Kael descended the stairs with Sage trailing behind him.

The lobby was quiet. Byron stood by the door, arms crossed, jaw tight. Zane fidgeted beside him. Mira sat in a corner chair, scrolling through her display, glasses catching the morning light.

Byron’s eyes locked onto them immediately.

"Twenty minutes late."

"We lost track of time," Kael said.

Sage said nothing. Her hair was slightly disheveled with dark circles under her eyes, but they weren’t the exhausted kind—they were the satisfied kind.

Mira looked at Sage, then at Kael, then back at her display with the expression of someone actively choosing not to process information.

Quest generated.

The System’s notification flickered in Kael’s vision.

NEW QUEST: THE THORNWICK SHADOWS

Objective: Uncover the truth behind the mass disappearances in Thornwick City.

Sub-objectives:

- Identify the perpetrators (0/1)

- Locate the abduction site (0/1)

- Rescue civilians (0/??)

Rewards: Rewards will be distributed based on quest peformance.

Time Limit: 7 days

Kael smiled faintly.

It had been a while since the System gave him something genuinely interesting.

"Briefing," Byron snapped. "Now. We’re wasting daylight."

Mira stood and summarized what they knew. Disappearances at night. No bodies. No blood. Likely underground movement. Guild investigation had been useless for eight weeks.

"I want to split into teams," Byron said. "Cover more ground. I’ll take Sage and Mira to check the western disappearance sites. Kael, you take Zane to the eastern ones."

"No," Sage said.

Byron blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I go with my hubby." Her voice was flat. Final. "Not negotiating."

Byron’s face reddened. "I’m the group leader. I decide—"

"You decide nothing that matters to me." Sage stepped closer to Kael, her tail brushing his arm. "I go where he goes."

Kael patted her head absently, like she was a pet.

Byron looked like he might explode.

"I’ll go alone," Mira interjected smoothly. "I’m Rank 5. The eastern sites are low-risk enough for independent reconnaissance." She glanced at Zane. "No offense."

"None taken," Zane mumbled. He was at the peak Rank 3. Weakest in the group by a significant margin.

"Fine," Byron bit out. "Zane, with me. Mira, alone. Those two—" he gestured at Kael and Sage with barely concealed disgust, "—together. Report back by midday. No one dies. That’s an order."

He stormed out. Zane followed quickly.

Mira adjusted her glasses, looked at Kael one more time, and left without a word.

Kael and Sage stood in the empty lobby.

"She doesn’t like you," Sage murmured. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"She doesn’t know me. That’s smarter."

They left the inn and turned east.

Sage fell into step beside Kael, matching his pace easily. The morning streets of Thornwick were busier than yesterday—people moving with purpose, market stalls open, a fragile pretense of normalcy.

"We’re not going to the eastern sites," Kael said.

Sage slowed. "What?"

"There’s nothing there. I don’t have time to waste. The guild’s investigators already combed those locations. Found nothing. We won’t either."

"Then where?"

Kael kept walking. His eyes scanned the street—buildings, people, movement patterns—but his attention was fixed on something else entirely.

"The next crime scene."

Sage frowned, hurrying to catch up. "How do you determine the next crime scene? We have no pattern data, no predictive model—"

"Twelve thousand people over eight weeks. That’s roughly two hundred per week. Twenty-eight per night." Kael turned a corner without slowing. "No single person moves that many bodies. Not silently. Not without inside help. This is an organization. Multiple operatives. Coordinated abductions, coordinated disposal routes, coordinated everything."

"Okay. But that doesn’t tell us where—"

"They have someone inside the guild. That’s for sure."

Sage stopped walking.

"The receptionist?" she whispered.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Could be anyone. But someone in that building is feeding them information—investigation progress, patrol schedules, which areas to avoid." Kael resumed walking. Sage followed. "Organizations this careful still leave trails. They have to. Moving two hundred people a week requires logistics. Vehicles. Storage. Timing. No matter how discrete they are, patterns emerge."

Sage was quiet for a moment.

Then she looked at him.

Really looked.

"Kael. Your eyes."

He glanced at her. "What about them?"

"Why are they suddenly purple?."

He smiled.

Three months ago. Silver Tier dormitory.

SHADOW SHOP — EYE TECHNIQUES

Nether Sight (Earth Grade) — 300 SP Allows basic mana perception through obstacles. Range: 5 meters.

Essence Trace (Heaven Grade) — 500 SP Grants the ability to perceive distinct mana signatures. Every individual possesses a unique energy fingerprint—like a soul’s thumbprint. Signatures persist on touched surfaces for up to 72 hours. Can identify specific individuals in crowds. Cannot be detected by standard perception methods.

Kael had purchased Essence Trace without hesitation.

The application was immediate. He’d spent weeks cataloguing signatures—the instructors, the students, the servants, the guards. Everyone he met, he memorized. A mental database of energy fingerprints that grew with every encounter.

The purple glow in his eyes was a side effect.

"Every person has a distinct mana signature. But there was one signature I didn’t recognize. Dark green. Not local—I would have encountered it during my three months at the academy. Not any of the investigators, not the adventurers, not the staff." He nodded ahead. "That’s who we’re following."

Sage squinted at the crowded street ahead. Normal people. Normal movement.

"I don’t see anything."

"You’re not looking with the right eyes."

They walked.

The man was fifty meters ahead—unremarkable in every way. Brown clothes, average build, hood pulled low. He moved like a laborer heading to work. Nothing about him suggested danger.

But his signature pulsed dark green in Kael’s vision like a beacon.

"He’s turning," Kael murmured.

The man veered left into a narrow alley between two brick buildings.

Kael accelerated slightly. Sage matched his pace without being told.

They reached the alley’s entrance and stopped.

"Hide us," Kael said.

Sage’s eyes flashed. Her tails swished once—and then the space around them shimmered. An illusion barrier settled over them like a cloak, bending light, muffling sound, making them invisible to anyone who wasn’t specifically looking for distortions.

They pressed against the wall and peered around the corner.

The brown-clothed man stood in the center of the alley. Waiting.

Footsteps approached from the other end.

Another man emerged.

Same dark green signature.

They stood three meters apart. Neither spoke. Neither moved.

Then the second man reached into his coat and pulled out a small object—a crystal that pulsed with faint light.

Kael’s purple eyes narrowed.

The first man produced an identical crystal.

They touched them together.

A soft hum filled the alley—and then a flickering image appeared in the air between them. A map. Streets. Buildings. Red markers scattered across Thornwick like a disease.

Sage’s breath caught silently beside him.

The map zoomed in on one red marker. Circled it. A time stamp appeared beneath it.

Tonight.