It had been about two days since we left the river behind.
Most of that time had been spent fighting.
Not just spiders anymore. There were other threats in the jungle, creatures with thorns, teeth, and far too much mobility for plants. Some even tried to mimic footsteps when we passed. Carnivorous flora. Agile, persistent, and annoyingly sneaky.
Still, nothing we couldn't handle.
We kept moving. Clearing the path. The density of threats hadn't lessened much, but they were scattered now, more like remnants than waves. Jackal didn't complain. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it. Said the fear was still "fresh."
I'd stopped asking what that meant.
We were making progress, though. The map was beginning to make more sense. Familiar terrain, landmarks we had marked or destroyed, and fewer surprises along the way.
The mission wasn't done, but it was no longer unfamiliar.
The jungle ahead shifted.
The trees were closer now. Roots wound tighter across the ground, forming narrow paths between them. The air felt still, but not empty.
Jackal paused beside me.
"You feel that?"
I nodded. "Something's here."
A moment later, the ground snapped open beneath us.
Roots lashed out, thin but fast, like spears fired from the earth. One scraped across my side. Another barely missed Jackal's leg as he flipped backward onto a low branch.
The thing revealed itself.
Small. No taller than a man's chest. A knot of bark and black leaves coiled around a wet, pulsing core. It moved not by walking, but by dragging itself with sharpened roots, each strike like a whipcrack of pressure and speed.
It was faster than it looked.
One of its roots coiled toward my throat.
I moved.
Blocked the first strike, ducked under the second, then cut two tendrils clean through. But they grew back, faster than I'd expected. Too fast.
"Annoying thing," Jackal muttered from above. "Want help?"
"No," I said, eyes narrowing. "I'll end it here."
I raised my hand.
The Brand flared to life across my palm, golden and burning.
I marked it.
The symbol seared into the plant's core, and for a second it stopped, twitching like it understood what was coming.
Its flames flared, and then burst. The plant was erased.
The roots collapsed into dust. The core blinked out. What remained wasn't even ash, just an empty imprint on the jungle floor.
Jackal whistled. "Clean."
I nodded once, then kept walking.
The path ahead was still long. But with each step, it got a little more manageable.
We kept walking.
The jungle thinned slightly ahead, the ground rising into uneven terrain. Exposed roots twisted over cracked stone, and the air grew cooler in patches, like the shade here had history.
Then I saw it.
A slant of metal under a pile of moss and vines.
I slowed, crouched, and brushed it aside.
Not natural. Not jungle-born.
It was rusted plating, barely visible beneath layers of soil and green. More digging revealed old framework—collapsed walls, pieces of reinforced alloy. Something mechanical. Human.
Jackal stepped beside me. "What is it?"
I didn't answer right away. Just kept clearing.
After a few minutes, a faded emblem came into view, stamped into a section of warped paneling. Almost erased by time, but still recognizable.
The first symbol of the Accord.
Not the current one. The original, back when the world was still reeling. Before structure. Before strategy.
"This was one of the first attempts," I said. "Post-Collision."
Jackal tapped the edge of the half-buried panel with his boot. "Didn't go great, huh."
"Doesn't look like it."
The jungle had buried nearly everything. Just broken outlines remained—metal, stone, and the vague impression of walls. Like it had all been swallowed and forgotten.
Still, it meant something. A sign that others had come this way.
I stood and brushed off my hands.
"Let's move."
Jackal tilted his head. "No moment of silence?"
"They failed. We don't plan to."
He gave a quiet snort, then followed.
We left the wreckage behind, trees pressing in around us once more.
Just old bones in the dirt.
Nothing more.
"Darian," Jackal said after a while, his voice casual. "Can I ask you something? Might be a bit personal."
"Go for it," I said.
"Are you human?"
"What?"
"I mean, are you a human being? Like, a mortal."
I blinked. "Weird question, but I'd guess I am. Why?"
Jackal tilted his head. "It's been two days. You haven't slept. Haven't had anything to drink. Haven't eaten. That's different with me. I'm a fear-based entity. I feed on what I am. But you?"
He paused, then added, "You don't take in anything. Your mana replenishes fast, and you just keep going."
I didn't respond right away.
Not because I didn't want to.
But because I wasn't sure.
"I used to," I said finally. "Sleep. Eat. All of it."
"And now?"
I shrugged. "I could if I wanted to. I don't think I stopped. I just don't need to."
Jackal studied me in silence for a few steps. "That's not how people work."
He said it lightly, but there was weight behind the words. Not doubt. Not fear. Just curiosity, the kind that didn't expect an answer.
"No," I said. "It's not."
We walked on. Roots shifted beneath our feet. The jungle pressed close around us.
He didn't ask again.
I wasn't sure myself. So I stayed quiet.
We moved quietly for a while. The jungle ahead dipped into a shallow basin, dense with moss and thick-limbed trees.
It felt normal at first.
Then one of the trees shifted.
Not with the wind.
With intent.
Jackal stopped beside me, his voice low. "That one just breathed."
Another tree shifted its weight, bark cracking like bone under pressure. Their trunks weren't hollow. They were coiled—layers of wood over something else entirely.
Roots unfurled.
Not to anchor, but to strike.
"I guess we're not done yet," I said, already raising my blade.
Jackal smiled. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
The first branch lashed out like a whip.
And the fight began again.
This jungle wasn't finished testing us.