The shed reeked of mold and flour dust. Kess sneezed into his sleeve for the third time, muttering curses under his breath. Kaiden stood near the door, his recently repaired leg humming softly. The pain had dulled to a low throb—annoying, but manageable. His upgraded joint was stable, but even stability could draw attention if it whined too loud.
"We need intel," Kaiden said. "Before we walk into a trap wearing borrowed faces."
Sylen nodded and cracked the door open. Dawn was brushing a bruised hue over the rooftops. "Patrols are light now. If we split up, we can map the layout and find what's worth knowing."
They divided quickly. Kaiden and Sylen moved east, toward the market quarter—opposite the direction of the demon frontier, which lay far to the northwest, beyond the mist-covered spine of the Dravarn Mountains. That natural barrier had long separated demonkind from the fractured coalition of human kingdoms to the east and south.
While maps often lied, Kaiden had memorized enough during his brief stay in the fortress to know that they were now in the outer reaches of eastern territory, deep in human land. A single mistake here would carry them too far from the demon supply lines to be rescued, and too close to kingdoms that viewed his kind as nothing but corrupted machines., while Rav and Kess angled toward the central plaza to study notice boards and blend with the foot traffic.
The town revealed itself to be more fortified than expected. Stone towers dotted the perimeter, and the occasional armored patrol moved with trained efficiency. Hidden runes flickered faintly across the stone walkways—residuals of old magic, a sign that enchantments had been baked into the infrastructure.
Kaiden pulled his cloak tighter, the collar hiding the seam where metal met flesh. "They don't look like they're expecting war," he muttered to Sylen, "but they're ready for one."
Sylen responded quietly, "No banners either. This place might be shared jurisdiction—neutral ground between houses."
As they passed a shopfront with shimmering glyphs over the door, Kaiden paused to glance at a posted notice board beside it. His eyes landed on a recent flyer stamped with the royal seal:
"Unstable mana signature detected near borderlands. Guild investigation pending. Mages are advised to report anomalies or shifts in leyline behavior immediately."
Kaiden's jaw tightened. They felt it. The spell that brought us here didn't go unnoticed.
Kess peeked over his shoulder, eyeing the poster. "The royal dogs work fast," he muttered. "Bet they've got mana-sniffers embedded in their outhouses."
Sylen snorted under her breath. "Wouldn't surprise me. The capital loves making a show of efficiency when there's no real danger."
They entered the open-air market, where stalls sold everything from salted jerky to glow-lanterns. A handful of children darted between wagons, chasing a wind-driven toy.
Kaiden's eyes scanned the merchants carefully. He leaned close to one stall selling spell-inscribed tools. "What's the news of the north?"
The vendor, an older man with a cracked monocle and a half-burned beard, sniffed. "Bounties. Talk of deserters with cursed limbs sighted along the border towns. Supposed to be part-demon, part-machine."
Kaiden's expression didn't change. "Sounds like a fairy tale."
The man spat into the dust. "Wouldn't be the first demon freak to come slinking into our lands. If the guild mages had their way, they'd burn every caravan not born inside the capital."
"Fortunately," Kaiden said dryly, "they don't run the market."
He moved on, mind racing.
Meanwhile, Kess and Rav stood by a message board where freshly-pinned notices flapped in the breeze. Rav pointed subtly at a detailed sketch: a humanoid figure, face obscured by a half-mask of bronze, with a reward listed for information.
"Subtle," Kess muttered. "They really think something mechanical crossed over."
Rav lowered his voice. "They know someone did. They just don't know who."
Kess looked away uneasily. "We weren't even here for a day and it's already closing in."
"They tracked the spell signature," Rav said. "Even a poorly cast teleport leaves a stain."
They returned to the edge of the market by midday. The squad regrouped in a shaded corner of a dried-up fountain plaza.
"There's more going on here than just local patrols," Rav said. "I overheard a merchant arguing with a courier. Supplies are being redirected south—something about tensions with an eastern faction."
Sylen added, "I caught mention of a mage-engineer in the outer district. Works on enchanted relics for the border scouts. He might be valuable if we need insight into the town's defenses or mana tech."
Kaiden nodded, satisfied. "We'll need all of it when we return. Demon command won't move without leverage. If we can report weak points in this region's supply lines, we might buy ourselves breathing room."
Kess rubbed the back of his neck. "You think we'll make it back?"
Kaiden didn't answer right away. He looked at the flyer again, the sketched figure that resembled him too closely. The mouth in the drawing was all wrong—too straight, too blank. But the eyes… they'd gotten the eyes almost perfectly.
There was no version of him that could walk this world unnoticed. Not anymore. Even here—half a world away from where he died—his shadow still clung to the edges of every whisper.. His jaw tightened.
"We don't have a choice."
The squad fell quiet. As they moved, Sylen fiddled with the enchanted clasp at her collar—an illusion stone subtly shifting her horned features into something more human. The spell wasn't perfect, but in motion and in shadow, it would do. Rav kept tugging the sleeves of his coat over the exposed joints of his armor. Kess had swapped his boots entirely to human-style leathers, though he kept muttering about how flimsy they felt.
Sylen adjusted her scarf, muttering, "I don't like how clean this town feels.. Too neat. Like someone's already been sweeping up after a mess."
"Then we don't leave footprints," Kaiden said.
They moved off together, cloaks brushing stone.
Kess nudged Rav as they passed a bakery. "Bet I could snatch a bread roll without a single soul noticing."
Rav snorted. "We're not here for your childhood trauma reenactments."
"Still hungry."
Kaiden shook his head. "If you're going to steal, make it useful. A map. A crest. Even a name." As they passed a group of mages near a vendor stall, Kaiden couldn't help noticing one of them staring too long. He met the gaze briefly, then looked away.
"Someone recognized something," Sylen whispered under her breath. "That or you've got fans."
"More like ghosts," Kaiden muttered.
The wind picked up, carrying with it the faint tolling of distant bells. Somewhere in the north tower, a signal horn echoed.
"Let's move," Kaiden said. "We're not ghosts yet."