After days of travel, the five of them finally arrived at the border of the Jargmund kingdom. The journey from the village had taken them through dense forests, steep hills, overgrown ruins, and even under a roaring waterfall that seemed to mark the boundary of their known world. The scorching sun was high above them in a clear, cloudy sky, casting long shadows as they slowly approached the towering gates of Jargmund before dusk swallowed the entire road.

  Namien, unusually, had been quiet for the last few hours as their journey drew closer to Jargmund. He kept looking at the horizon, as if burdened by a memory or a premonition he couldn't share, feeling that something bad would happen sooner or later.

  Sora noticed Namien's unusual behavior but chose not to say anything and everyone walked with a quiet tension, their steps slowing as the kingdom loomed larger in their sight. In front of the Jargmund kingdom's gate, the Jargmund soldiers guarding the front gate were heavily armed. When the soldiers saw the five of them approaching, they decided to leave their posts and stepped out of the gate to approach them, spears already in their grasp, their eyes narrowed.

  "Halt! State your names and your purpose here!" one of the soldiers barked at the five of them as the others observed the group suspiciously.

  They all stopped their steps, and Namien stepped forward to face the soldiers. His voice was calm, but Namien spoke to them with an expression he had never shown before. "Can you guarantee that stating our names will get you to let us in?"

  The soldier's gaze sharpened on Namien. "At least state your name, or you won't be able to use that tongue of yours to speak anymore."

  Namien took a slow breath, then exhaled. "Namien, Namien Solis."

  There was a pause, as if the air had been sucked out of the ground. The soldiers immediately took out a piece of paper, read its contents, looked back at Namien again, and then the Jargmund soldiers immediately raised their weapons and pointed them at the five without hesitation.

  "Ha? You say you're Namien? You are under arrest because you are on the list of people who must die before The King Goulash. You'd better prepare your last words before meeting the king who will separate your head from your neck."

  One of the soldiers said, ready to finish the five of them at the front gate. This, of course, provoked a reaction from the five of them, who immediately took up ready stances to attack. Before anyone could react, a small confrontation occurred, drawing more Jargmund soldiers who appeared from behind the walls.

  The sound of the soldiers' swords began to ring as they were drawn from their scabbards, forming a formation that tightly encircled the five of them, leaving no room to retreat. Kaelith's eyes widened. "Namien... what have you done, you idiot?"

  However, the situation worsened when one of the Jargmund kingdom's generals appeared on his horse. When the general reached them, he dismounted, and his eyes began to observe each of their five faces, one by one, like an eagle searching for its prey. His eyes stopped when the general looked at Kaelith, who was already on guard with her bow.

  "You! You are Kaelith Virandel. You have a bounty on your head of ten thousand gold coins. You should have been dead long ago, but I never expected my lucky day would tell me you are still alive, and furthermore, right here at this moment." Kaelith, shocked by this, immediately changed her position as someone recognized her, and her hand quickly drew her bowstring taut, aiming at the general who knew her.

  Then the general's cynical gaze shifted to Vael and Arelan, seeing the faded emblem on their armor. "The Borreal emblem? Arrest these two as well, who wear armor bearing the Borreal emblem! This is our threat and The King dislike this kingdom on the past before."

  His expression became grim and furious, his tone rising as he saw the Borreal emblem on Vael and Arelan's armor. Kaelith gritted her teeth in great frustration as the Jargmund soldiers intended to annihilate the five of them there. Even Sora, who had been calm while walking, now saw the situation was highly unstable, and if a fight broke out, it was impossible to win against the number of Jargmund soldiers.

  Kaelith muttered emotionally, still aiming her arrow at the general, "They're making a fatal mistake trying to capture us." she hissed, drawing her arm back, ready to release the arrow she had prepared.

  Vael drew his sword, sensing a fight was imminent, and Arelan's face turned cold as he took out his axes and took a defensive stance while watching the surrounding Jargmund soldiers.

  But Namien raised his voice, not in panic, but to stop his friends. "Stop! You can't win this fight against them in here now. If you want to die, do it without dragging me and the others down with your wills. But who will look after him if we fall now?"

  Namien eyes shifted to Sora, and Namien's words made Kaelith, Vael, and Arelan freeze instantly on their spot because they had a point on Namien said. Sora hadn't been mentioned as someone who could be detained in the Jargmund kingdom, and if they started a fight here, they would indirectly involve Sora.

  Sora who hearing this, immediately turned to Namien, his facial expression showing a grimness he could no longer hide from his friends if they were separated, and he could only remain silent as he watched the guards begin to approach Kaelith, Vael, Namien, and Arelan warily, slowly starting to bind their hands to be taken as prisoners in the Jargmund kingdom.

  Sora's hand unconsciously clenched tightly as he bowed his head, unable to watch his friends being arrested without being able to do anything but stand quietly and watch the four of them walk away with their hands tied.

  But Sora also did not move to start a fight, because he knew his resistance would be futile and would cause even worse things later if a clash with the Jargmund soldiers occurred. Kaelith looked back to see Sora one last time before she was taken away to the prison, muttering softly and faintly,

  "Sora..."

  But Sora, seeing this, could only stand there helplessly and without taking any action, his head still bowed, gripping his sword tightly. Finally, Sora sheathed his sword back in its scabbard with resignation. Kaelith, Namien, Vael, and Arelan were all taken away with their hands bound and dragged through the gate like criminals bound by the mistakes they had made, their past shadows impacting them to this day.

  Only Sora remained, standing alone in front of the kingdom's gate, filled with silence, suppressing his feelings as he watched his friends arrested just like that.

  The soldier, seeing Sora had no record or anything suspicious, allowed Sora to enter Jargmund and opened the way for him, letting him pass freely, their spears lowered to the ground. Sora walked through the gate with heavy steps as he saw his friends, who he considered part of his life's journey, now behind bars for the past mistakes of the four of them, which he hadn't known about.

  Behind him, the sun disappeared completely, leaving only regret in his chest and the knowledge that, for now, he was the only one left standing. Sora walked aimlessly through the streets inside Jargmund, his footsteps echoing faintly among the unworthy, and in some cases, squalid stone buildings, a stark difference from Elarion.

  The city was colder than Elarion, both in its condition and in the souls of its people, who walked with shoulders slumped and eyes downcast, their expressions etched with the bitterness of an uncertain life. Beggars in the corners of alleys were like shadows, and guards passed them without a single glance.

  It was nothing like the kingdom he had helped defend before and worse yet, his friends were now behind bars, arrested not for what they had done today, but for what the world remembered of them in their past. A truth that felt so heavy in his chest and bitter to accept, like sadness and emotions mixed up so much they couldn't be expressed by his mouth or even in writing.

  Sora feet finally stopped in front of a dimly lit bar, its wooden sign creaking in the wind like a warning to him. Without a word, he pushed the bar door open and went inside. The silence in the bar was so thick; people's eyes slowly turned towards him, their cups half-filled with beer, their gazes sharp, observing the stranger who was not from Jargmund.

  The smell of stale beer and cigarette smoke hung in the air up to the bar's ceiling, and there was no welcome inside, only suspicious stares directed at Sora. Sora slowly walked to the counter where the bartender was, his steps calm. He gave a simple gesture to the bartender with an open hand, fingers pointing down, then brought it to his mouth to request water. The bartender frowned and snapped at Sora.

  "Are you mute or just a fool communicating with that useless body language, huh?" The bartender's tirade also made him slam a dirty rag onto the counter in front of Sora.

  "We serve real drinks here as long as you have enough money, mute."

  Sora reached for the paper and pen he always carried and wrote, ‘Just water.’

  The bartender's lips twisted in annoyance that Sora hadn't done that from the start, and he said harshly.

  "Fine, the price is fifteen silver. If you're deaf and didn't hear me, or don't have enough money to pay, get out of here right now!"

  the bartender snapped at Sora, grabbing a glass that looked chipped at the rim and filling it from a water jug. Sora hesitated upon hearing the bartender's words and reached into his pouch, placing all the money he had only five silver coins on the counter.

  The bartender, seeing this, immediately berated him, about to throw him out of the bar. "Fifteen silver, idiot."

  Sora, hearing this, slowly stood up from his seat, ready to leave before being thrown out.

  “Put it on my bill for that guy.”

  A calm voice emerged from the corner of the bar, a woman's voice that Sora recognized. Sora turned his body and looked towards the source of the voice, and there she was, without her hood, her hair tangled from the cold wind outside, and her black eyes shining in the darkness like a black cat. Lyra Vesperia placed ten silver coins on the counter and sat down beside Sora.

  “You still don’t know how to ask for help, apparently?” she murmured softly and gently.

  Sora sat back down beside her, unsure whether to feel grateful or suspicious of her after the previous incident. Sora took the glass filled with water and drank it all, then pulled out his paper again and wrote to Lyra:

  ‘Why are you here?’

  Lyra read it, her eyes flickering over the letters, and answered Sora’s question with flatly. “I live here, grew up on these streets. Learned how to disappear in this kingdom long before The Gallows Sun found me, and I joined them to get out of here.”

  Sora was silent for a moment as he now understood what Lyra had meant before and saw a glimpse of Jargmund's current state. Sora carefully wrote another question:

  ‘What do you know about the royal prison?’

  Reading Sora's writing, something changed in Lyra's cold face. She leaned closer to Sora, and her voice was now softer as she told him about it.

  "Why are you asking me about that thing?" she asked, glancing around. Sora turned his paper over to the next page, writing quickly:

  ‘My friends were arrested by Jargmund soldiers for their pasts, and now they are locked up in prison.’

  Lyra sat hunched over, trying not to show any suspicious movements, her fingers tapping on the table. Her eyes narrowed slightly, not in judgment, but in calculation regarding Sora's question. "I also have a friend trapped in that place, and the guards in there can't be bribed. I've been watching that prison for years. There hasn't been a single case of a breakout and it's just a matter of waiting for the walls to collapse on their own due to its strictness." Lyra said in a whisper.

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  Sora wrote something with his pen again.

  ‘Then, how long will we wait to break into the prison to free your friend and my friends?’

  Lyra didn't answer immediately. Carefully, she took the paper and wrote a few words with Sora's pen, then gave it to him.

  ‘Maybe we won't just be waiting as long as you imagine. More precisely, we're preparing to bring it down, soon will be.’

  Sora read her writing, his eyes unblinking as Lyra's writing said

  ‘We.’

  This made Sora think hard about Lyra's words from when he met her in the village, offering the journey to Jargmund, until meeting her now, which left two important questions in his mind; ‘What is really happening right here now and this city? And who is the 'we' Lyra meant?’

  These questions continued to echo in Sora's mind as he tried to guess what Lyra meant. There, in that squalid and forgotten Jargmund bar, two quiet rebels sat side by side one born from the flames of war and the other born from the shadows of a corrupt kingdom to survive, both bound by the same mission, which was ; to destroy what could not be destroyed right now and save what was most important to them both.

  Meanwhile, inside Jargmund prison, Kaelith, Vael, Namien, and Arelan found themselves pushed and verbally abused as they walked down a long, narrow corridor flanked on both sides by rusty cell bars and the savage eyes of the inmates staring at the four of them. The four of them, their footsteps echoed with every movement, but not because of the sound of chains, which had been replaced with ropes to bind their hands, or their shoes, whose sound filled the entire prison.

  It was the harsh laughter and vulgar taunts from the prisoners behind their cells.

  "Well... well... well... look what we've got in here today!" one of them growled and shouted at the four of them from behind the bars.

  "Fresh meat and a sweet angel just fallen from heaven to hell, apparently. Is that a virgin woman to be tasted for us, perhaps?" a vulgar taunt from one of them who immediately looked at Kaelith; for them, it was the first time they had seen a woman in that prison in over a dozen years.

  Whispers of lustful hunger and temptation filled the corridor as several men pushed their faces and arms through their cell bars, their eyes staring at Kaelith with long-unvented desire, showing disgusting expressions. At one point, as the four of them walked down the prison corridor, one prisoner was seen sticking his tongue out like a starving dog, and beside that person, another shamelessly thrusted his hips forward against the iron bars, exposing his penis got erect genitals upon seeing Kaelith walk past his cells, with an obscene grin from behind his cell bars.

  Kaelith turned her face away, her eyes shut tight so as not to see the inmates' behavior, which disgusted her not out of shame, but because of her emotional desire to kill every single one of them for harassing her. Her hands were tied, but her muscles tensed with the desire to plant an arrow in every skull that dared to look at her and act like that. Her breathing was sharp and felt hot, and although she said nothing, the disgust in her gaze was louder than words.

  Vael walking behind her, saw it all, trying to restrain his emotions while his bound hands were still clenched so tightly that the leather of his gloves strained. His breathing slowed, controlled, as if about to draw the sword at his hip, but fate decreed otherwise, as he could do nothing but remain silent and hold back all the emotion that was boiling to the surface.

  Arelan who is behind Vael remained silent, but the muscles along his neck began to twitch, his face like a stone wall ready to smash anyone who tried to break through it, with a fire boiling beneath that stone wall. He had participated in many wars, seen betrayal and blood spilled on the ground, but what he saw now made his fingers itch to find a weapon and cut down those who dared to humiliate one of his companions in front of him.

  Namien walking in front of Kaelith, immediately slowed his pace, just to shield Kaelith from the verbal and indirect physical harassment, and mocked those in their cells.

  "The inhabitants of this prison are a disgrace to themselves as humans; given the gift of a mind to think, and they waste it on filthy things, following their desires like starving animals and obeyed their lust instead." He muttered cynically as he watched those behind the bars relentlessly hurl insults, harassment, and even threats at the four of them.

  Namien glanced to the side, his gaze landing on one prisoner who hissed at him like a raging animal and say to him with a taunt.

  “Help us all to satisfy our unsatisfied desires, you silly dumb ass.”

  The noise only broke when the prison warden shout to all of them,

  “SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS, YOU SHAMELESS WILD ANIMAL BASTARDS BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS ONE BY ONE ON YOUR STUPID BED WHILE YOU MASTURBATE IF YOU DON’T SHUT YOUR SILLY MOUTH NOW!”

  The tone cracked through the air like a whip, making the prisoners fall silent and flinch, slowly backing away from their cell bars, grumbling inappropriate things and even cursing the head warden, but the atmosphere in the prison fell silent, although some whispers could be heard.

  The head warden, a burly man with a scar on his neck, stared at the four of them who were waiting for their arrival in the prison corridor, which had returned to being tense and full of anxiety.

  It was then that Namien saw someone across from the cell that would become his, someone alone in his cell who seemed more dangerous than all the prisoners in the prison.

  A man with short hair sat there, his body covered in grayish-black stains, his arms folded across his chest, his legs stretched out casually, and his facial expression unreadable. He was silent as they walked into their cell while all the prisoners in the prison, who behaved like monkeys, began to show their lust, but he who was across the cell only laughed softly when they were silenced by a gorilla larger than them who warned them to be quiet for a moment. Namien's brow furrowed.

  "Well, look who I've found across the cell, sitting like a king among his rats in his rat kingdom." He muttered softly, but the man heard him, causing the man to look up at Namien.

  Their eyes met; in the man's gaze, there was no mockery and no taunting smirk towards Namien, just an astonished look and his eyes half-open.

  Then the man spoke with flatly, "I thought you'd be taller than I imagined, a snake who playing with fire."

  Namien frowned before responding to his words. "And I thought you'd be dead, gnawed on by the rats here."

  A booming laugh came from the man, and he answered Namien. "Not my time yet, I guess."

  "Your name is Silas, right?" Namien asked to that man while Kaelith, Vael, and Arelan looked at the man across the cell.

  "Depends on who's asking me, and I guess I'll take that as a yes, maybe." Silas replied, leaning his head against the stone wall behind him.

  "What's a man like you doing in here with these wild beasts?" Namien pressed, stepping closer to his cell bars.

  Namien ignored Kaelith's lingering emotion as she remembered their walk down the prison corridor earlier.

  “Same as you, maybe. Caught because I’m innocent of anything.” Silas replied with a soft chuckle, his voice like kicked gravel.

  “Get yourself ready, snake, when the time comes.” Silas added with a faint smirk. Namien tilted his head.

  “Ready for what?”

  Silas smirked gently. “Something called a revolution.”

  Those words hung in the air like a spark near dry tinder, making Vael turn towards him, slightly interested in Silas's words. Arelan raised an eyebrow, wondering if Silas was muttering something hopeful or just falsehood behind his words, and Kaelith, still tense and emotional from before, finally looked towards the conversation with curiosity.

  Namien didn't blink and asked Silas again. “Are you serious about what you said?”

  Silas smiled wider this time. “Absolutely.”

  Namien leaned in. “Then, when will it happen?”

  Silas chuckled softly. “Soon, maybe even sooner than you think. You'll know when you feel the ground beneath you start to shake and the sound of screams is heard when it has begun. Just wait for the signal.”

  Silas's eyes glistened in the dim prison torchlight and Namien stared at Silas for a long time, then stepped back from his cell bars, knowing Silas's words were not impossible because he had been in Jargmund before and knew its ins and outs.

  “You're crazier than I've ever heard before, and my own eyes prove it.”

  “Maybe you're right that I'm crazy, but even a madman knows when a rotten system needs to be burned until not even its ashes remain, right?” said the laughing Silas, folding his hands behind his head as if resting under a shady tree.

  Namien sat in the corner of his cell, his seat just a cold stone floor. He didn't look at the others, but one thought kept circling in his mind like an eagle over a dying deer, its prey, regarding Silas's words earlier.

  ‘When the signal comes...’

  Namien was so unsure whether he was afraid something he had heard about would appear, or excited if Silas's words came true. The sky above Jargmund had darkened into a silent blanket of night as Sora and Lyra left the squalid bar.

  Behind them, the air still felt heavy with the stench of rotten food and a despair that clung to every street stone and alleyway. Without a word, Lyra led the way, guiding Sora to her long-time hiding place. Sora followed her without averting his gaze, his footsteps echoing Lyra's as they both passed the squalid market stalls with the scent of rotten fruit and dried meat mixed with filth beside the drains, beggars muttering to themselves in the city corners asking for a little money, and a fight broke out in front of a stall just over a half-eaten apple behind them.

  A thief darted past, clutching his stolen goods, nearly touching Sora's shoulder, and not a single person stopped or chased him. Life here was a death experienced so slowly.

  They turned into a narrow alley where women in tattered silk clothes leaned out to attract the attention of every visitor passing between the alleys, standing beside their doorways and on the alley edges, their eyes decorated with makeup to make them look beautiful, the scent of their tempting perfume, trying to attract visitors with their clothes half-open in certain parts. One of them, seeing Sora walking behind Lyra, began her act by teasing him.

  "Well, aren't you a rare flower I've been looking for all this time, handsome?" the woman teased Sora with her characteristic charm and beauty, already adorned with makeup, making her look like a demon in the form of an angel, running her fingers along the wall and moving them closer with a slow finger movement towards Sora.

  "Come play with me, Darling. I promise I won't bite unless you ask me to be wilder than you can imagine, or even more than that."

  Sora, hearing her solicitation, began to swallow as the woman blocked his path, and he tried to step back awkwardly.

  Just as the woman began to step forward to approach Sora, Lyra's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

  "Not now! Escuse me." Lyra said coldly to that woman and pulled Sora past on her.

  The prostitute clicked her tongue as Sora and Lyra were far from her sight and rolled her eyes, saying with annoyance.

  "Hmph, that bastard took my prey."

  The two of them continued their journey, which had been halted in the prostitution area, towards Lyra's hiding place.

  Finally, Lyra pushed aside a broken cart blocking the path that led to a forgotten sewer tunnel. The air turned colder now from inside the sewer hole, which was colored with damp moss and rusted metal. They descended into the hole through what was once a dry drainage channel that no longer functioned, but was now repurposed into something more meaningful. Sora's eyes widened when he arrived at the place Lyra showed him, seeing a place buried beneath the rot and shadows of Jargmund; there was something he hadn't expected: a hidden resistance base. Lanterns shone on the stone walls, casting long shadows around.

  Worn-out tents and makeshift tables were arranged neatly, and there were only a few dozen people there, but they moved with a quiet purpose. The maps, weapons, and documents concerning the resistance they emitted in that place were so alive. No one there wore fine armor or had banners hanging. But in the eyes of everyone Sora passed, he saw a glimmer of resistance behind the decay that had occurred in their place.

  A young woman with short black curly hair, tan skin, and a teasing smile noticed Lyra and Sora's arrival, her eyes immediately locking on Lyra's hand, which was still loosely holding Sora's wrist.

  "Well, well, Lyra. Is that a new boyfriend you managed to smuggle in from outside?" she said, feigning a gasp of ignorance and teasing Lyra.

  Sora blinked in confusion when he heard her. Lyra didn't let go but also didn't change her expression.

  "He already belongs to someone, Rose. If I brought this person and considered him my boyfriend, there'd be a storm I don't want to face later." Lyra said it lightly and showed a relaxed expression.

  “Ooooh, then he must be special to the someone holding his hand, who claims he's already taken.” Rose murmured with a wide grin as she leaned against a tent pole behind her.

  Lyra walked past her without continuing the topic. “Don't ruin anything while I'm gone, not even the mood, Rose.”

  Rose just laughed behind them as they passed her. Sora, who was confused by Lyra, was finally led deeper into the central tent, which was larger than the others, with cloth maps pinned along the tent walls and candlelight flickering over papers filled with strategies, handwriting, and enemy movement patterns. In the center stood a woman in her early thirties with a firm posture, looking focused on one thing in her mind.

  She wore no armor, just dark leather gloves and a scarf on her shoulders. Her gaze was fixed on a half-open map before she saw the newcomers enter her tent.

  “Lyra, you're late. And, did you bring… him?” she said, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

  Lyra stepped aside and revealed Sora more clearly. “This is the one we've been looking for, the one who saved Elarion and the one who silenced the Black Maw commander alone in Elarion.” Lyra said without ceremony.

  The woman's face changed from suspicion to shock and curiosity at the sight of the very calm Sora. "My name is Veyla. Temporary commander until our real leader returns." Veyla nodded to Sora to introduce herself and show her respect. "And I suppose you're the one who made a hole in the enemy ranks without saying a single word, is that true?"

  Sora said nothing to Veyla's question, but his posture spoke more than any answer. Veyla's eyes narrowed slightly as she realized one thing. "He doesn't talk?"

  Lyra shook her head. "Not with words, because he was born mute, he said."

  "Alright, right now we need more actions with a greater impact rather than just a loud speech." Veyla said firmly.

  Sora, seeing the large map on Veyla's table, which had a red circle in the middle marking a tall stone building intended as the location of the Jargmund royal prison itself, Veyla followed his gaze.

  "You're not the only one who has someone inside. Our real commander is locked in there, and he's the reason we haven't launched our revolution and attack, which has been prepared for months, just to set him free for our plan to be realized. However, our plan... needs a little spark."

  Sora looked into Lyra's eyes, and now Sora knew the answer Lyra had meant all along, from their first meeting until now.

  "So, you came here to free your friends who are in prison, and now, fate gives you the chance to free them and free our leader at the same time." Veyla added, her hands resting on the map on her table. Sora nodded slightly to show he understood, and Lyra stepped closer.

  "The question is... can you wait until the resistance is ignited when the time comes?"

  In the dim candlelight, with a revolution and a rescue mission hanging in the balance, Sora just nodded his head firmly, indicating that he was ready for it.