.
As if this wasn't the first time he had killed.
Then, when he faced off against Ren, I was long gone, but I still had a visibility on the fight due to one of my abilities. I could imbue my Null into objects and gather visuals from them.
When they began to fight, this was the first time I saw Ren hesitate, that's when I was certain he was different.
Ren had always been ruthless, always confident, always the one with the upper hand. But when he saw Matte, when he saw Voidscar in his hands, there was something else in his eyes.
Doubt.
For the first time, Ren wasn't sure.
And he was right to be afraid.
Matte didn't just fight him.
He tore him down.
It wasn't easy. Ren was faster, stronger, more experienced. But Matte did something that no one had ever done before.
He turned Ren's own power against him.
He used Voidscar to strip him of everything he had stolen.
He emptied him.
And Ren—**the man who had killed without hesitation, who had stolen the lives of countless awakened—**was left powerless.
That was the moment I knew.
Matte wasn't just surviving.
He was changing.
He was becoming something else.
Something even the Dracus would fear.
We escaped Ren in The Wastelands only to be tracked down by Dracus Scouts.
I wasn't surprised when they found us.
Even after we had escaped, I knew we weren't safe.
The Dracus had been watching. Waiting. Analyzing every step we took, knowing exactly what we had done.
And when I saw them lurking in the shadows, I realized the truth.
They weren't here to kill us.
They were here to confirm something.
Something far worse.
Matte wasn't just some rogue human.
He was a problem.
A glitch in their system.
And if they had managed to report back…
Everything would have changed.
So he made sure they didn't.
He hunted them down, one by one.
Silent. Efficient. Merciless.
I had seen men fight for survival. I had seen warriors, assassins, awakened beings with years of experience.
But what I saw that night…
That wasn't survival.
That was calculated.
That was methodical.
That was predatory.
And it left me with a feeling I couldn't shake.
Matte wasn't just learning how to fight.
He was learning how to kill.
And he was getting better at it.
When it was over, when the last Dracus was dead and the dust had settled, he looked at me.
"This is where we part ways."
He said it so simply. So calmly.
Like none of it had mattered. Like what we had been through was just another step in his journey.
I had so many questions.
But I didn't ask them.
Because I knew what would happen if I did.
Matte was already walking a path I couldn't follow.
A path that led to something much bigger than just escaping the Dracus.
So I did the only thing I could do.
I turned away.
I walked.
And I didn't look back.
But now, as I made my way toward The Underground, every step pulling me further from him, I couldn't help but wonder…
Had I made the right choice?
Or had I just left behind the only person who could change everything?
And if he did—
Would he still be Matte when I saw him again?
Or would he be something else entirely?