Torches flickered, casting distorted shadows across the alley walls. The townspeople advanced in a semicircle, their faces marked by fear and hatred. At the center stood Kai and Ronan, cornered.
Ronan, still on his knees, tried to rise, but one of the men shoved his head back down.
"Stop this!" Kai shouted, his hand firm on the hilt of his dagger. "He has nothing to do with me!"
A woman with hardened features spat on the ground.
"Nothing to do with you? He defended you. Hid you. That makes him an accomplice."
Kai took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice.
"Let him go. If the problem is with me, take only me."
Dry laughter cut through the air.
"Words of an abomination," another man said, raising his torch higher. "You think you can bargain with us? Your very presence contaminates this city!"
The murmurs of the crowd grew louder.
"Abomination." "Witchcraft." "Punishment."
Each word struck Kai like an invisible blow.
Ronan lifted his bloodied face.
"Kai… don't let them… use me." His voice faltered, but his eyes burned with desperation.
Kai stepped forward, trying to create space.
"Listen! I don't want to fight you. I just want to live in peace."
One of the villagers raised his hand, cutting him off.
"Peace? There will never be peace while impure blood stains our streets. The full moon brings the Paladins. They will purify this place… and they will start with you."
The words froze the air.
Instinctively, Kai looked up and saw the sky opening between the clouds. The full moon, clear and merciless, illuminated the stones of the alley.
The circle tightened.
The heat of the torches burned against his skin, and every gaze became a blade.
Kai tightened his grip on the dagger, feeling the dilemma tear him apart inside.
If I fight, they will all see what I am.
If I run, Ronan will die.
There is no escape.
The townspeople took another step forward.
And then something changed.
A breeze cut through the street—far too cold for the suffocating night. The torch flames flickered. A thin mist began to spread across the ground, crawling like serpents of smoke.
The villagers glanced at each other in confusion.
"What is this?" one murmured.
The mist suddenly rose, swallowing their vision. As the villagers blinked through the white haze, Kai realized their faces were disappearing into the dense fog, as if the world itself had been erased. The sound of voices grew distant and warped.
For a moment, Kai thought he might lose himself as well.
Then he heard a whisper, coming from nowhere.
"Run."
His eyes widened.
He recognized Eldric's voice, faint but unmistakable, as if it were only a thought inside his mind.
In the blink of an eye, the siege was broken.
The villagers were still there—but confused, searching blindly through the fog. It was as if Kai and Ronan had become invisible shadows.
Kai grabbed Ronan by the arm and pulled him along. His heart thundered. He didn't know what had happened, nor how Eldric had done it.
But he knew it was their only chance.
Above the rooftops of the city, the full moon shone brightly—reminding him of something worse.
The Paladins were coming.