The city gate was open.
Not broken.
Not forced.
But left open like someone who never felt the need to close it. Its hinges were not rusted, there were no signs of force, even no traces of panic around it. That alone was enough to be a sign that whatever happened in this city… did not unfold like in Greyhaven. There was no struggle. No panic. No final attempt to survive. Only a transition too clean to be called natural.
Elias stepped in first.
As soon as he passed the gate, he immediately felt a difference difficult to explain with simple words. The air inside this city was not heavy like Greyhaven, nor cold in a biting way. On the contrary—the air felt neutral. Too neutral. As if all emotions had been filtered out, leaving the world in a sterile condition that should never be possessed by a place once inhabited by humans.
Rowan entered after him, his eyes immediately moving quickly, observing every corner of the street with wariness higher than before. He did not like this place not because he saw danger, but because he did not see anything recognizable as a threat. No moving shadows. No strange sounds. Even their own footsteps sounded too clear, like echoing in a space that should not be empty. "I prefer the fog," he muttered softly, his tone not joking this time.
Mara walked slowly, her hand not releasing the hammer, but she also did not raise it. Fire did not appear, not because she could not summon it, but because there was nothing that could be "caught" by her instinct. In Greyhaven, she could feel fuel—emotion, fear, remnants of hope—something that could be heated, forged, shaped. But here… there was nothing to forge. "This is not a city," she said softly, more to herself. "This is like… a mold that was left behind."
Luca stopped in the middle of the stone road, his eyes sweeping the open windows of houses. Curtains did not move. Doors were not tightly closed. But there was no sign that someone had ever hidden behind them. He walked to one of the houses, touched the door handle, then slowly pushed it. Inside, everything was neatly arranged. The table was still set. Chairs were still in place. Even a cup of water was still on the table—not frozen, not evaporating, just… still, like time stopped before it could move.
Elias entered that house, his eyes tracing every detail slowly, trying to find a pattern from something that seemed to have no disturbance at all. There were no signs of resistance, no chaos, even no sign that someone left in a hurry. This was not an evacuation. This was not an attack. This was an erasure done with precision that was not human. He touched that table, and for a moment, he felt something—not emotion, not memory, but total nothingness, like trying to grasp something in empty space.
"There is no remnant," he finally said, his voice softer than usual.
Rowan stood at the door, not fully entering, as if there was an invisible boundary that made him reluctant to step further. "In Greyhaven, at least we knew what was happening," he said, his tone more serious. "People lost hope. They collapsed. The Lament came." He looked at that room once more. "Here… even before the Lament came, it seems there was nothing to take."
Mara finally entered, standing in the middle of the room, then closing her eyes for a moment, trying to feel something she could recognize. But what she found was even more disturbing than the nothingness itself. "It's not that there's no hope," she said slowly. "It's like… hope was never part of them." She opened her eyes, looking at Elias. "If the Lament feeds on despair… then what did they eat here?"
That question was not answered.
But Luca stepped back slowly, his expression changing more clearly than before. He was not afraid like in Greyhaven. This was not fear of something approaching. This was discomfort toward something that should not exist. "This is not them," he said softly. "Not the Lament we know."
Elias felt something move inside him.
The Gospel page that had now become part of his consciousness reacted, not with light, not with sound, but with a gentle push—like a compass that suddenly vibrated when too close to something in the wrong direction. He turned toward the city center, his eyes squinting slightly, not because he saw something, but because he felt an unnatural pull.
"There is something in the center of the city," he finally said.
Rowan immediately stood upright.
"Good. Because I'm also starting to get bored with this place that's too 'quiet'."
But before they stepped out of that house, something happened.
Not a loud sound.
Not a big movement.
But enough to stop them all.
The water in the cup on the table… trembled.
Not from footsteps.
Not from wind.
But from something invisible.
That vibration was small, almost imperceptible, but enough to make the water surface form gentle circles that kept expanding without clear cause.
Mara immediately raised her hammer.
Rowan drew his sword.
Luca stepped back one step.
And Elias… did not move.
Because he finally understood one thing.
In Greyhaven, the Lament came after humans lost hope.
But in this city—
something came first.
And hope… was never given the chance to exist.