"We… we should have just surrendered to the Eternal Chill."


    The cenleons were now all huddled up together; their bodies, trembling even stronger than when they were close to almost being frozen to death. They feared the Ice Warden, that was not a question at all — but it was a fear simr to that of an impending typhoon, an inevitability one would just have to ept if it happened.


    And perhaps, as they were wishing, perhaps it should have really just happened — perhaps they would have died peacefully instead of being forced to watch one of their own drown in his own blood; struggling, but still alive.


    "Just… just kill him!" Maha gritted his teeth; his hand, already bleeding even though he did not even have his ws protruded, "At least give him the honor of death!"


    But s, their words fell on deaf ears as Rhys just continued to torture Muran; but he wasn''t going to stop, because it was not Muran he was torturing, it was everyone else who was watching the scenario unfold.


    Fortunately for the other cenleons, the horrible scenario in front of themsted just a few more minutes before Rhys stopped;pletely squashing Muran''s head into pieces like a watermelon.


    The sound it created as his head burst open, echoing through the open hall.


    "Well then…" Rhys then wiped the blood and sweat on his face as the darkness that once surrounded the open hall was reced by light — the orange sky which was now showing itself would have probably caused the cenleons to gasp in awe, but sadly, they were too focused on looking at Muran''s brains to even notice the outside,


    "...I hope we get along from now on."


    "Get… along?" Maha''s eye twitched as Rhys approached him while covered in Muran''s flesh and blood.


    "Yes," Rhys nodded as he reached out his hand, causing Maha to slightly flinch, "What Muran did has nothing to do with my rtionship with all of you, it won''t make sense going through the effort of saving all of you only to kill you here on the Surface. But of course…


    …what happens now is up to you."


    Maha did not really say anything and just turned to look at his people before focusing on Rhys''s hand.


    "In this ce, we shake our hands if we agree with each other," Rhys nodded, "It is also as a sign of trust that you won''t attack me, and I won''t attack you."


    "We—"


    "I ept!"


    And before Maha could even express what he wanted to say, Edissa suddenly rushed toward them and grabbed Rhys''s hand instead.


    "Edissa! You do not get to decide—"


    "Maha, please…" Edissa let out a deep breath as she looked at her father in the eyes, "...Your decision to follow this human was correct, and we are alive because of that — please do not waste that. Human, you are not going to hurt any more of us if I be your Bond, right…?"


    "I am not going to hurt any of you even if you don''t be my… bond, whatever that even means," Rhys shook Edissa''s hand…paw. It was unclear what her hands were, exactly. Her feet were clearly paws, but her human hands were shaped like human hands, but their palms were soft and fluffy,


    "As I said, Muran died because he was being difficult, violent. I am not going to expect that from the rest of you, right?"


    "No," Edissa took in a big gulp as she started looking at Rhys from head to toe. Rhys was small, tinypared to the cenleons, but for some reason, Edissa felt like she was actually looking up at him. Edissa stared at Rhys for a few more seconds before turning to look at her people,


    "Everyone, can all of you please leave me alone with Rhys?"


    "Edissa, you can''t—"


    "You offered me as a bond to him, and now you''re worrying about me, Maha?" Edissa almost hissed at Maha as he tried to approach her, "And I''m no longer a part of the tribe, remember? You can no longer order me around. You sold me."


    "That was not my–"


    "And since I am now this human''s bond, and he has clearly overpowered all of us — that means that I am already higher in the hierarchy than you are, Maha," Edissa let out a small harrumph as she stomped her paw, "So, go walk."


    "Where… do we even go?" Maha blinked a couple of times as he started looking around, "This ce is mystic and weird — look at that, I see Helios moving!"


    Maha then turned to look at the shattered wall which showed the ocean, pointing at the rising sun.


    "You''re free to explore everywhere," Rhys gestured to Maha to head out of the hall, "We''ve already informed the others about you."


    "The others…?" Maha looked at the corpses they already cleaned up, "...There are still others? Wait, where are we? What is this ce?"


    Maha finally realized that the weird situation they were in was weird not because it was their first time on the Surface, it was weird because of the human in front of him.


    "We''re in prison," Rhys let out a small sigh, "These people are criminals."


    "...And you killed all of them?" Maha was even more confused, "What are you, then? A soldier?"


    "Yes," Rhys nodded. Maha was about to let out a sigh of relief, but Rhys was not done with his answer, "And also a prisoner."


    "What…?" Edissa''s legs slightly weakened as soon as she heard Rhys''s words. And before she could even retract her order and ask Maha and the others to stay in the hall, they already started leaving; all of them, avoiding her eyes, "Wait, I''m—"


    "Did you want to talk about something?" Rhys started walking toward the corpses that Edissa and the others arranged, "My name is Rhys, by the way. Rhys Wilder."


    "Rhys Badaway Rhys Wilder?" Edissa squinted her eyes.


    "Rhys Wilder," Rhys nced at Edissa, "And you are Edissa? Is there anything else besides that?"


    "Edissa is just Edissa," Edissa shook her head, "And… I do not really have anything to talk with you about — I… just didn''t want to see Maha and the others. But I do have questions, a lot of them."


    "Maha, he''s your father?"


    "Yes," Edissa started looking out the broken walls. And as soon as Rhys noticed that, he started making his way toward the debris and stepping to the outside.


    "Come with me," Rhys gestured to Edissa to follow him out.


    "Out in there?" Edissa once again took in a big gulp as she looked at the bright lighting from the outside.


    "Don''t worry, you''re not going to fall up there," Rhys once again reached out his hand to Edissa.


    "What… are we agreeing on?" Edissa nervously looked at Rhys''s hand.


    "...Nothing," Rhys let out a small sigh as he shook his head, "I just want to hold your hand."


    "Why…? You told me I won''t fall."


    "You might," Rhys smiled. And as the rising sun started to shine down the sides of his silhouette, Edissa could really only squint her eyes to get a better view of Rhys''s face, "You don''t need to hold my hand, you probably won''t trip since you have like 6 limbs… like an insect."


    "Wha—Did you just call me an insect!?" Edissa quickly rushed to follow Rhys, only for her legs to instinctively buckle up on their own as soon as she saw the endless horizon in front of her. She felt her skin crawl as she saw the ocean, the endless blue and orange that veiled everything,


    "There''s… nothing here?"


    "There''s everything here," Rhys turned to look at Edissa, only to see… a pair of feline ears pop out on the top of her head, "You just need to know where to look."


    "This… is nothing like the stories," Edissa stepped forward, instinctively grabbing Rhys''s hand as she did so, "It''s ake…?"


    "Ocean," Rhys let out a small chuckle, causing Edissa to almost hiss at her.


    "Stop treating me like a child," Edissa scoffed, "I am merely uninformed."


    "Your tribe, is this all of you?" Rhys thenpletely changed the topic as he looked at the rising sun.


    "...Yes," Edissa nodded with hesitation, "The Ice Warden came and wiped out half of my city… and the other remaining half died while we were running away from it."


    "...What''s a Bond? I keep hearing all of you say that."


    "That…" Edissa''s face immediately turned red as she nced at Rhys''s hand before letting it go and looking away, "A Bond is—wait, what is that?"


    "Hm?" Rhys quickly turned to look to where Edissa was looking, only to see a small dot hovering on the horizon.


    "It''s buzzing, is… it some sort ofrge insect?" Edissa''s ears started fidgeting.


    "It''s… a chopper," Rhys then said as he once again grabbed Edissa''s hand, "We need to go back."


    Rhys was already expecting the outside to check on them, and now that there was visible damage in the prison even from afar…


    …things are about to go down.