The sun bled orange across Alzharan’s skyline, its gold-dusted domes and sandstone towers catching every inch of light like polished bone. The royal city looked peaceful from the outside — curved bridges stretched over still canals, archways trimmed with silver script. But beneath it all, whispers stirred. Whispers of trade. Whispers of “authorization.”

  Inside a high-walled marble hall behind the palace gates, Neyxa clung to the shadows, pressed tight against ancient columns.

  She’d slipped into the compound with a forged ID badge — stolen from a careless court attendant. Every step deeper into the administration complex felt like dragging a blade across parchment: risky, silent, irreversible.

  Through an open slit in the next chamber, voices murmured:

  “…Silken Will authorization approved for tomorrow’s procession.”

  “The outsiders have stirred unrest. Let the enchantment reinforce loyalty. If the King questions it, remind him of the other nations’ involvement.”

  Neyxa’s brows tightened. Her heart didn’t skip — it clenched. Other nations? So this wasn’t just one kingdom’s shame. It was a network. A web.

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  She didn’t wait for more. She’d heard enough.

  Time Passed: 1 Hour Later

  Location: Slums – Rebel Shack

  The air in the shack was thick. Not with dust — with doubt.

  Zeven was pacing, head low. Thessia leaned against the far wall with her arms crossed. Neyxa stood near the cloth-draped window, eyes still sharp from her infiltration.

  Rell sat on the floor, Lirah asleep at his side.

  “They sell kids,” Rell said, voice low. “For… glitter rock. Steel of sky.”

  “Ethereium,” Neyxa confirmed. “Used in the human domain’s elite weapons. Supposedly what the angels crafted before the fall.”

  “Greedy kings,” Thessia muttered. “Even ones with clean crowns.”

  “We’re not just dealing with a corrupt monarch,” Neyxa added. “I overheard a reference to multiple kingdoms being involved. They’re planning to use something called ‘Silken Will’ to keep the people docile. Magical brainwashing, likely tied to enchantment magic.”

  Zeven stopped pacing.

  “So the king’s not even in control?”

  “Doesn’t mean he’s innocent,” Neyxa shot back. “He signed off on the trade.”

  Rell glanced at Lirah, then toward the door.

  “Expose. Save kids. Burn all of it.”

  “Careful,” Zeven said. “You sound like a rebel.”

  “Me? Nah. I just… hate cages.”

  Thessia smirked. Neyxa allowed herself a thin smile. Even Zeven cracked a grin — brief, but real.

  Then the air shifted.

  Boots thundered outside.

  A metallic knock rattled the shack.

  “By decree of the Alzharan crown — you are ordered to surrender yourselves for questioning under charges of rebellion, harboring fugitives, and disrupting royal doctrine!”

  Zeven’s face went pale.

  “They found us already?!”

  Rell stood slow, cracking his neck.

  “Time… for ghosts.”

  Outside, Dustguard soldiers moved into formation — red visors glowing in the dark, spears charged with light enchantment.

  Inside, the crew stared at one another — wordless.

  And then everything exploded into motion.