The city of Payra never truly slept — it just traded noise for whispers.Tonight, those whispers seemed to follow Karn like a shadow.
Dinner was over, laughter still echoing faintly in the Kael estate, but Karn couldn't shake it — that sensation of being watched. It wasn't the casual glance of a passerby or the harmless curiosity of gossipers. No… this was sharp. Deliberate. Predatory.
He slipped out the side gate, hood drawn low, feet quiet on the cobbled street.If they were tailing him, they'd follow.
And they did.
Karn didn't look back. Instead, he let his other senses do the work — the faint scrape of a boot on stone, the subtle displacement of air, the irregular heartbeat pacing behind him. He smiled faintly. "Amateurs."
Then, without warning, he veered into a narrow alley.The shadows moved.
Karn kicked off the wall, grabbed a balcony edge, and vaulted upward in one fluid motion. The rooftops of Payra opened before him, a jagged maze of tiles and chimneys. He didn't hesitate — he ran.
The sound of pursuit was instant. Two sets of feet hit the tiles behind him, heavier, faster now that the chase was on.
"Damn, he's quick—" one hissed."No talking. Close in!" the other snapped.
Karn's body moved like it had done this a thousand times before. Each step was calculated, not by thought, but by instinct — the perfect landing angle, the safest tile to push from, the exact distance to clear the gap between roofs.
They tried to flank him.He felt it before they even shifted position.
At the last moment, Karn dropped into a crouch, letting one attacker leap past him. His hand shot out, brushing the man's cloak just enough to unbalance him. The pursuer stumbled, barely catching himself on a chimney.
The other closed in from behind, reaching for Karn's shoulder.Bad move.
Karn twisted, grabbed the wrist mid-lunge, and used the attacker's momentum to fling him into a rain barrel. The wood splintered, water exploding across the rooftop in a glistening spray.
"Wtf—!" the man gasped, sputtering.
Karn stood over them, hood still shadowing his face, voice calm but edged like a blade."You've been following me since morning. Why?"
The uninjured one recovered first, mask gleaming in the moonlight."You're marked. That's all we need to know."
Karn's eyes narrowed. "Marked by who?"The man didn't answer. He threw a small sphere at the tiles — smoke hissed upward instantly.
By the time it cleared, they were gone.
Karn straightened, scanning the rooftops. He could still feel it — that faint presence — but farther now, watching from a safe distance. Whoever they were, they weren't done.
Back at the Kael estate, Elara was pacing in the kitchen, muttering to herself. "If that boy is out there again past midnight, I swear I'll—"Varin leaned in the doorway, smirking. "Relax, Elara. He's not a kid anymore."She shot him a glare. "He's my kid. That makes him always a kid."
Karn landed silently in the courtyard moments later, brushing a streak of soot from his sleeve. He said nothing about the chase. Not yet.
But as he headed upstairs, he glanced once toward the city wall.Somewhere out there, the game had just begun.