Teleporting back to Galdosh felt like stepping into noise after months of quiet.
Not bad noise. Just… a lot.
Voices, movement, people brushing past like nothing ever stopped. The kind of life that didn't wait for you to catch up.
I barely got my footing before...
"EUNJI!"
And then I didn't get my footing at all.
They swarmed.
Black Vultures had zero sense of personal space, apparently. Hands on my shoulders, someone laughing too close to my ear, a dozen voices talking over each other like I'd just come back from the dead instead of a six-month break.
"You vanished!"
"Six months, seriously?"
"Why do you look like that?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Like what?"
Kael didn't even hesitate. "Radiant."
…
I turned and hit him.
Not hard enough to actually hurt. Just enough to make a point.
"Don't start."
"I'm serious," he said, completely unbothered.
"You're annoying."
"That too."
The guild burst into laughter like they'd been waiting for that exact exchange.
