The rain was heavy, like buckets filled with water to the brim were being poured onto them, and yet, if you were to look at the streets, they were the same as any other day; it was a normal day. Rain wasn't something unheard of; that was why the streets still had the same amount of people, maybe even more.

In the shadows, a group of figures walked through the crowded shadows.

Aether took a deep breath, trying to control the pain; his marks were really on extra time. He knew he was going to have to step out of the shadows, but, at the same time, he was scared he might get recognized.

And even if they weren't at the base yet, they were still close to it, so who knew where some soldiers from the Blue Rose could be hiding. He also couldn't use his mask, since Elpis's appearance was already known for being the Abyss by that mage; he didn't know if he had told them anything, so he didn't want to take a bet with him.

And he... was already known as the leader of the rebellion. Both by the Withered, and probably, most likely, the Blue Rose, too. It had been an unfortunate mistake for him; everything had gotten to him, and for whatever reason, he revealed himself to be the leader to the Withered, well, only a small group of people, but it quickly spread.

He had to endure the pain; there was no other way. Even with his heavy breathing and sore muscles, he continued his march; he needed to be strong; he was a leader, and he had to show he was strong enough to lead his people.

"How long?" Aether said, putting his hand on Riven's shoulder for support. He was his right-hand man; he was bound to rely on him.

"Just... a little more," Lyra said, trying to navigate through the shadows, but since she had never been in this place by herself, it was harder than usual.

Aether frowned; he wanted to know exactly how long; after all, he wanted to know if he could even survive that far. He was already taking a gamble; he didn't know if someone was going to be waiting for them, so in his weakened state, he could be killed easily.

...

...

After a while of walking and having stepped out of the shadows, he had regained his strength, but still, he knew how dangerous it was to walk like this in plain sight. But, it was better if he was at his full strength than weakened, if they had to fight.

...Yet with the corner of his eye, he was someone. But, not a soldier, he didn't even look to be part of the Blue Rose, but a man from the Withered, one of them, in this place, where the Blue Rose is having a war with another country.

After he also noticed them, he ran up to Aether.

"Sir Aether, I didn't expect you to be here, and together with your personal squad... do you wish to sabotage the Blue Rose war?"

Aether felt weird being called sir, after all, the man was probably much older than him, so shouldn't he be calling him sir? But either way, he was one of them, someone part of the rebellion.

"Yes, that is right." He nodded while saying.

"That's amazing... the people here have been having a hard, and I mean hard, life. But, with you helping us, I'm sure you will be able to create a place where we don't need to worry about our lives."

The boy then left, as fast as he came. This happened once and a while, people coming to thank him for everything. Of course, there were some who came to criticize him, but he didn't care. When the number of people following him was so much bigger than the number of his critics, how could he?

...

...

As they seemed to get closer, he started to feel the thick smell of smoke. With the ground below them slowly starting to lose vegetation, with spots of stone and grass absolutely destroyed. He wondered, if he continued forward, would the destruction also follow...

And indeed, it had. Buildings were lost, and the streets became more and more of just remnants of what they used to be. And the ground began to bend downwards, a if it was leading to a giant crater.

...As the gigantic wall came into his vision, so did the crater that was in front of him. But it wasn't just that, but the base of the Blue Rose soldiers, or maybe one of theirs.

The crater looked like the earth had been punched inward by a titan, a bowl of shattered stone and churned mud, ringed by makeshift wooden barricades hammered into the sloping sides. The deeper you looked, the more the rain collected into thin streams, running like veins down toward the center of the basin.

At the bottom sprawled the Blue Rose encampment.

Dozens of tents formed a tight circle around a towering central pavilion, its canvas dyed a deep midnight blue, marked with the symbol of the Rose in silver thread. Torches hissed in the rain, wrapped with oil-soaked cloth to keep them burning, throwing unsteady light that made the whole camp look alive, a creature shifting restlessly in its muddy lair.

Soldiers moved everywhere. Some carried crates of spears and shields toward the armory tent, its entrance flanked by wooden racks of weapons glinting under the torchlight. Others slogged through mud, hauling buckets of water to put out fires still smoldering from the morning's clash. You could hear the clang of metal as armor was repaired beneath a makeshift smithing awning, the blacksmith hammering so hard it echoed off the crater walls.

Closer to the center stood the watchtowers, wooden scaffolds built in a hurry, their supports uneven but functional. Crossbowmen stood on top, cloaks heavy with rain, scanning the rim of the crater for any sign of movement. Even in the storm, their discipline didn't waver. The Blue Rose trained their soldiers to stay cold, even in hell.

And everywhere, you saw the scars of war.

Broken wagons half-buried in the mud. A collapsed tent with dried blood soaked into the canvas. Horses tied to posts, restless and stamping, their eyes rolling nervously at every distant shout. The ground was so churned with footprints, hoof marks, and trenches from rolling siege equipment that it barely resembled soil at all.

Smoke drifted from several places: the cookfires, from the smithy, and from a charred patch of earth where something had clearly exploded earlier. The air was thick with the smell of burned wood, wet metal, sweat, and something darker underneath it all, the scent of despair, grief, and the blood that was shed in the battles from before and those to come.

And above it, the rain kept falling. Heavy. Relentless. Like the sky was trying to drown the war before the kingdoms could finish tearing each other apart.

Aether stopped walking.

For a moment, he just… stared. The sight hit him harder than he expected, harsher than the stories, heavier than the rumors. He had known the Blue Rose had a base here, sure, but he hadn't imagined this. A whole war machine stuffed into a wound in the earth.

"What in the…" he whispered, almost to himself.

The crater felt wrong. Too large. Too alive. And the camp inside it was a storm of movement and steel, every torch flicker and clang of metal reminding him exactly where he was, deep in enemy territory, exposed in the rain, with only a thin veil of luck keeping them unseen.

His fingers tightened on Riven's shoulder without him even realizing it.

He felt Lyra shift closer, the group instinctively shrinking together. Maybe it was the smell, the burned wood, the blood in the mud, or maybe it was the sheer number of soldiers crawling around down there, but something cold pressed against the inside of Aether's ribs.

He swallowed.

"This… is more than I expected," he finally said, voice low, eyes scanning the camp again and again as it might suddenly vanish if he blinked.

Part of him was impressed, grudgingly, unwillingly impressed. The Blue Rose didn't play around. They built with purpose. They fought with purpose. Even the rain couldn't drown their momentum.

But the other part?Yeah. That part was nervous.

He wasn't afraid of a fight; he'd already bled too much for fear to matter, but walking straight into a camp like this, with his marks acting up, with his name spreading like wildfire... it felt like tempting every god that hated him.

"Keep your heads down," he murmured, more to ground himself than them. "One wrong move here, and we're finished."

His heart thudded, not fast, just heavy. Prepared.Ready to either slip through this monster's ribs… or be crushed under its weight

...

They were going to be sneaking it.

And fortunately for him, he was quite good at hiding.

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