Kaelen stopped at the turn of a narrow street. His gaze swept over the quiet houses, then fixed on Ren. "Your silence will serve you better than words in this city. But silence alone will not prepare you for what waits."
Ren's eyes narrowed. "Then what will?"
Kaelen pointed toward the eastern quarter, where towers of obsidian stone rose higher than the rest of Verathane. Their outlines shimmered faintly in the night, as if heat or mana blurred their edges. "That district is where the Veilkeepers reside. They hold the knowledge of old records, fragments of calamities past. If you are to face what sleeps beneath this land, you must first learn what it has already devoured."
Ren followed his gaze, studying the towers. They looked less like places of study and more like watchful sentinels, each shadowed window an eye. "And they will just hand me such knowledge?"
