Kael found his father in the east study. Keith was still working through the household records when Kael pushed the door open, the same stack of papers spread across the table that had been there that morning, only thinner now. He looked up when Kael entered, his expression shifting into something more attentive. "Sit," Keith told him. Kael sat. He didn't spend long building up to it. There wasn't a clean way to frame it, so he didn't try. He simply told Keith what he had seen that morning. The alcove. The empty kitchen. The narrow side door that no one else used during active hours. The woman who had come through it and crossed to his tray without hesitating, who had lifted the cover and added something and replaced it in under fifteen seconds, her eyes checking the doorways first the way a person did when they had learned through repetition exactly how much time they had. Keith listened without interrupting once. When Kael finished, the room was quiet. "You've been watching

The sight of the massive wave of monsters swarming up the steep ridge shattered whatever courage the remaining cultivators had left. The argument about who held back was instantly forgotten. "They're here! Run!" someone screamed at the top of their lungs. The crowd broke into complete chaos. Everyone turned around and ran, scrambling toward the only narrow, rocky path that led further up the mountain peak, trying to avoid the beast tide by any means necessary. People pushed and shoved each other, completely frantic as the roars of the crazed monsters echoed right behind them. "Lina, Jasmine, move!" Kael shouted, grabbing Lina’s hand tightly as he shot toward the narrow path. Jasmine didn't hesitate either. Her face was grim as she bolted right beside them. With the scale of this second wave, staying on the flat platform meant being torn to shreds within seconds. But as Kael was rushing toward the bottleneck entrance of the upward path, a shadow suddenly lurked into his field of v

Kael found his father in the east study. Keith was still working through the household records when Kael pushed the door open, the same stack of papers spread across the table that had been there that morning, only thinner now. He looked up when Kael entered, his expression shifting into something more attentive. "Sit," Keith told him. Kael sat. He didn't spend long building up to it. There wasn't a clean way to frame it, so he didn't try. He simply told Keith what he had seen that morning. The alcove. The empty kitchen. The narrow side door that no one else used during active hours. The woman who had come through it and crossed to his tray without hesitating, who had lifted the cover and added something and replaced it in under fifteen seconds, her eyes checking the doorways first the way a person did when they had learned through repetition exactly how much time they had. Keith listened without interrupting once. When Kael finished, the room was quiet. "You've been w

Kael found his father in the east study. Keith was still working through the household records when Kael pushed the door open, the same stack of papers spread across the table that had been there that morning, only thinner now. He looked up when Kael entered, his expression shifting into something more attentive. "Sit," Keith told him. Kael sat. He didn't spend long building up to it. There wasn't a clean way to frame it, so he didn't try. He simply told Keith what he had seen that morning. The alcove. The empty kitchen. The narrow side door that no one else used during active hours. The woman who had come through it and crossed to his tray without hesitating, who had lifted the cover and added something and replaced it in under fifteen seconds, her eyes checking the doorways first the way a person did when they had learned through repetition exactly how much time they had. Keith listened without interrupting once. When Kael finished, the room was quiet. "You've been w

Kael found his father in the east study. Keith was still working through the household records when Kael pushed the door open, the same stack of papers spread across the table that had been there that morning, only thinner now. He looked up when Kael entered, his expression shifting into something more attentive. "Sit," Keith told him. Kael sat. He didn't spend long building up to it. There wasn't a clean way to frame it, so he didn't try. He simply told Keith what he had seen that morning. The alcove. The empty kitchen. The narrow side door that no one else used during active hours. The woman who had come through it and crossed to his tray without hesitating, who had lifted the cover and added something and replaced it in under fifteen seconds, her eyes checking the doorways first the way a person did when they had learned through repetition exactly how much time they had. Keith listened without interrupting once. When Kael finished, the room was quiet. "You've been w