Kael couldn’t stop himself from frowning as they ran through the dark alleys towards the screams.

  “Why isn’t anyone reacting?” he demanded, his breathless voice betraying his disbelief as he glanced at Astra.

  She met his gaze, her dark eyes steady.

  "These people came here because they couldn't survive in the capital anymore. This place is their second chance. They choose ignorance, hoping they won’t be next, instead of helping others. It’s the only way to endure life here.”

  Kael’s expression hardened at her last words.

  No choice.

  Those two words had followed him his entire life.

  "If the Eons don't give us a choice," Kael said flatly, "then I'll make one."

  Without another sound, he drew his sword.

  The screams grew closer and clearer — no longer just noise. A young woman was sobbing. A small boy crying in terror. And beneath it all, the cruel laughter of men.

  Astra heard it, too. Her jaw tightened and she drew her own blade.

  They rounded the corner and froze.

  One of the three men was dragging a young woman, crying and struggling, out of a small house by her hair. The other two stood nearby, laughing. A little boy ran after them and clung to one of the men's legs, but he was shoved aside. He fell hard to the ground.

  Despite everything, the girl forced a trembling smile at the boy. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to calm him with her eyes alone. The boy stayed where he was, staring up at her and crying.

  Something in Kael snapped.

  His teeth ground together. He tightened his grip until his knuckles turned white.

  Before he was fully aware of what he was doing, he was already sprinting forward.

  Steel pierced flesh.

  Kael drove his blade straight through the chest of the man dragging the girl, cleanly and directly through the heart.

  Astra shouted something behind him, but he didn’t hear it.

  He met the man’s wide, disbelieving eyes with his own, cold and unblinking, before wrenching the sword free.

  The other two guards were still frozen in shock.

  Too slow.

  Kael stepped towards them without hesitation. One swift arc of steel and throats were opened. Blood sprayed. The bodies collapsed at his feet.

  Silence followed.

  Blood splattered across Kael's clothes as he stood there, moonlight reflecting in his glowing, purplish eyes, looking down at the lifeless forms.

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  He vaguely registered the girl staring at him in fear until Astra stepped in, lowered her weapon, and spoke gently to the girl, assuring her that they meant her no harm. The girl pulled her little brother into her arms and stroked his head to calm him down.

  Kael didn’t notice Astra’s troubled gaze fixed on him.

  He didn’t notice the siblings’ sobbing relief.

  He only stared down at the corpses, blood dripping steadily from his blade.

  People like this have no place in humanity.

  He felt nothing.

  No relief at saving them.

  No revulsion for killing.

  It hadn’t felt like murder.

  It had felt like a task. One that his instincts had deemed necessary.

  And even Astra was unsettled by that realisation.

  But then Kael’s hand began to tremble.

  His eyes flew open in sudden horror.

  Before him lay Zaros’s lifeless body, collapsed on the ground just as these men were now. His unmoving chest was soaked in blood.

  Zaros’s voice echoed through his mind:

  Did I have no value to you either?

  "No..." Kael stammered.

  His fingers loosened and the sword slipped from his grasp, hitting the ground with a dull thud. He stared at his hands, which were shaking violently and stained completely dark red.

  "What... what have I done?" he whispered, his voice trembling as he spoke more to himself than to anyone else.

  Astra exhaled softly. She recognised that look. She knew exactly what he was facing.

  Instead, she turned to the kneeling girl, who was still holding her little brother tightly against her.

  "Is there somewhere we can hide for the night?" Astra asked quietly.

  The girl looked up at her with reddened eyes, then shifted her gaze to Kael, who was standing frozen to the spot, staring at his hands as if they didn't belong to him.

  She nodded.

  Rising to her feet, she lifted her brother into her arms. Barefoot and wearing only a thin nightgown, she began to move, pointing ahead into the darkness.

  Astra murmured her thanks and turned back to Kael.

  She approached him slowly and carefully. After picking up his fallen sword, she gently took his shaking hand in hers.

  "Come," she said softly. "We need to leave. Now.”

  Still holding his hand, she guided him forward, following the girl who had already begun to lead the way.

  When they reached the edge of the city, she pointed towards an abandoned house beyond a stretch of fields.

  At that moment, an alarm sounded behind them, and shouts and voices rose up through the streets.

  Astra glanced back, her expression tightening.

  Gripping Kael, who was still trembling and barely present, with one hand and clutching their packs with the other, she nodded once to the girl. Together, they ran through the darkened fields until they reached the house and forced open the creaking door.

  Inside, it was pitch black.

  Astra shook her head when the girl reached for the candles.

  "No," she whispered.

  She helped Kael lean against the wall before sitting down beside him. She watched as the girl settled down, resting her sleeping brother’s head gently on her thigh and stroking his hair with careful, repetitive motions.

  After a while, Astra spoke in a calm but compassionate voice.

  "You can't speak, can you?"

  The girl looked up. Her green eyes met Astra’s. She offered a faint, tired smile and nodded.

  Then she gestured towards Kael, tilting her head slightly, as if to ask what was wrong with him without words.

  Astra sighed and glanced at Kael. His eyes were closed, but his body was still trembling.

  "He did something he never wanted to do," Astra said quietly. "And now he’s carrying the guilt for it."

  She paused.

  "The voices of the dead... they follow you if you let them. Kael does.”

  She closed her eyes.

  "He’s already been through too much."

  The girl kept her gaze on Kael.

  Then, gently, she laid her little brother down on the floor.

  She rose and padded towards Kael.

  Astra opened her eyes, startled, and watched her closely, but she didn’t intervene.

  The girl knelt in front of Kael and took his trembling hands in hers. Slowly and carefully, she lifted them to her face. Closing her eyes, she pressed Kael’s hands against her forehead, just enough for them to touch.

  Astra watched in silence.

  Then she let out a quiet, surprised breath.

  Kael’s trembling stopped.

  The tension on his face eased and his clenched expression softened, as if something unseen had finally released its hold on him.

  Astra looked at the girl in disbelief and was about to speak, but stopped when she saw the warmth in her eyes. Not pity. Not fear.

  Understanding.

  "Thank you," Astra whispered.

  The girl responded with a gentle, quiet smile.