Chapter 249 — Into Region Four

Chapter 249: Chapter 249 — Into Region Four

He left before Yveth woke properly, a small mercy they’d silently agreed on without ever discussing it — some goodbyes were better short, said half-asleep in the dark rather than drawn out in daylight.

"You’re actually leaving at this hour," she mumbled, eyes barely open, one hand catching his sleeve before he reached the door.

"Figured you’d rather sleep through it."

"I’d rather you not go at all, but we’ve had that argument already and I lost." She pulled him down for a brief, unhurried kiss, then released him, already half back asleep. "Go on. Don’t make me say anything sentimental this early."

He smiled the whole walk to the checkpoint.

The descent felt different this time, a current of real anticipation running beneath the familiar, practiced rhythm of the upper floors. He moved through Floor One with barely a glance at his surroundings, mind already somewhere past Eighteen’s threshold, and had to deliberately slow himself more than once, the old discipline reminding him that rushing the familiar ground wasn’t the same as respecting the unfamiliar ground waiting beyond it.

He crossed Floor Four on his second day, and found himself, without quite meaning to, cataloguing every fight slightly differently than usual — not testing new combinations for their own sake, but genuinely assessing where his current ceiling actually sat, the same honest self-measurement he’d learned to trust more than any guess.

Still comfortable here. Should be. This isn’t the test.

He made Floor Nine by the end of his first week, the pace brisk but not reckless, and paused there longer than strictly necessary — not out of hesitation, but a deliberate choice to let his body properly settle before the real work began.

He reached Floor Ten on the morning of his eighth day, the settlement’s warm light greeting him with its usual strange comfort, though this time he found himself moving through it with less of his usual lingering curiosity and more of a focused, purposeful efficiency.

He stopped at the outpost first rather than the market.

"Back again," the clerk said, recognizing him immediately. "Quick turnaround this time."

"I’m heading into Region Four. Wanted to check whether anything’s changed since my last visit to the archive."

She pulled the relevant records, considerably more current than what he’d studied topside, and spread them across the counter. "Nothing major. A few updated monster notes, mostly confirming what’s already documented. There’s an organized expedition forming in a few days, if you’d rather not go in purely solo your first proper trip."

He considered it seriously, the archivist’s old advice about mixed-realm parties surfacing in his memory.

"How many, and what ranks?"

"Four, currently. Two Explorer, one Veteran anchoring them, one scout. They’ve got room for one more if you’re interested."

He weighed it a long moment, genuinely torn. Solo work had served him well, had taught him more than any guided trip ever could. But this wasn’t Region III anymore, ground he’d already half-learned from a guided pass before ever walking it alone.

"I’ll join them," he decided. "First trip in, at least. I can always go solo once I understand the terrain better."

"Smart. I’ll let them know. They’re staying at the Golden Vein, two streets from the market — ask for Haldric’s party."

He found Haldric’s group that same evening, a weathered Veteran-realm dwarf with a steady, no-nonsense manner, flanked by two Explorer-realm humans and a quick, watchful elven scout.

"Heard you’re joining us," Haldric said, sizing him up without much ceremony. "You’re younger than I expected for Explorer realm."

"I’ve had good teachers and a lot of time underground."

"Fair enough." Haldric gestured toward the others. "Mira, Toren, Explorer realm both. Essa scouts — Explorer realm as well. We leave at first light, work the shallow stretches of Eighteen for a few days, see how everyone handles the terrain before pushing deeper."

"Sounds reasonable."

"It is. Reasonable’s how people survive Region Four long enough to get comfortable in it." Haldric studied him a moment longer. "You’ll want to eat properly tonight. First exposure to that light does strange things to people’s stomachs, same as their heads."

Arlen thanked him for the warning, and spent that evening settling into the unfamiliar rhythm of being part of a group again, something he hadn’t properly done since Ilyana’s team months ago. Mira and Toren were easy enough company, trading stories about previous Region IV trips with the comfortable, practiced ease of people who’d done this before. Essa said little, watching more than speaking, though she offered a few sharp, useful observations about the terrain ahead that Arlen filed away carefully.

Mira, it turned out, had a running theory about the crystal formations she was eager to share once the conversation turned toward the region properly. "They’re not just reflecting light," she said, leaning forward over her drink. "I think they’re storing it somehow, releasing it slow. That’s why the deeper stretches get brighter instead of darker, which shouldn’t make sense for a cave this far underground."

"Nobody’s proven that," Toren said, though without much real argument behind it.

"Nobody’s disproven it either." Mira shrugged, unbothered. "I like my theory. I’m keeping it until someone gives me a better one."

They set out together the following morning, the walk through the familiar fragmented floors passing considerably faster with company than his usual solo pace allowed, conversation filling what would otherwise have been quiet, solitary hours.

"You dove Region Three alone," Toren said, somewhere around Floor Twelve, genuine curiosity in his voice. "Properly alone, the whole stretch?"

"Most of it."

"That’s either very brave or very foolish."

"Probably some of both."

Toren laughed at that, and the conversation drifted easily from there, Arlen finding himself, for the first time in a long while, genuinely enjoying the particular texture of shared travel rather than his own solitary company.

They reached Floor Seventeen on their fourth day together, the party’s pace considerably steadier than Arlen’s solo efforts had managed, Haldric’s careful, methodical leadership keeping everyone properly rested and prepared rather than pushing for speed.

Essa fell into step beside him during a quiet stretch late that same day, her usual reserve loosening slightly now that the group had settled into genuine familiarity with one another. "You watch the ground a lot," she said. "More than most people your realm bother to."

"Habit. Earthen Grip, mostly — I can feel vibration through stone if I pay attention."

"Useful habit." She studied him a moment with open professional interest. "I read ground too, differently. Footprints, disturbed dust, that sort of thing. Didn’t expect someone else on the team to be doing half my job without realizing it."

"I wasn’t trying to step on anything."

"You’re not. It’s a good redundancy, actually. Means we’ll catch things twice instead of once." She fell back into her usual quiet after that, though something in her manner toward him had warmed slightly, the easy, professional respect of two people who’d just recognized a shared instinct in each other.

They made camp that final night before Eighteen’s threshold, and Arlen found himself sitting a while apart from the others, looking toward the passage he’d already stood at once before, alone, and would now finally walk through properly, with people at his side for the first time since Ilyana’s team had left his guided dives behind.

Different, this time. Not worse. Just different.

He slept well that night, genuine anticipation settling comfortably alongside the old, familiar patience, and woke the next morning ready, finally, to see what Region Four actually held.