Ren and Lilith appeared in a soft whoosh of displaced air, the sound muffled against the stone as if the silence from earlier had followed them.
Thorn was crouched near a stack of crates in a dim corner of the alley, his arms crossed and his back to a crumbling wall.
The moment they appeared, his head snapped to them, rising quickly to his feet.
"Well?" He asked, voice low. "How'd it go?"
Ren exhaled and gave a dry smile. "Not as planned. We got the money, but we were ambushed in the vault. Some cloaked figure, probably a Rank 7 Knight. Fought like a ghost."
Thorn raised an eyebrow. "You win?"
Ren nodded. "They ran. But that's not the part you should be worried about."
Lilith stepped forward. "There was something else. A silence... like sound itself was being stolen. Our powers felt weak. Sluggish. It was like fighting underwater."
Thorn stiffened. "You think it was the Silent Choir?"
"We're not sure." Ren said. "But it matches everything I've heard."
