Kruger

They ran until their legs screamed.

After the fight, Kaiell's strength had faded like a dying ember. Whatever had awakened inside him—it had come with a price. His muscles ached, vision blurred, and his chest burned with every breath.

But the jungle didn't care.

The Voidlings had smelled it.

Whatever burst of energy Kaiell unleashed had rippled out, invisible to the eye—but not to the predators. The trees echoed with distant shrieks. The scanner pinged too often to track. And the shadows seemed closer now.

Joran led them through thick underbrush, machete out, cutting a path between roots the size of walls.

"Cave. Waterfall. Anywhere isolated," he panted. "We need time to rest. You're running on fumes."

Kaiell nodded weakly. His body felt like it was trying to contain lightning in a cracked glass jar.

Finally, they found it—a deep ravine with moss-covered stones, and a small waterfall trickling into a pool. Cool. Hidden. For now, safe.

They collapsed behind a ledge, soaked in sweat, breathing ragged.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then the scanner chirped.

A blinking blue light appeared on both of their devices. A symbol—unknown, circular, with arcs that pulsed slowly outward.

"SECURE KRUGER TRANSMISSION – LEVEL 2 NOVA INDEX PROTOCOL."

Kaiell sat up straighter. The scanner's projection flickered to life, and a new figure appeared—not Seth this time.

It was someone older. Woman. Cloaked in dark Kruger robes, silver tattoos glowing faintly on her neck.

Her voice was slow. Calm. Not robotic like Seth's. Almost human.

"Nova Candidates," she said. "If you are receiving this, you have survived a critical threshold event and awakened your Index."

"This is not strength. It is permission."

Joran glanced at Kaiell. "What the hell does that mean?"

Kaiell just watched.

"You now hold Viora in a raw state. Impure. Volatile. To master it, you must enter your Inner World—the psychic space shaped by your memory, will, and pain. There, you can see your Viora. And begin to purify it."

"Find focus. Total stillness. Then push inward—not with thought, but with feeling. Fall into yourself."

"There, you will face the first truth: What you carry is who you are."

The transmission ended. The jungle around them creaked like it was listening.

Kaiell stared down at his palms.

"Focus," he muttered. "Stillness. Right."

Joran raised an eyebrow. "We're in a jungle full of dimension-warping monsters. You're gonna meditate?"

Kaiell didn't answer. He closed his eyes.

He breathed in—shallow. Then again. Deeper.

He let the pain come back. His ribs. His shoulder. His cracked knuckles.

He remembered the mine collapse. The scream he never got to say. The emptiness left behind by Uncle Samuel.

He fell inward—

And then everything went black.

Not sleep. Not unconsciousness.

Just void.

Then—Light.

Kaiell stood on a narrow path floating in a vast, starless sea. Above him, the sky churned with ash and red lightning. Below, memories flickered through black water—flashes of his past, of death, of failure.

A mirror of his soul.

This was his Inner World.

His Viora shimmered ahead—floating. A pulsing sphere of dim blue light wrapped in iron chains. Cracked. Flickering.

He walked toward it slowly.

Each step echoed.

A voice spoke—his own, and not his own. Deep. Distant. Ancient.

"You carry guilt. You carry rage. You carry fear.These are the chains around your power.To purify your Viora, you must choose which to burn first."

The blue light shifted with each word. The chains groaned.

Kaiell's hands trembled.

"Then I burn guilt."

The chains hissed.

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't save Samuel. But I can still save myself. I can still become something."

The sphere flared.

One chain cracked—and shattered.

The Viora pulse brightened, burning cleaner. Stronger.

Kaiell exhaled. Felt warmth return to his limbs. Focus. Control.

When he opened his eyes, it was night again.

Joran had a pistol in hand, guarding the ledge. He spun around at the sound of Kaiell stirring.

"You good?"

Kaiell sat up slowly. His breathing was calm. His eyes glowed faintly—not surging like before, but controlled. Like a flame held in a palm.

He looked at his hands.

They no longer shook.

"I saw it," he said quietly. "I saw my Viora."

Joran blinked. "And?"

Kaiell stood, rolling his shoulders. "It's still chained. But I broke the first link."

Joran grinned. "Then that means we're ahead of the curve."

A screech echoed across the jungle—louder this time. Closer.

Kaiell looked out toward the trees.

"Not for long."