The air underground was thick with damp rot. The stone walls wept moisture, and the stench of mold clung to everything.
Lucian walked silently, the faint glow of fairies floating beside him. Their light cast long shadows that shifted across the broken corridors.
He ignored the hollow-eyed beggars above. They were not his responsibility. His people were bound by contract—his protection was theirs, and theirs alone.
Everyone else was nothing but noise.
The pull of the contracts guided him like a thread. Each step carried him closer, until faint voices and the shuffle of boots reached his ears.
Guards.
Lucian moved like smoke, slipping into the shadows. Two men walked by, their weapons dragging, their voices bitter.
They cursed the settlement's leaders, cursed the food rations, cursed the endless misery. They never noticed the predator watching them from the dark.
When their footsteps faded, Lucian continued forward.
