Depthless Hunger

Six months of bliss. Kai struggled to believe it had really happened.

As happy as he’d been going off to Darkmist Island, part of him had been sure that it couldn’t last. The island would turn out to be ruined, or they would be found and attacked, or more gods would descend to annihilate everything. It felt almost wrong that he, Zae Zin Nim, and Omilaena had been able to spend so much time living and training together.

Kai sat on the highest point of the great caldera, enjoying the mists floating around him as he stared out into the ocean. The entire island was familiar now, the closest thing he’d had to a real home in a long time. He briefly glanced over his shoulder toward the house, but then his gaze wandered back to the mist-wreathed waves around them.

How long had it been since he’d actually been happy in a world that seemed to make sense? There had been pleasant moments throughout the journey, yes, but actual peace... it probably hadn’t been since before the Hunter Trials, when he’d still had his entire life planned out.

Instead he’d taken an entirely different path. Parts of it were roughly the same: he still wanted to stop the monster incursions, the stakes were just higher now. Others were bafflingly different: being married to a cultivator from Cloudspire and a poisoner from Rosemount hadn’t featured even in his wildest dreams.

They’d truly been happy together, this past half year. Oh, there had been arguments and some issues to work out in their relationships, but as a whole it had been heaven. He wouldn’t complain about having to navigate some issues in a three-way relationship when he’d known normal marriages with far more drama.

He shielded his eyes with one hand, trying to peer through the mists for anyone who might be arriving. If they hadn’t been attacked, he’d expected that some obligation would come for them. The elves would demand their help, or Krysal would begin falling apart, or the monster incursion would come years early, or... something.

Of course, it was possible that those things were happening. Living on Darkmist Island felt like being separated from the rest of the world.

Despite having been driven so hard, and despite the threats still hanging overhead, Kai felt no guilt for taking this time for themselves. Even from a strictly power-focused perspective, this break had been the best for their growth. Unfortunately, that justification wouldn’t be valid for much longer: their dual cultivation was synchronizing, so they couldn’t gain much more strength that way. Darkmist Island had been useful for a while, but he had eaten all the native monsters, Omilaena was done with local resources, and Zae Zin Nim had cultivated as far as she could with the qi in their Immortal’s Cave.