Chapter 123: From Chaos, She Rises in Flames

“I’m really glad you’re alive, Mister Luke,” Thiara said softly as she stepped closer and sat beside him, right on the edge of the makeshift mattress. The faint glow of healing magic still pulsed around her hand, but it trembled with exhaustion.

“You made it back… alive.”

She sighed, then carefully reached for the bandage wrapped around Luke’s injured eye. “Alright… this part is gonna hurt,” she warned.

“More? Honestly, this healing hurts so much it feels worse than getting injured,” Luke muttered.

“Well… your body is being magically rebuilt. Nothing comes without a price. Pain’s part of the process,” she replied calmly, peeling the cloth away from his eye with delicate fingers.

“Look… understand one thing,” she continued, resting her palm gently against his face. “If there’s still any splinter left in there, the healing magic will keep trying to fix the tissue around it. But it won’t stop the splinter from cutting into you. Eventually, the magic forces it out… but until then, you get both the pain of regeneration and the pain of something being ripped out.”

Luke shut his other eye, trying to focus on anything else. “System healing doesn’t hurt…” he mumbled.

“System healing is… perfect,” Thiara said, her tone thoughtful. “It can regrow entire limbs. Maybe it’s some kind of temporal reversal? No one really knows. Plenty of scholars have tried to figure out how magic actually works.”

The conversation helped. Anything to pull his mind away from the burning ache behind his eye—as if something was being ripped out with fire.

“For what it’s worth… I was really sad when I heard you died.”

“You really do sound like a medic… always throwing in empathy, trying to keep the patient calm,” he replied, forcing a smile.

“Ah… thank you,” she muttered, a little embarrassed. “But I mean it, Mister Luke. I’m not just saying it to distract you.”

They kept talking as the magic did its work. The pain hummed beneath every word—a constant buzz—but it stayed just below unbearable.

Finally, Thiara pulled her hand away. The soft glow faded. She tilted her head. “So… how is it? Vision okay?”

Luke carefully touched the area around his eye. “Feels perfect.”

Thiara visibly relaxed, a quiet smile touching her lips. “I’ll go get something for you to eat,” she said, standing and slipping out of the tent.

Luke let out a long breath. His eyes scanned the inside of the infirmary—sterile, improvised, but safe. There were… good reasons he’d come straight to the Haven, even though he had a stash of healing potions hidden away.

The main reason? Marshall’s spy.

Marshall and his soldiers had been the last ones to see him alive. And after disappearing for an entire month… it was only a matter of time before the spy inside the Haven started connecting the dots. That’s why he made damn sure to enter the Safe Zone alone—with no sign of Charlie.

Keeping Charlie in the shadows was crucial. She was his ace. His hidden card.

It was also why he hadn’t even considered stopping by his hideout to heal. The spy needed to believe he barely survived. That he came back weaker. Broken. Disposable.

Footsteps approached. A presence entered the tent.

Allison.

“You… looked awful. So many injuries,” she said quietly.

“I disappear for a month, get declared dead… and the first thing I hear when I get back is an insult?” Luke shot back with a crooked grin.

“What? N-no, that’s not—”

“It’s a joke.”

The realization clicked. She smiled—a small, almost shy one. “I just… I’m really glad you came back alive… even if not in one piece.”

She sat down at the edge of the bed. There was something in her tone. Something… more.

“I… felt kind of guilty,” Allison admitted after a brief silence.

“Why?” Luke asked.

“Because… you and I got excited about the mission. About everything we were discovering. The possibilities. And… I guess I pushed you. Encouraged you to go further. And… indirectly…”

Her eyes lowered.

“…I thought I’d gotten you killed.”

Luke watched her.

A part of him wanted to make a joke—say something like ‘I don’t die that easily.’

But seeing her face… the words caught in his throat.

She really had carried that guilt.

“I… I don’t handle… people I care about… dying,” she continued, voice soft, eyes staring at some vague spot in the tent. “There was someone… someone really important to me. She raised me like her own. And… she’s gone. Happened when I was younger.”

She stood abruptly, almost like the act of getting up was a way to shut the emotions off. A silent barrier.

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“I… I’m just glad you’re alive, my friend,” she said, stretching out her hand.

Luke stared at it for a second before gripping it. Firm. Steady.

A handshake… loaded with silent promises neither of them needed to say out loud.

“We’re both getting out of this place. Back to Earth. So if you ever plan to run off on some suicide mission again…” Her gaze hardened just a bit. “Call me. I’m going with you.”

With that, she turned and left the tent.

Luke sat there for a few moments, staring at the empty space where she’d been seconds earlier.

Surprised.

He’d always considered Allison a friend.

But for the first time… he felt the weight of that word. The value of it.

She truly was… his friend.