(He saw me… but he's ignoring it? Or he didn't recognise me?) she thought.
He must have assumed she was just another passerby.
Either way, Cecelia was going to follow him.
She began walking again, staying close but careful.
Kael, meanwhile, had no idea that Cecelia was trailing him so persistently.
Kael walked through the last stretch of Elaris City.
The streets grew narrower, the lively chatter of merchants fading behind him. Lanterns flickered in the distance, and the smell of iron and smoke lingered faintly from the forges near the outskirts.
Kael's boots scraped against the gravel road.
When he reached the final ridge overlooking the horizon, he stopped. There it was.
"The City of Graylight…" he murmured.
It had been months and months since he last set foot there.
"Looks like I'm back," he muttered.
"Let's see if you still remember me."
The moment he stepped past the broken stone gate of Graylight, the atmosphere shifted.
