The journey to Ztheu happened in an instant.
One moment they were standing in the arena, the next, everything was gone.
The bright light came first. It swallowed the space around them, sharp and blinding. At the same time, a strange force pulled at their bodies. It wasn't physical, not exactly, but it was there. Strong. Twisting. Like the world itself had grabbed them and started turning.
Alex felt it clearly.
His vision spun.
His balance vanished.
For a moment, it felt like he was being stretched and compressed at the same time.
It wasn't his first time.
He had felt something similar when moving to the Pendragon base. But this… this was different. Rougher. Less controlled. There was a certain weight behind it, something deeper than the clean transitions he was used to.
'Not the same system…'
The thought came quickly.
It felt more… primal.
More forceful.
The sensation continued for a few seconds, though it felt longer in his head. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.
Everything snapped back into place.
Alex hit the ground.
Flat.
His body landed without control, his chest pressing against the surface as he tried to catch himself. The dizziness didn't leave immediately. It lingered, spinning faintly in his head, making it hard to focus.
He stayed there for a second.
Breathing.
Waiting.
Slowly, the feeling began to fade.
There was no pain. No injury. No sign that the landing had been rough, even though it didn't feel controlled.
That alone told him something.
'The transfer stabilized the impact…'
He pushed himself up.
Not too fast. Careful.
The moment he stood, his eyes moved.
Trees. Tall. Dense.
The area around him was filled with them, their trunks thick and close together. The canopy above blocked most of the light, leaving the ground covered in shifting shadows.
No open space. No clear path.
'Forest… deep one…'
"No… no… not you… not you…"
It came from the side.
Familiar and Agitated.
Alex turned immediately.
Leaning against a tree was Isla.
He looked bad.
Not injured, but drained. His posture was unstable, his breathing uneven as he tried to steady himself. One hand pressed against the tree for support while the other hung loosely.
Alex understood it at a glance.
Teleportation strain.
For first-timers, it hit harder.
Much harder.
The body didn't adjust well at first. The sudden shift, the pressure, the distortion… it took a toll.
He had heard about it before.
If someone without proper conditioning went through it repeatedly, it could cause lasting damage. In extreme cases, parts of the body might stop functioning properly.
Isla was feeling the lighter end of it.
Still bad.
But manageable.
Alex took a step forward, watching him.
'He's not stable yet…'
'Luckily, Isla is a Stage 4 warrior. This is just a side effect. It will wear off with time,' Alex thought as he watched him closely.
He could already see it in Isla's posture. The instability. The uneven breathing. It wasn't injury. Just strain. The kind that came from sudden displacement.
Alex exhaled lightly.
'And as for why he's acting like this… I already know.'
He didn't need to guess.
"No… I switched sides with Lennox… At the last moment, I switched with him. I shouldn't be paired with you!" Isla blurted out, his voice filled with frustration as he pushed himself off the tree, though he still looked unsteady.
Alex didn't respond immediately.
There was no need.
The situation was already clear.
Before the teleportation, every participant had been told one important rule. Even though they entered the tournament as a clan, they wouldn't remain together. Once inside the dimension, each clan would be split into smaller units. Pairs.
Two people.
No more.
No less.
And those pairs would be assigned randomly at the point of arrival.
At least… that was how it was supposed to be.
Among the Wyndhams, no one needed it explained twice. Alex was seen as the weakest. That alone decided things before the event even started.
No one wanted to be paired with him.
That was why Isla and Lennox had been pushing and shifting earlier, each trying to avoid ending up beside him when the teleportation triggered.
They both knew the risk.
They both tried to escape it.
But in the end—
It didn't matter.
Isla still ended up here.
With Alex.
Alex didn't react to his complaint. He didn't argue. Didn't defend himself. He had already expected this kind of reaction.
Instead, his thoughts moved elsewhere.
To something more important.
'I need to understand my limits here…'
His eyes dropped briefly to his wrist.
The band.
Still glowing faintly.
'How much can it actually see?'
That question stayed at the front of his mind.
If it could track health, then it might also read energy flow. If it could read energy flow, then hiding his true state would become harder.
And if those watching outside had access to that data—
'Then I can't afford to act carelessly…'
His expression tightened slightly.
'How much power can I use… and how much should I hide?'
That was the real problem.
Not Isla. Not the pairing.
Himself.
Meanwhile, Alex wasn't the only one who had arrived in Ztheu. Across the vast dimension, other participants were beginning to recover from the teleportation. Different clans appeared in different terrains, scattered across forests, mountains, and open fields.
The sub-Wyndhams had also been split.
So had the rest of the Wyndham members.
Each pair stood alone now, separated from the others, forced to rely only on whoever they had been placed with.
Zephyr and Lennox appeared together at the peak of a mountain. Their landing point was a flat platform, unnaturally smooth compared to the rough terrain around it, as if it had been carved or placed there on purpose.
From the edges of that platform, worn-out stone stairs stretched downward along the mountain's sides, cracked and uneven, barely holding together.
The wind hit them immediately.
It wasn't normal wind. It came in heavy bursts, strong enough to push against their bodies with force. The moment they stabilized from the teleportation, both of them dropped low, crouching instinctively to keep themselves from being thrown off the edge.
The air howled around them, pulling at their clothes, dragging at their balance.
"Seems like Isla ended up with that bastard after all," Lennox said, his voice slightly strained as he kept himself steady. There was a hint of relief in his tone. At least it wasn't him.
Zephyr didn't react much to that.
His eyes were already moving, scanning the platform, the stairs, the edges, measuring their situation.
"It's unfortunate," Zephyr said calmly, "but if we stay here, we'll be blown off this mountain. We need to move."
Lennox didn't argue.
He nodded once, then lowered himself further as the wind pushed harder.
Both of them began to crawl, moving carefully across the platform. Each movement was controlled, slow, their hands gripping the rough surface to keep from slipping. They made their way toward the edges, searching for anything stable. A rock. A ledge. Something they could hold onto while making their way down.
The stairs didn't look reliable.
But they were the only path.
"Arggghhh!!!"
The sound cut through the wind.
Sharp and Loud.
Unnatural.
Both of them froze instantly.
Their bodies stayed low, but all movement stopped.
Zephyr's eyes shifted upward slightly, trying to locate the source. Lennox did the same, his grip tightening against the stone beneath him.
The wind made it worse.
It carried the sound, twisting it, amplifying it across the mountain. For a moment, it was hard to tell where it came from.
Above?
Below?
Far away?
Or right on top of them?
Then—
The answer came.
A shadow passed over them.
Fast.
Zephyr's eyes snapped upward.
Something was diving down.
It came from the sky, cutting through the wind with speed. Its body was large, powerful, built for both air and ground. Four strong legs stretched forward as it descended, its long tail trailing behind. A thick mane framed its upper body, but its head—
Its head was that of a bird.
Sharp beak.
Focused eyes.
Locked on them.
A Griffin.
And it was coming straight at them.
---
At the same time, the sub-Wyndhams had also arrived in their own part of Ztheu.
Gavalich stood still, taking in his surroundings as the cold air brushed against his face. The ground beneath him was white, covered completely in snow. It stretched far into the distance, empty and endless, like a frozen desert. No trees. No cover. Just open land.
Beside him stood Clifford.
Calm.
Steady.
His feet were firmly planted into the snow as if the cold didn't affect him at all. His posture remained straight, his expression controlled, giving nothing away.
"I was hoping the two of us wouldn't end up together," Gavalich said, glancing at him.
Clifford's eyes shifted toward him.
"You think I'm weak?" he asked, his tone calm but direct.
Gavalich shook his head immediately.
"No. That's not what I meant. If both of us are here, then the other two are exposed," he explained.
Clifford watched him for a second, then a small smile appeared on his face.
"Then we shouldn't waste time," he said. "We find them."
Gavalich exhaled lightly.
"That's the problem. Where do we even start?"
There was nothing around them. No landmarks. No direction. Just snow stretching endlessly.
Clifford's smile didn't fade.
"You don't need to worry about that," he said.
Gavalich frowned slightly.
Clifford's gaze shifted forward, his confidence clear.
"I know where they are," he continued. "In fact… I know where everyone is."
He said it like it was nothing.
Like it was obvious.
Like there was no doubt about it.
---
Then there was the last pair from the Wyndham clan, Jimmy and Henry.
They appeared in one of the strangest parts of Ztheu, deep within the woods where the trees grew uneven and the air felt still. It wasn't just a forest. Hidden within it was something else. An abandoned village.
The place looked old. Worn. Houses stood in silence, some half-broken, others barely holding together. Doors hung loose, windows shattered, and the ground was covered with dry leaves that hadn't been disturbed in a long time. There were no signs of life.
Or at least… none that could be seen.
The two of them had taken shelter inside one of the houses, staying quiet and out of sight.
" We are lucky," Henry said in a low voice, keeping his tone controlled so it wouldn't carry outside. "If we stay hidden for a while, maybe Clifford and the rest will be able to track us."
He turned his head slightly to look at Jimmy.
Jimmy didn't respond.
He just stood there, silent, his posture stiff. One hand pressed tightly against his shoulder. Blood slipped through his fingers and dropped slowly to the floor, forming small stains beneath him. He tried to hold it back, but it kept coming.
Henry's eyes stayed on him for a moment longer.
That silence said enough.
They weren't as safe as they thought.