Liam coughed again as Elias was about to leave.
A wet, rattling sound – too soft for a dying boy. The kind of cough that made Elias' throat tighten with a helplessness he wasn't used to.
He paused, listening.
One cough. Two. A wheeze. Silence.
Elias forced himself to continue forward before the guilt pulled him back. If he stayed much longer, he knew he'd freeze, unable to move, unable to leave this sanctuary. But he had to go.
The veil settled over his face the moment he stepped forward.
It wasn't heavy, but more like being underwater. It clung to his skin, warm where his breath touched it. It pulsed faintly with heartbeat, almost as if it were alive.
The world beyond the veil reacted strangely to him.
Leaves rustled, but their sound reached him just a fraction too late. The wind brushed his hair, but he felt it before he heard it. Birds chirped, but each note came blurred, softened and distant.
And when he blinked, everything around him left a faint afterimage. Even the sunlight seemed to ripple, as though it needed time to reach him.
The veil whispered again.
A small vibration against his cheekbones, followed by a mechanical voice.
[ Energy insufficient. Latency is unavoidable. Increased flow will accelerate sensory uptake. Higher states may permit anticipatory correction. ]
Elias stiffened. But he didn't ask any further. He didn't want to know.
He only quickened his pace, trying to keep his breathing steady.
His boots nearly sank into the dirt path. Elias felt smaller with every step. He repeated Amelia's words in his head. But his fingers still curled tight with every passing silhouette.
The wanted poster flashed in his memory. A monster drawn by someone who had never met him. A monster with a bounty.
Elias lowered his head further.
Halfway down the path, he came across a stray dog that ambled towards him. It stopped right in front of him with its head tilted.
Elias stopped.
The dog sniffed.
Once. Twice. Circling him
Its nose twitched in confusion as if it caught Elias' scent but couldn't quite place where he was standing.
For a second, the dog's eyes met his, like it saw his face behind the veil.
Then, without warning, it lost interest. It huffed, shook out its fur, and wandered off towards a puddle of stagnant water.
Elias let out his breath in a silent burst. A thin sheen of sweat clung to his palms. He wiped them on his coat and pressed forward.
The path narrowed, leading towards a marsh walkway where the silhouette of an abandoned structure loomed ahead. Broken pillars rose like drowned ribs with faint activity buzzing around the ruins.
His heartbeat quickened.
Voices. Footsteps. People.
He wasn't ready to face them yet. He was determined to turn around when suddenly –
He spun around too quickly, straight into a guard's chest.
The man stumbled, then seized Elias by the shoulder.
"Watch where the fuck you're going!"
The veil pulled tight around Elias' face. The guard's eyes dragged across him. But then they slid off, unable to focus.
"Useless lot wandering around these days," the guard grunted, shoving him aside. "People like you… irritate the fuck outta me."
Elias swallowed hard. He didn't dare to speak.
The second guard laughed, rubbing his nose.
"Forget him. Did you hear? Another caravan gone. And the idiots guarding it? Found drunk by the lake."
"Can't trust anyone anymore," the first spat.
Their footsteps faded into the reeds.
Elias stood their alone.
After a long moment, he finally pushed himself forward, towards the ruins.
The closer he came, the worse the air smelled.
Brine. Rot. Burnt herbs. Grease.
The structure dipped into murky water and its stairs descended into a drowned antechamber.
Lanterns hung from broken beams, trembling in the damp wind.
It was a marketplace. Not a legal one at that.
A black market of the desperate and the cruel.
Elias descended through the stairs. Men exchanged sacks of stolen grain. A woman bartered for a knife with a handle carved from bone.
In the corner of the platform, two cloaked figures exchanged a parcel wrapped in thick, waxed cloth. The other figure hesitated before taking it. "Keep it sealed and protected, especially from air."
Slaves – small, thin shapes – curled in iron cages near one wall, thin and weak from hunger.
Elias pressed deeper into the crowd, shrinking inside the veil, looking around and observing for clues, for medicine to improve Liam's condition.
Rumors drifted through the air wherever he walked.
The first stall he passed, two women grumbled over a crate of wilted vegetables.
"Your brother should NEVER have sent to Greywood. Rumors have it that the fog hasn't lifted for days."
The second one replied. "I begged him not to go. But the captain said it was a mission of the highest priority. And the promised reward was HUGE."
Elias keeps walking. Near another vendor, two men trade hushed worries.
"My cousin over at the Triscia border hasn't written in weeks. They say the birds stopped singing up there… do you think…"
"As the situation stands, it'll happen on its own, especially with the growing tensions…"
Then –
A shout tore through the noise.
"THIEF!"
A boy, maybe fourteen or so, burst between the stalls, clutching a leather pouch. Behind him thundered a broad-shouldered merchant.
The boy sprinted straight towards Elias, who stepped aside immediately.
The boy dashed past him. The merchant didn't.
He crashed into Elias like a charging ox, but Elias twisted just the last second. The merchant stumbled and slammed into the pair of cloaked men from earlier.
The collision was brutal and clumsy.
One of them lurched backwards while the other was struck hard enough which threw the bundle from his grip.
The veil caught the movement a split-second late and Elias saw the cloth hit the ground first, then the man's hands scrambling after it.
A deep, iridescent violet liquid leaked onto the floor.
The second cloaked man, moved with startling speed. He snatched the parcel from the floor, wrapping it tightly in his sleeve.
He shot his companion a vicious glare before helping the merchant onto his feet.
The merchant immediately grabbed Elias by the collar.
"You! You let him through! You owe me the damages."
Elias' breath faltered. The veil flickered dangerously.
"I…"
"Don't stutter at me. Pay up, or…"
A voice cut through the crowd.
"Looking for this?"
A man approached, dragging the thief by the scruff of his neck. The teenager yelped as he was flung onto the ground before the merchant.
This newcomer was tall, sharply dressed for a place like this. Faint red sigils pulsed beneath his skin and a thin halo hovered behind his neck.
Elias felt the temperature dip. The veil rippled with a cold shiver.
The merchant let him go and went to deal with the little robber.
The mage spared Elias a glance. Elias stiffened.
"How curious," the mage murmured. "Your resonance… flickers. You're… an interesting subject."
Elias' blood froze.
But the mage simply turned away, waving a lazy hand.
"But I guess our interaction will have to wait for another time. I have business elsewhere."
He disappeared into the crowd. Elias stood there on the floor, with people all around staring straight at him
He forced himself up and kept moving forward.
Elias passes a stall selling cracked jewelry and worn-out charms.
Two middle-aged men sit behind it, playing a quiet board game. One of them speaks in a low voice, just enough for Elias to catch it.
"Recently been to Orwyn. The incident's still repeating. Was a real issue getting out of there."
The second replied, frowning. "…I though that was just tavern gossip."
But before the second could reply, another man jogged up to them, holding a crumpled parchment.
"You guys seen this? They say he infiltrated the Princess' room," the newcomer said. "By himself."
The second man whistled low. "That's a shit-ton of money. Enough to clear the debts twice."
The first man elbowed him. "Well, I know what I'd do. Fix the roof, finally. Maybe get Lira the medicine she needs. Heck, even send my boy to Viremont if the fees drop."
The newcomer sighed. "Well, as long as things continue as is, dreams would cost more than food."
Elias drifted past as fast as he could, lowering his head further.
Just a little more. Find medicine. Herbs. Anything to help Liam.
He spotted a man selling bundles of dried plants, bottles of tinctures, jars of sour-smelling salves.
Elias approached quietly.
"What're you after, fated one?" he asked.
Elias cleared his throat. "Someone in my care… a boy. He's been coughing repeatedly. Cold sweats and so on."
The merchant's expression lit up with recognition.
"Another one huh," he muttered. "It's getting common now. It's spreading up the rivers."
He rummaged beneath the counter and brought out a stoppered bottle filled with a cloudy amber mixture.
"This," he said, tapping the glass with a fingernail, "is the best you'll find out here. A concoction a noble paid triple for last month. His son had the same symptoms. The royal psychiatrist prescribed this blend."
The merchant shrugged.
"I'm selling it for half the price he paid."
His gaze dropped. "Let's just say I have my own suppliers."
Stolen, then.
But Elias had no money.
The merchant caught his expression.
"No point." He set the bottle back down.
Elias' throat tightened. His eyes lingered on the bottle.
The thought flickered – he could grab it. Run. Liam needed it. Amelia needed him.
For a split second, his fingers twitched towards the glass.
But then memory struck him like cold water:
Amelia's eyes. Her trust. Her fear of the world turning cruel. Her horror if she learned he'd stolen from someone trying to survive just as hard as she was.
He shut the thought down.
Elias stepped back, shaking his head.
"I… can't," he murmured.
The merchant didn't argue. He just nodded along.
"Come back if you find some coins. We'll be waiting for you..."
Elias turned around to leave—
And froze.
A thin thread of sound wove through the air.
A lullaby. Soft. Weak. Mournful. Drifting like a memory someone else dropped.
The strange part was… no one reacted. Not the merchant. Not the nearby people. Nobody even paused. Only Elias heard it.
The veil tightened around his skin.
Curiously, he followed the sound. Down past the stalls. Past the torches. Past the murmuring crowds.
Toward the far corner of the bazaar, half-sunken into the dark, sat a small, frail figure. Head tilted, lips barely moving, singing a lullaby made of sorrow and echo. A lullaby that made Elias' blood go cold.