CALAMITY : Legends Of The Chosen

Setting: A worn-down camp, just outside the mist-lifted village.

Time: Evening. The stars are out. A small fire burns in the middle of the group.

The silence felt unfamiliar.

For the first time in what felt like ages, the air wasn't heavy. The fog was gone. The echo of the Siren Queen's lullaby no longer haunted their ears. Just the soft crackle of firewood and the occasional chirp of insects rising again after being silenced.

The Chosen sat together, huddled around the campfire on scattered crates, broken logs, and pieces of fallen debris.

Shojiro sat cross-legged, carefully skewering chunks of roasted demon meat onto sticks. Karl was reclined nearby, his internal systems still stabilizing, small glimmers of nanite light occasionally flickering across his forearms. Max rested against a slab of rock, his head tilted back to stare at the stars. Enme leaned her chin on her knees, watching the flames.

And then there was Leone.

She sat awkwardly beside the fire, hands tucked into the sleeves of her oversized jacket, knees close together. Her posture was perfect—almost too perfect, like she was trying not to take up any space. She hadn't spoken much since the battle ended.

Morgz sat a little ways off, arms crossed, expression neutral. His bandages were fresh. The scars from being hunted by his own friends were still raw beneath the wraps. But he was watching. Quietly.

Shojiro held out a skewer of meat toward Leone.

"Here. You've barely eaten."

Leone's eyes widened.

"Ah… I-I… th-thank y-you…" She accepted the stick with both hands, her fingers shaking slightly. She stared down at the demon meat like it was radioactive.

Karl arched a brow.

"You alright?"

"I-I've never… eaten demon meat before…"

Max cracked one eye open from his recline. "It's not bad. A little stringy. Just think of it as cursed pork."

Leone gulped. Her nose twitched as she brought the skewer closer. The smell was smoky, meaty—almost normal. But the thought of it being a creature from Purgatory, something that used to snarl and bite and reek of sulfur...

She took a bite.

A small one.

Then immediately froze.

Her eyes watered. Her whole face puckered like she'd just licked a rusted battery. She clamped her mouth shut and made a muffled gagging sound.

"Mm-mm-mm—!"

Shojiro leaned forward, panicking. "Are you—?!"

She held up both hands quickly in protest, cheeks red. "I-I-I-I'm okay! I-it's j-just… a b-bit salty… and… and rubbery… a-a-and…"

She curled in on herself, still chewing, desperately trying to swallow without throwing up.

Max chuckled softly. "She's too polite to spit it out."

Enme handed over a waterskin. Leone took it with both hands, guzzled half, and then bowed low from her seat.

"Th-thank you… I-I'm sorry… I-I don't mean to offend anyone…"

Shojiro gave her a gentle pat on the head. "You're not offending anyone. Demon meat tastes like feet. You're just brave for trying."

Leone looked up, stunned. "R-really…?"

Karl laughed. "Shojiro's eaten demon ribs raw before. Even he knows it sucks."

A small smile cracked across Leone's lips. She relaxed, just a little, still flustered, but warmed by the laughter around her.

Then the mood shifted.

It was subtle—Shojiro setting down his stick, Karl sitting up straighter, Enme uncurling her arms. Max rubbed the back of his neck.

Shojiro was the one to break the silence.

"Leone."

She looked up.

He met her gaze squarely.

"You saved us."

Her breath caught.

"I… I was just…"

"No," Max said, leaning forward now. "You killed the Siren Queen. You broke the trance. We were all seconds away from doing something we'd never come back from."

Enme's voice was quiet. "I would've slaughtered Morgz. Without even realizing it."

Karl clenched a fist. "I had a blade to Max's throat."

Max nodded solemnly. "And I was charging a kill pulse. At Shojiro."

Leone's eyes grew wider and wider. Her hands had begun to tremble again, but no longer from fear. From shock. She hadn't… known.

Shojiro spoke again, softer this time.

"You fought her alone. You took her on when no one else could. You saved our lives, Leone. All of us."

Karl glanced to the side. "I'm not used to being helpless. I hate it. But I'm grateful you were there when it mattered."

Enme gave her a firm nod. "You're stronger than you look. Stronger than most of us."

Leone looked overwhelmed. Her lips parted, but no words came out. Just a quiet gasp, a little hiccup in her throat as her eyes filled with tears.

Then—

Morgz stood.

The motion was enough to draw everyone's attention. He walked slowly to the center of the circle, the firelight casting deep shadows across his tired face. He looked at each of them one by one.

"You all tried to kill me."

The air tensed.

The fire crackled softly.

No longer bleeding. No longer deaf. His ears had regrown flawlessly—Yggdrasil's divine thread sewing his flesh back together in mere minutes after the Queen's defeat.

But his silence was louder than any injury he could've shown.

Shojiro looked over.

"You said… we tried to kill you?"

The question drew every gaze. Max blinked. Enme frowned. Karl stopped moving.

Morgz didn't look up.

"You don't remember?"

Enme spoke first, cautiously. "We just remember the voice… the pressure… then waking up outside the shrine, bruised and confused."

Shojiro added, "It's not that we don't believe you. We just… don't get how that happened."

Morgz exhaled sharply through his nose.

Then spoke.

"I remember everything."

The crackle of the fire was the only reply.

"You don't understand what that bitch did. The Siren Queen's voice didn't just control you—it undid you. She made you into puppets and left me alone with the strings."

He stood up, suddenly animated.

"I heard it first. That lullaby. It felt like my thoughts weren't mine anymore. Like my memories were folding in on themselves. I had to do something."

His eyes scanned each of them.

"So I did."

"I took a water blade to my own head and cut my ears off."

Gasps fluttered. Even Karl flinched.

"You want to talk about pain? That was just the start."

"I was crawling through the ruins—blind, half-conscious—when I saw you. All of you. Standing like statues under her command."

Morgz's fists clenched.

"And then you moved."

Shojiro's breath caught.

"You came for me first," Morgz said, looking directly at him. "You threw a punch that shattered the floor next to my head. If I hadn't rolled, I'd have died."

Max opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Enme—you dropped a barrier on me. It crushed my lungs. I couldn't breathe. Karl locked onto me with tracking nanites. Max electrocuted me so hard I nearly passed out. You all tried to kill me. With her smiling right behind you."

Leone's lips trembled.

"I didn't fight back. Not fully. I used water to block, not strike. I dodged when I should've drowned you. Because I knew it wasn't you. It wasn't your fault."

He let out a shaky breath.

"And after all of that… after bleeding, burning, breaking myself just to stall... I still wasn't enough. I collapsed in that well. I would've died. I wanted to die."

The campfire popped again. Sparks scattered.

"Then she came."

His voice softened.

"She fought the Queen. She saved me. She didn't try to kill me."

Morgz looked up. Not in anger. Not in blame.

Just hollow truth.

"I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. But don't ask me to pretend it didn't happen just because Yggdrasil made my body good as new."

He pointed at his temple.

"Because the part that broke? It wasn't just skin and bone."

Silence fell again.

Then Shojiro stood.

"I'm sorry."

He stepped forward, shoulders heavy with guilt.

"I don't remember it. But I know what that song felt like. And I know if the roles were reversed... I wouldn't have survived. You did."

Max followed, eyes down. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean it—any of it."

Karl spoke next. "If I ever get mind-controlled again, make sure I'm not holding a scalpel. Damn."

Enme said nothing. But her barrier stopped spinning and quietly hovered toward Morgz, settling beside him—her version of an apology.

And Leone—Leone just looked at him with tearful eyes, then stood.

She bowed.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-I d-didn't kn-know what y-you w-went through... I j-just d-didn't want to l-lose anyone else..."

Then, without another word, she stepped forward and hugged him. Firm. Sincere. No hesitation.

Morgz, shocked, tensed at first...

But then let his arms rise and return it.

One by one, the group circled around them.

No one said a word. Because now, nothing needed to be said.

And for the first time since the Siren's song began…

Morgz finally rested.