The mention of their duty and their Mother instantly cooled Soltis’s rage. He gritted his teeth, letting his shining staff fade back into the ether as he floated backward, begrudgingly accepting his twin’s reprimand.
"Fine, whatever," Soltis muttered, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Consider yourself lucky, Sephiran. We actually have important things to do."
Just as Sephiran thought the torment was finally over, he looked at Noctis, hoping for a shred of maturity from the other twin. But his annoyance spiked to a whole new level when he realized exactly why they were twins in the first place... they shared the exact same rotten attitude.
Right before the two of them floated down toward the lower caverns, Noctis turned his head. His expression suddenly became more mischievous, but his delivery was even more devastatingly sharp than Soltis’s loud mocking.
He let out a whispery, bone chilling tease that was perfectly tailored to freak Sephiran out, throwing in a final, eerie jump scare illusion that made both Sephiran and Vermi jump out of their skins.
"Hey! Come back here and say that to my face!"
Sephiran shouted furiously, his voice cracking as he and Vermi shook their fists, yelling insults into the empty air.
Down below, the twin ghosts erupted into a harsh chorus of overlapping laughter, their voices echoing off the mountain walls as they descended at rapid speed back toward the hive.
Fueled by absolute, raw irritation, a sudden surge of strength rushed through Sephiran. He began scrambling up the steep cliff face at breakneck speed, dragging a thoroughly rattled Vermi along with him.
"I swear, those two are absolute bullies!" Sephiran muttered angrily under his breath, his hands gripping the rocks with furious intensity. "Every single time they see us, they just have to terrify us! They think it’s so funny!"
He climbed higher, practically fuming as memories of their past encounters resurfaced.
"Do you remember the day they were born, Vermi? Ever since that day, we haven’t had a single moment of peace!"
He jabbed an accusatory finger into the air as if the twins were somehow listening.
"Their stupid pranks! Those horrifying illusions they hide inside the walls! We spent days shivering under our blankets, screaming at shadows, and crying ourselves to sleep!"
His face twisted with lingering outrage.
"They’re completely malicious! Not mischievous. Not playful. Malicious!"
He scrambled onto another branch, still ranting.
"The first chance I get, I’m telling Mother everything! Every prank, every nightmare, every time they made us think a monster was hiding under our beds!"
He crossed his arms and huffed.
"And this time, they’re not talking their way out of it!"
Vermi let out a series of frantic, traumatized squeaks, nodding her furry little head in complete solidarity. Her little limbs worked doubl -time as they finally neared the crest of the peak, both of them desperately wanting to leave the ghost twins’ territory far behind.
After several grueling minutes of intense climbing, their fingers raw and their muscles burning, Sephiran and Vermi finally hauled themselves over the final jagged edge. They collapsed onto the flat, frozen ground of the summit, both of them kneeling and panting heavily from the absolute exhaustion of the ascent.
"Man..." Sephiran wheezed, resting his forehead against the cold stone as he tried to catch his breath. "This dead turtle shell of a mountain is way too massive. It feels like we climbed straight into the sky."
When he finally managed to push himself up and look around, he realized the peaks were entirely different from the caverns below.
What welcomed them was a vast, suffocating blanket of thick, heavy fog. It was like standing inside a literal ocean of white mist; the condensation was so dense they couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of their faces. The familiar rocky terrain of Shellgrave completely vanished into the blinding white gloom.
But while their eyes were useless, their ears were wide open.
Through the heavy silence of the mist, chilling sounds began to echo from the sky above and the crags around them. It was a chaotic symphony of distant, predatory cries. They could hear the sharp, piercing shrieks of massive, high-altitude monsters—sounds that closely resembled gigantic birds of prey cutting through the wind.
And beneath those avian cries was something much deeper, a low, rumbling vibration that shook the very stone beneath their knees.
"Those aren’t just birds..." Sephiran whispered, his eyes scanning the fog as he instinctively pulled Vermi closer to his side. "Those sound like... dragons."
Vermi’s fur puffed up instantly, her little hands gripping Sephiran’s sleeve as the massive, unseen predators circled somewhere deep within the mist, entirely unaware that two new hunters had just entered their domain.
Sephiran took a deep breath, the freezing mountain air burning his lungs, and swallowed hard. He could feel his heart hammering against his ribs as the distant, rumbling roars echoed through the whiteout. Looking down, he saw Vermi trembling slightly, her soft fur shivering against the damp mist.
He knew he couldn’t show any weakness right now. He had to be the strong older brother.
Leaning down, he placed a firm, reassuring hand on Vermi’s head, forcing a confident smirk onto his face to encourage his little sibling.
"Hey, don’t let a few oversized bird scare you. Think about why we’re really up here. This isn’t just about getting big brother Arach’s approval anymore. This is about Mother."
Vermi perked up her ears, looking up at him through the thick fog.
"The monsters down in the caverns... they’re small fry," Sephiran continued, his eyes gleaming with a sudden, fierce determination. "But the apex monsters nesting up here in the peaks? Their bloodlines are old, pure, and incredibly powerful. If we can hunt them down and bring them back to the Devouring War Form, imagine the kind of higher-quality traits we can provide for Mother. We can make her stronger, faster, and more untouchable than ever before."
Hearing the mention of their Mother and the prospect of a high-tier feast, Vermi’s fear instantly vanished. Her round tummy rumbled, and her little hands balled into determined fists.
"That’s the spirit,"
Sephiran grinned, pulling his weapon tight and stepping forward into the vast, blinding mist.
"Let’s go hunting for family."