Aren never remembered making the decision to run.
Her legs moved before her mind caught up, boots hammering against the bridgeway as she shoved past startled merchants.
Behind her, the masked man didn't shout.
He didn't threaten.
He simply followed — fast, silent, and too close.
The black case throbbed in her hands like a living heartbeat.
Not now, she begged it silently. Please don't start glowing or screaming or—
A pulse of cold washed through her fingers.
A whisper curled around her ear:
"Aren… not him… run…"
She almost stumbled.
The voice wasn't coming from behind her.
It was coming from inside the case.
Aren cut sharply into a narrow alley between two sky-houses, their wooden walls creaking in the wind. The whole floating city hummed beneath her feet, the ancient engines deep below the clouds pushing the platform forward as always.
Solis never stopped moving.
And right now, neither could she.
She vaulted a low railing, slid under a hanging laundry line, and burst out onto another bridge — this one thinner, older, swaying dangerously.
A mistake.
The masked man stepped onto the same bridge with deliberate calm, and the entire structure groaned under their combined weight.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be," he called, his voice steady.
"I'm a courier," Aren shouted back. "Making things harder is the job."
She sprinted toward the end of the narrow bridge, but halfway across, a gust of wind slammed into her with enough force to knock her sideways. She grabbed the rope railing with one hand, the case tucked against her chest.
Below was nothing but endless clouds.
If she fell… no one ever came back from below.
"Give me the case," the man said, stepping closer. "You don't know what you're carrying."
"And you do?" she shot back.
The wind rose again, humming strangely around her. The air felt electric.
The man reached out as if to steady the swaying bridge — or to grab her.
But before he could move again, the case erupted with a sharp flash of white light.
The bridge jerked violently.
Aren lost her footing.
The world tilted.
The clouds rushed up toward her.
She was falling.
The masked man grabbed for her wrist — but the light pushed him back like a blast of wind.
Aren tumbled toward the cloud sea, the case still clutched tight, its glow fading back to darkness.
Just before the clouds swallowed her, she heard the voice again, clearer this time:
"Don't be afraid. You've fallen before."
And then the sky consumed her.