The figure rushed through the forest, reaching home on the far side of the city with a heavy breath. Only the light of the stars was remembered before one was plunged into darkness once more.

An unexpected meeting of two Broken Carriers that were destined to become allies, temporary because one of them was running out of time. It was counting down to days. The situation they found themselves in was an exceptional rarity, but Ethan still had a chance to become a True Carrier - they both did.

Crackle.

A stream of water rushed from the faucet as the girl opened her eyes.

Ethan was once again washing his wound, in the hope that he had certainly gotten rid of all the splinters in his shoulder.

"Fuck, it hurts so bad! He hit me pretty hard."

Taking the bandage in hand, Ethan turned around as his eyes went wide.

A girl with shoulder-length blonde hair was looking at him with her wide, almost dark red eyes.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Ethan sat up on the bed, his expression becoming menacing. "So, what happened in the forest? You know something about it, right?"

"Menir."

"Agh?"

The girl touched her chest. "My name is Menir, what about you?"

"Tsk. Ethan," he snorted. "I don't care what your name is. I want to know what happened there!"

"I'm afraid I don't have any answers. I only followed my ability, or rather, I was forced to. Then, monsters, death, and you... You decided to kill me... and then you saved me. It's so weird. Why?"

Ethan touched his temple.

"You mean this? I'm not going to apologize. You were supposed to be my donor, my only chance, so I did it, but it looks like something went wrong."

At the same moment, a sound of moving gears.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Two spectral circles hovered between them — Ethan's broken in half and Menir's 95% complete, but if even one tiny piece was missing, it was considered a Broken Circle, limiting its potential forever. Without all the pieces, the Circle couldn't rotate, it was simply impossible, which meant that absorbing energy and searching for Patterns for the Broken Carriers was impossible.

Unless...

[The inferior circle is ready to grant access to its Patterns for the rebuilding of the superior circle.]

[Is the superior circle ready to give its permission?]

An answer was required.

Ethan glanced at Menir, but she just tilted her head in confusion.

"What?" she touched her lips. "Don't you understand that your Circle is a superior one?"

"But..." Ethan stammered, looking at his circle, which was clearly damaged much more severely. "This is strange. I should have absorbed your Circle by killing you. How did you survive?"

Before Menir could say anything, Ethan waved his hand in agreement.

[Synchronization begins.]

Then, half of Menir's Circle copied itself as a spectral layer, overlapping Ethan's. His Circle also gave a small part of itself to Menir.

[Perfect match. Absorption is impossible without destroying both Circles!]

[To avoid destruction, copies of the missing parts must be created!]

[To create copies, the missing Patterns must be restored!]

They exchanged a glance.

Whether they wanted it or not, they were now dependent on each other, at least until they both restored their Circles.

Finding the Patterns was difficult but possible. Obviously, considering that Menir's Circle was almost intact and Ethan's was half destroyed, it was easier for them to find Menir's missing Patterns, which were part of her Circle.

Menir rebandaged Ethan's wound.

"Not so tight."

"Why aren't you using any medicine? You won't get very far with just bandages and water." Menir wrapped his shoulder tightly.

"Hah, let's see. Either I love pain, or I don't have any fucking money!" Ethan waved his hand irritably.

Menir pointed to the dagger.

"What about this? It looks pretty expensive. Better to be without a weapon and with medicine than with a weapon and dead."

Ethan took the dagger in his hand. "Nah, I can't sell it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a gift. I don't sell gifts. I wouldn't want someone to sell my gift, so that's why."

"Then maybe you should ask this man for help? It seems you're important to him." Menir asked.

"Hah. This dagger is my guarantee that I won't bother him again, and I won't."

Menir touched her lips.

"In that case, it's not a gift, it's a bribe, isn't it?"

Ethan smiled bitterly. "Call it what you want, but we're alone with our problems."

"Got it."

Tap.

Menir took off her earring, her only one.

"Hmm? What should I do with this?" Ethan asked.

"It's gold. It's not much, but it's for medicine, food, and..." She looked at their bloodstained clothes. "It'll be enough for clothes as well."

Ethan grinned.

"Good. Finally, some kind of reward!"

Sure, Ethan didn't know much about Menir, but he wasn't in a position to refuse help. Selling a piece of gold, even if it wasn't much, wasn't a problem in Orsire. On the contrary, for Ethan, who often sold scrap metal and did physical labor in warehouses, it was the easiest thing he had done in the last few years.

All he had to do was go to a familiar merchant, show him Menir's gold earring and he got the money.

By evening, they had everything they needed, and Ethan drank a glass of thick green substance.

"Gha! How disgusting!"

Ethan wiped his mouth, all for the sake of healing.

"What are we going to do? It looks like we can't move forward until we restore your Patterns."

It was a headache. Every Carrier had to find Patterns to make their Circle stronger, basically developing their Catalyst and gaining new abilities.

Patterns were clusters of energy with unique properties. They were everywhere, in people, monsters, artifacts, and even some resources.

The problem was that finding the right Patterns for a Catalyst was difficult — sometimes it could take years. Someone could kill a random monster while hunting and fill a Pattern for their Catalyst. As in all worlds, luck could play a big role.

"Find Patterns for you." Ethan scratched the back of his head. "Hell, we'll die of old age before we figure this out."

"Don't worry."

Menir replied emotionlessly.

"I think I can take on this task."

Confused, Ethan was about to ask something when he saw the spinning gears deep in Menir's eyes.

A red orb hovered above her hands, bound by a multitude of heavy chains.

"This is the Catalyst of my First Circle, my ability, it's... also the reason why I ended up in the Rotten Forest with those mercenaries, but more on that later," Menir explained, even though Ethan was in the same situation.

"So, what does this orb do?"

Menir concentrated.

"This is the Blind Voyager. I'm sure it's very different from what your Catalyst is capable of."

Each Carrier had different abilities because they depended on the Catalysts, and the Catalysts relied on the Circles. Maybe they were donors to each other, and some parts of their Circles were similar, but even a small variation was enough to make two Carriers very different, and Menir was a perfect example.

Slowly, a terrifying hand emerged from the dark orb, pointing its long finger toward the west.

"It points to something valuable, perhaps something I need, or something that is a treasure to others. But... as the name suggests, I don't know what awaits me at the final destination."

Ethan chuckled darkly. "Well, what else would you expect from the blind one. So, you think your ability will help us find Patterns for your Circle?"

"Most likely. The Blind Voyager guides us first to important things, then to valuable things. Given our situation... There is nothing more important than completing my Patterns."

"Alright."

Ethan stood up, brushing the dust off his knees.

"Then lead the way. Knowing where to go is half the battle."

In response, Menir smiled faintly.