This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain would never describe himself as particularly lucky. In fact, he'd argue that luck rarely, if ever, worked in his favour. In fact, whenever something 'lucky' did happen to him, he'd likely become more paranoid about what horrible tragedy he could expect to come his way soon.

Just thinking about his life—both his past and present one— would reiterate this.

When he got into the college of his dreams in his past life—his entire family died on the drive up to see him.

When he got the internship position of his dreams—he died a painful and gruesome death from some kind of mystery disease.

And in this life, it feels as though every month or so he is having to somehow scrape his way through one life-threatening event after another…

However, surviving millions of tons of collapsing ice, stone, and snow with only mild injuries had to count for something—probably at the cost of every shred of good luck he had left.

Of course, although he wasn't the one who had borne the brunt of the impact, that didn't mean everyone else got off so easily.

Vauleth's immense body lay sprawled in Kain's star space, bloodied and barely breathing. The serpent had wrapped around them at the last moment, coiling as tightly as possible to shield them all from the worst of the collapse. Without him, Kain wasn't sure they'd be anything more than a bloody smear beneath the ice.

After recalling the injured dragon right when he sensed through the bond he couldn't hold on any longer, Kain and Serena had managed to land perfectly in a small hollow in the ravine.

The space they now occupied was… a miracle. A small pocket of space, barely enough to accommodate the two of them, held together by precariously balanced layers of compacted ice and rock. A single mistake, a careless movement, and the delicate balance holding back the crushing weight above them could shatter.

Their 'prison' weighed on their minds heavily, but fortunately, the ice and snow surrounding them seemed to emit a light purple glow, ensuring that they weren't also completely without light, while also being cold and trapped.

With a quiet breath, Serena recalled her Starweaver and Balens, who were still free. The space instantly felt bigger without their presence, but not by much. Kain, pressed against one icy wall of their tiny prison and exhaled slowly, "Any ideas?"

Serena didn't respond. She sat back against the uneven surface, closing her eyes briefly, her mind likely turning over their predicament and trying to find a solution like he was.

They were trapped. That much was obvious. And they didn't dare risk trying to dig at the walls for fear of triggering another collapse.

Serena had already attempted to use Balens to wish them out of there before recalling him, but—like a handful of times before since entering this relic—it had met some kind of interference.

Honestly, considering the overpoweredness of Balens' ability, Kain and Serena had almost come to rely too much on the spiritual creature whenever they faced a predicament. Having only two wishes manage to be successfully granted since they'd first entered, had seriously crippled them…

However, Kain couldn't help but note that the first wish to be successfully granted, to identify the most useful object to heal Serena, was extremely small and also in a cavern that seemed to be supplied with a different, golden, source of energy.

When a more difficult wish, to increase Aegis' strength, was granted, it was after Kain had drained the core fragment in that portion of the ruins—which eventually led to the collapse. Now looking at the faint purple glow surrounding them and Balens' lack of success again…

"Do you think there is another fragment like the one you drained nearby?" Clearly, Serena was on the same track as him.

In which case, Kain was incorrect in his assumption that this civilization only took a single fragment from the planet's core—or perhaps they did but split it into several pieces.

Either way, Kain was excited about the possibility—the previous core helped heal Pangea somewhat—but it is nowhere close to its peak. If there are more of those 'core fragments' out there, perhaps he could completely heal the damage caused when trying to heal Serena.

Even more ambitiously…

'I wonder what would happen if I absorbed even more than I needed...?' His heart skipped a beat at that thought, as guilt consumed him. Perhaps that 'ruin guard' wasn't wrong in what he called Kain. Perhaps there truly wasn't much of a difference between Kain and the Abyss.

Shaking his head he tried to bury that terrifying thought. Instead he focused back on their current predicament.

They had been trapped for god knows how long now and had gotten to see more sides of one another than I'm sure either of them were comfortable with…

Serena would release her Prismarin to use its illusions to grant her some measure of privacy and keep some level of boundaries with him.

'Unfortunately, Bea isn't skilled in illusions would need to infect Serena's brain directly…' Kain thought with tears in his eyes while putting away a used can formerly filled with food rations, but was now was filled with a smelly brown matter…

Many of the canned rations had since been used and turned into makeshift toilets, and their stock of food was dwindling.

Logically, they should have been panicking. But neither of them were.

Serena, for her part, remained composed. Likely because she had already conveyed that one of the still-active Prismarin illusions had found help—probably one of their teammates. All they had to do now was wait.

Kain was calm for an entirely different reason. Their food stores in their respective space rings were beginning to run out, but he wasn't concerned.

Even though he couldn't retrieve living things or whole plants from Pangea, he could take out fruit. The portable 'garden' that was Pangea was practically limitless, more than enough to sustain them forever even with the drastic harm done to its wildlife recently.

But explaining why he seemingly had a limitless supply of food to Serena was a little awkward.

Serena, of course, had likely already guessed at Pangea's existence. There had been too many sloppy clues left by Kain, moreover she had played the biggest role in creating the array that would lead to a made-up 'subordinate realm' anchored to their planet that she'd never heard of...

She hadn't said anything outright, but the way she watched him was telling. A calm, knowing gaze that felt like a silent accusation for lying to her for so long.

It was almost a strange, unspoken tension between them—Kain had a secret, Serena had all but confirmed it in her mind, and yet neither of them addressed it. The flimsy barrier concealing Pangea's existence remained intact, but Serena's persistent, expectant stare made it clear she was waiting.

Waiting for him to break first.

Kain exhaled slowly, tilting his head back against the frozen ceiling.

He was starting to feel guilty.