[Katherine's PoV]

  Alan leaned heavily against her shoulder as they climbed, his weight pressing into her with each step. Katherine gritted her teeth, trying not to show the strain or the worry at the edges of her mind.

  'We’ll have to cross the entire city again,' she thought grimly. 'And face again those corrupted creatures on the way. We need another route out of here.'

  The stairway rose endlessly, carved from rough stone and lit only by the faint glow of their Gauntlets.

  Ahead of her, Adrian led the group, his posture still proud despite the exhaustion. The remnants of his boon still clung to him; his arms sheathed in stone and metal.

  Two steps behind him, Demi climbed in silence, her trident serving as both weapon and crutch. She was injured; Katherine could see that in the stiffness of her movements, the way she favored one leg, but she was too prideful. She would sooner collapse than accept help.

  Each step brought them closer to the underground city. Katherine’s senses sharpened, her hearing stretching outward, searching for any sign of movement.

  Nothing.

  No claws scraping against stone. No distant growls. No whispers in the dark.

  Just silence.

  Alan’s breathing had steadied, and he was walking more confidently now. But his attention wasn’t on the path ahead; it was on the object in his hand.

  A crystal.

  Not just any crystal.

  A Z-Crystal glowing with a metallic light.

  Katherine’s eyes flicked toward it more than once. None of them knew where it had come from or how Atlas had obtained it. But he had given one to Alan. And another to Demi.

  'He had three?' she wondered. 'Wasn’t that what he was after? Was he searching for the Silver Crystal?'

  The questions tangled in her mind. 'Why give them away? What did he gain from that?'

  But that wasn’t the mystery that consumed her.

  No, the real question was far more personal.

  'Who is Atlas of Aquarius?'

  She had seen him fight. She had seen him move, react, think. He wasn’t just another soldier or politician. His control over Energy, his instincts, his speed. They were all too refined, too deliberate.

  'Could he be the Green Ranger?'

  The thought sent a tremor through her. It was impossible, or it should have been. But every time she dismissed the idea, something about him refused to fit into the ordinary.

  “Hey!” Demi’s voice cut through her thoughts.

  Katherine’s head snapped up. Demi was standing near the top of the stairway, her trident angled slightly forward. “One more step and you’ll be in the city. Be careful.”

  Her warning was aimed at Adrian, who had already reached the final step.

  But Adrian didn’t stop. He didn’t even look back.

  He took another step forward. The faint light from the city washed over him.

  “Don’t you feel it?” he asked quietly.

  “Feel what?” Demi questioned.

  Adrian glanced over his shoulder, his expression grim. “There’s no one here.”

  The silence had unsettled Katherine, but now that Adrian had pointed it out, she realized what else was missing.

  There was no Energy.

  No fluctuation, no pulse, no faint hum of life that usually lingered in the air. Nothing. The world around them was dead.

  “What do you mean, no one?” Demi asked, her voice low but sharp. “The city was full before.”

  They reached the top of the stairway, emerging into one of the main streets of the underground city. The air was thick and stale, heavy with the scent of ash and iron. The faint light from the torches flickered along the walls.

  And everywhere there were bodies.

  The reptilian creatures that had once filled the city lay strewn across the ground, their metallic scales dulled, their limbs twisted in unnatural angles. Some were piled against the walls, others sprawled in heaps across the streets. The more they advanced, the worse it became. Alleys clogged with corpses, doorways blocked by the dead.

  Katherine slowed her steps, her stomach tightening. None of the bodies moved. None breathed.

  Whatever had happened here had stripped the city of more than life. It had taken its Energy too, leaving behind only hollow shells.

  They moved cautiously, their senses stretched thin for any hint of movement. But there was nothing. Not even the faint echo of their footsteps seemed to carry far. It was as if the city itself was holding its breath.

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  When they finally reached one of the higher terraces, the view opened before them.

  From there, they could see the sprawling ruins below. The maze of streets, the collapsed bridges, and, in the distance, the place where they had first been teleported into this nightmare.

  Relief washed through the group in slow, uncertain waves.

  It was over. Whatever force had consumed the city was gone.

  Katherine allowed herself a breath, her muscles loosening for the first time since the fight. But her mind refused to rest. 'What happened here?' she wondered. 'How could so many die so suddenly?'

  The question gnawed at her as they walked. There was no sign of fire, no blast marks, no weapon damage. The creatures had… stopped.

  “Where did he go?” Alan’s voice broke the silence.

  Katherine turned to him, frowning.

  “Who?”

  “Atlas,” Alan said, his tone heavy. He no longer leaned on her for support, though his pace was slower than the others. “He left before us. But we should’ve seen him by now.”

  Katherine nodded slowly. “Maybe he knew another way out?”

  Alan frowned, his expression darkening. “Then why would he fall with us into that cave?” He shook his head before she could answer. “He’s… strange.”

  Katherine could only agree.

  With the path finally cleared, they moved quickly. The air grew cooler as they climbed to the top, where they found the central tower leading to the surface.

  At the top, Adrian pushed against what looked like a sealed hatch. It gave way with a groan of metal, and a rush of cold air flooded in.

  They emerged into the open.

  The desert stretched out before them, vast and silent. The sky was a deep gray, the sun nowhere to be seen. Instead of the usual heat and blinding sandstorms, a cold wind swept across the dunes, carrying with it the scent of rain.

  And there, close to their right, they saw it.

  The Tree.

  Its enormous trunk rose from the desert floor like a monument, its branches sprawling outward, covered in blue leaves. They weren't far, a few hundred meters from the edge of the Oasis.

  Katherine exhaled, the sight of it both familiar and surreal.

  There were lights in the distance, hundreds of them. The Oasis was alive with movement. People walked along the perimeter.

  “Hey! What are you doing out here?” Adrian’s voice broke the stillness as he called to one of the patrolling figures.

  Katherine frowned, not understanding the question at first. But as they drew closer, she caught sight of the insignia on the soldier’s shoulder, the crest of House Meridius.

  “Sir!” the soldier shouted, his voice carrying across the desert wind. “Send the signal! We found him!”

  Adrian blinked, confused. “Found who? What are you talking about?”

  The soldier jogged closer, saluting hurriedly. “Young master! We did everything we could. As soon as the storm cleared, we began searching. It’s been almost three weeks since you vanished.”

  Adrian’s expression froze. “Three weeks? That’s impossible.”

  He looked down at his Gauntlet, tapping the interface. The display flickered, glitching as the system recalibrated. The date that appeared made his face pale.

  “What the hell…?” he muttered.

  Katherine felt a chill crawl up her spine. She glanced at her own device. The holographic projection flickered to life above her wrist, displaying the same impossible numbers.

  Eighteen days.

  Eighteen days had passed since they arrived on Fantasia-3.

  The questions wouldn’t stop.

  They spun in Katherine’s mind like fragments of shattered glass. But she had no time to think, no time to breathe.

  The moment the patrol officer transmitted the signal, chaos erupted.

  Within minutes, soldiers and officials poured into the area. The insignias of the Great Houses glinted under the pale desert light. York, Lot, Meridius, and Demeter, each faction sending entire battalions to recover their lost heirs and leaders.

  The air buzzed with overlapping voices and the whir of landing crafts descending from the gray sky. Officers surrounded them, firing questions faster than anyone could answer.

  “Where have you been?” “What happened inside the ruins?” “Did you find the Silver Crystal?”

  Katherine’s head throbbed. The noise was suffocating.

  Then Demi’s voice cut through it all, sharp, commanding, absolute.

  “Enough!”

  The word silenced the crowd. The soldiers froze, their questions dying in their throats.

  “This isn’t the time or the place,” Demi continued, her tone cold and precise. “We can debrief later. Right now, we’re leaving. We need to return to our ship.”

  Her words left no room for argument.

  Without another glance at the others, she turned and walked away.

  Adrian followed soon after, offering nothing more than a curt nod before heading back toward the city.

  Katherine watched them go. She didn’t trust any of them, not yet. Survival had made them temporary allies, nothing more.

  “Alan!”

  The shout came from the crowd. A man in a dark navy uniform pushed through, a tall officer with the insignia of House Lot on his chest.

  Katherine recognized him immediately. 'Orton. He was an admiral.'

  “By the republic, it’s good to see you alive!” Orton said, his tone filled with relief. His gaze dropped to Alan’s hands, narrowing when he saw the object glinting there. “What’s that? Did you find the Crystal?”

  Alan turned the object over in his palm. The metallic glow of the Z-Crystal reflected in his eyes.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It looks like a Z-Crystal. However, not the Silver one.”

  He rotated it between his fingers. “But there’s one way to find out.”

  Katherine’s stomach tightened. “You’re not thinking of using it, are you?”

  Her voice betrayed more worry than she intended. She knew the dangers of Unique Crystals. They had a personality of their own.

  “There’s only one way to know,” Alan said.

  He slipped the fragment into the slot of his Gauntlet.

  The reaction was immediate.

  The air around him vibrated, a low hum filling the silence. Energy flared across his body, swirling in molten streams of bronze light. Katherine and Orton stumbled back as the aura expanded, whipping the sand around his feet into a miniature storm.

  The glow intensified, wrapping around him like liquid metal.

  Then it solidified.

  The Energy condensed into sleek armor, plates locking into place across his chest and shoulders, glowing veins of bronze pulsing beneath the surface.

  Alan straightened, his breathing steady, his expression calm. Yet his eyes burned with realization.

  “I think I know what kind of Crystal this is,” he said quietly, looking at his hand covered by the bronze armor.