Chapter 99: Ch97. Pain as a teacher (21) - The thing that shouldn’t be
Miles exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as he followed Kurt across the cracked, metal-strewn expanse of the ruined structure. The weight of the last battle still lingered in his body, but the faint hum of the etheric tea’s miraculous recovery left behind a new awareness – a sharpness to his senses he had not noticed before – along with the healing and strengthening effects.
Kurt walked ahead of him, hands tucked lazily into the pockets of his long coat, his movements casual but never careless. Even now, Miles could tell that Kurt was always aware of his surroundings, always scanning, always ready. It was not just confidence. It was survival instinct.
Always looking over his shoulder...
"You’re keeping up better than I thought," Kurt mused without looking back. "Guess that tea wasn’t total garbage after all."
"Oh, you mean the tea that kept me from keeling over and turning into one of those things? Yeah, real garbage." Miles rolled his eyes.
Kurt smirked but didn’t argue.
They continued through the wreckage, stepping over rusted-out hulls of what might’ve once been transport vehicles or parts of an ancient war machine. The air smelled of burnt metal and something older, something almost organic beneath the decay of civilization. The blue veins of energy that pulsed faintly in the walls stretched deeper into the structure, growing more concentrated.
"How much do you actually know about this place?" Miles asked after a while. "Like, really know?"
"I know enough to stay alive." Kurt chuckled.
"That’s not an answer."
"It’s the best one you’re going to get."