Man of Hollows

The air in the Third Company's section of the camp always felt different, according to Lands.

If he had to describe it, he would have said it was organized but insanely dirty. After all, no systems were created to help maintain general cleanliness. The only effort being made to address this issue was the creation of a shower system, which relied heavily on Commander Hurian's blessing.

Thankfully, there were other self-cleansing methods currently in use, preventing the camp from stinking to high heaven with body odor. But, as always, these methods strictly depended on Commander Hurian, which all things seemed to do.

Commander August, the resourceful leader of the Third Company, was working somewhat tirelessly to address this over-reliance on the intimidating Hurian.

From what Lands could see, the issue had yielded many sleepless nights for the members of the Third, forcing them to brainstorm from the little knowledge they were able to carry over from Earth.

Due to Zeke's unbudging insistence on maintaining efficiency and order, he failed to realize the fatal flaw of the Third Company—a flaw that stemmed from his rigid classification system.

The Third was made up entirely of individuals whose blessings were more suited for construction, support, and things of that nature. However, this emphasis on blessings failed to account for what a specific individual was actually capable of doing.

For example, a construction worker on Earth may have obtained a purely combat blessing after passing the trial. As a result, they would either be slotted into the First or Second instead of being placed in the Third.

As one could expect, if a taekwondo master passed the trial and obtained a supportive blessing more suited for construction, they would be slotted into the Third despite their combat expertise.

This disconnect between natural ability and assigned role created a fundamental problem: blessings in general didn't seem to have a strong connection to one's natural affinities. Because of this misalignment, the Third Company was struggling to innovate like they were supposed to. They simply didn't have the know-how.

The mounting pressure had taken its toll on everyone involved. Now Zeke was losing his patience, and Commander August had limited options on what to do to remedy the issue.

The strain was visible on August's partially concealed face—his mood had soured significantly, and Lands could see it clear as day.

It was into this atmosphere that Lands arrived, carrying news of a costly success. He knew of August's general disdain for Soleil Deulegarde, so he believed that August would be uplifted by the news of her overexertion and consequent loss of consciousness. But he also knew that August was a hardworking man and that his expectations for a successful procurement would trump any personal grudges.

So he cleared his throat, pinched both his ears twice, and began his report.

"The mission was a success, Commander. We were able to retrieve three sleds worth of the inner layer of the lava worm skins."

August, who had been deeply focused on writing, although Lands couldn't see exactly what he was writing on, turned to face him. Despite his eyes being concealed by his beanie, Lands could tell that he was impressed, but also confused.

"Well done, but what do you mean by 'sleds'?" August asked. "I don't recall any of us making any sleds for common use."

"Ah, please forgive me," Lands began, waving his hands to clear the air. "These 'sleds' are simply large sections of the lava worms' outermost layer of skin. You know, the portion that has obsidian-like qualities. We detached three sections that were similar in size and shape to a sled you would find back on Earth, before loading them to the brim with the inner skin membranes."

August was impressed. He clapped his hands together as he walked toward Lands. Placing his arm on Lands' shoulder, August shook the boy back and forth as he voiced his praises.

"How resourceful! I partly expected you guys to bring them to me by hand. What a sticky nightmare that would be... right?" He paused, as if he just remembered something important. "Speaking of the membranes, where are they? Have you brought them to me?"

Lands laughed awkwardly. "Unfortunately, we had to leave them at the entrance to the western caves."

August frowned. "Why?"

"Soleil... passed out."

His frown disappeared for a brief second, before suddenly deepening further than before.

"How did she of all people pass out?" The Third Company commander exhaled, evidently unbelieving of the concept of Soleil Deulegarde falling in combat.

After all, she was the only one within the camp that could regenerate fatal wounds as if they were mere scratches.

Lands sighed, feeling slightly reluctant to reveal more about Soleil's capabilities. The truth was complicated, and he wasn't sure how much August should know. "Our new member was nearly killed. She had to use her healing powers on him in order to save his life. I suspect that it must have drained her to the point of unconsciousness."

August's jaw dropped. "Healing powers? She can heal others?"

Lands shrugged, a reaction that was more impulsive than reactive. He immediately tilted his head as his eyes went wide. "Wait, you didn't know?"

"I... had no idea." August muttered, stepping away into the darkness of his tent. "How does it work? Is it related to her devilish flames?"

"I-I wouldn't know," Lands mumbled. He wasn't too keen on revealing any more than he had already.

"Hmm. Alright," August began, turning back to Lands, his expression returning to its usual neutrality. "Anyhow, you and the rest of your company have inconvenienced us slightly by leaving the 'sleds' near the caves. But you shouldn't worry, I'll see to it that your company receives an adequate lunch meal instead of your usual portions."

My, oh my! How generous of him! Lands thought bitterly. At least he acknowledges our meager portions! Still, he saw an opportunity. "Thank you so much, Commander. On that note, our clothes were damaged during the fight. Could we possibly get some fresh ones?"

August waved a dismissive hand; his patience was clearly wearing thin from the conversation. "Fine. I can't have my comrades walking around in rags; it's bad for morale. You can have some." He walked past Lands and out of his tent. Lands followed him out, observing as he waved over one of his henchmen, a bald man with heavily tanned skin.

"See to it that the outcasts receive a fresh batch of shirts and pants. Make sure that Soleil Deulegarde receives fitted clothing. We don't need to deal with her presence unless necessary, alright?"

With that, the audience was over.

After stopping by Commander Hurian's well to refill his waterskin, Lands began his long trek toward the Fourth Company tent, otherwise known as Soleil's tent.

The weight of responsibility pressed down on him as he walked. Two of his comrades had essentially passed out on him, forcing him to bear a burden he had never dealt with before.

Being quite young—possibly the second youngest person in the camp with the exception of Zeke's precious daughter, Eliana—he felt overwhelmed by the situation. In his opinion, being forced to drag his two unconscious comrades all the way to safety was slightly traumatic, to say the least.

He hoped that when he arrived back at the tent, Soleil and Hill would be fine.

I don't want to see the two of them like that ever again, he thought to himself somberly.

The memory of Hill's injuries haunted him. The boy had suffered tremendously—his chest had essentially caved in from the lava worm's charge, and if it wasn't for Soleil's sudden intervention, he would have definitely died. In fact, it was a miracle for him to have survived such a blow.

He's tough. Tougher than I am.

But this realization led to a troubling conclusion: this status quo couldn't last. Hill's lack of a blessing needed to be addressed, and the only way to do that was by giving him capable relics that could act as a substitute for a blessing.

If only relics weren't so damn rare. They're like a needle in a haystack!

The same problem applied to his own situation. Lands also needed a capable relic of his own. His blessing was practically useless, so something needed to be done to supplement his inadequacy.

Eh, whatever. I'll worry about relics later, he thought to himself, brushing his fingers through his curly hair. Why worry about something that can only be found by chance, right? He suppressed a laugh. I also can't kill any of these otherworldly creatures on my own, so I'll have to depend on Soleil in order to get one.

Finally, he reached the Fourth Company tent. Pushing aside the heavy leafy-canvas opening, he entered inside.

Soleil seemed to notice his arrival, stirring awake as she rubbed her eyes.

"...Lands?"

He immediately handed her his freshly filled waterskin. "Here, have a drink. You need it."

She snatched the waterskin and brought it to her mouth, drinking greedily from it to the point where she had to force herself to swallow due to overestimating her mouth capacity.

"Careful, Sol. Don't overdo it... like you did earlier."

She shot a pointed glare at him, her amethyst eyes piercing him anew. "I did what I had to, Lands."

Lands smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. The way that Soleil had healed Hill was incredibly disturbing, and the memory of it refused to leave him alone. Just thinking about it caused his hairs to rise on his skin and shivers to shoot up and down his spine.

The sequence of events played out in his mind like a nightmare. After Soleil had forced the second lava worm to chomp down on her right arm, which ended up killing it, she immediately sprinted over to Hill.

Her first attempt had been almost conventional—at least by her standards. Lands had watched in horror as she tried to fix his chest by rubbing her burning shoulder against his chest. He had thought that she was trying to burn him alive, but when he saw the flames suddenly double in intensity and brightness, he realized that something else was happening.

But it didn't seem to work at all. Whatever she had just tried had failed miserably. Blood was trickling out of Hill's nose and mouth, covering his neck in his own blood. This, combined with his slightly open eyes, caused a terrifying image to be burned into Lands' mind.

What came next, however, was something that would haunt him forever.

Using her relic, the black sword, she stood to her feet and took a deep breath as she positioned the sword with her remaining arm.

He immediately saw what she was trying to do, his intuition coming to a horrifying conclusion. Sprinting toward her, he tried to grab onto her and pull her away, but he was much too slow.

She fell on her own sword, stabbing herself clean through the torso and causing a surge of purplish flames to erupt from the wound.

Using her free arm and her other arm, which had partially regenerated, she pulled the sword out of herself. It was burning bright with her own flames.

She then turned to Hill, and stabbed him right in the chest, engulfing her own comrade in her brilliant flames.

Lands remembered running foolishly between them, trying to pull her away from him. But a third worm emerged from the ground next to him, slamming into him and sending him flying away.

Thankfully, it didn't do as much damage to him as the other now-deceased worm had done to Hill. But because of its sudden appearance, he was unable to stop Soleil from...

Healing Hill???

He simply watched, jaw dropped in awe, from a distance as Hill's body was burned back to life. His caved-in chest inflated to its normal fullness, and before he knew it, his new comrade was back to normal.