The alley reeked of decay and urine. K pressed himself against the damp stone wall, taking rapid, shallow breaths. His heart raced in his chest. On the other side of the street, the market was in complete disarray. Guards were yelling, vendors were arguing with one another, and the sounds of overturned carts filled the air amid the chaos.
He leaned tighter against the wall just as two guards dashed past the alley's entrance.
"Find that boy!" one yelled. "He has to be nearby."
"He can't have just vanished," the other replied, their footsteps slowly fading away.
Once the clamor quieted down, K edged further into the alley. He clutched a piece of ledger paper with a single letter K tightly in his hand. Gently, he folded it and tucked it into his ragged shirt..
The alley opened into a small courtyard behind a tavern. Stacked barrels lined one wall while precarious towers of crates loomed on another. It was the ideal spot to hide and clear his mind.
He slipped behind the barrels, shifting one just enough to create a small nook. From here, he had an unobstructed view of the tavern's back door and the alley's entrance.
"Did you hear what happened at the market?" a voice called from the tavern doorway. "Some kid actually stopped a guard's blade with a mere snap of his fingers."
K stiffened, frozen in his spot.
"Just a rumor," another voice replied. "Probably just drunken chatter."
"I saw it myself," the first voice insisted. "The blade just... halted, like it hit an invisible barrier."
K held his breath as two tavern workers emerged into the courtyard, carrying empty buckets.
"Weird things are happening lately," the second one said, setting his bucket down. "Ever since Seeds appeared in the Bonefields."
"Seeds," the first scoffed. "Far more trouble than they're worth. My cousin's kid got one of those Elemental Seeds and burned his house down trying to light a candle."
"At least he has power," the second countered. "Better than being a tavern worker for the rest of his life."
"Power? What good is that if you can't manage it? The Empire hunts down Seed users like pests. I heard they caught a girl with one of those Memory Seeds last week. They wiped her mind clean before executing her."
As they disappeared back inside, K was left alone with his racing thoughts.
Seed. The word resonated within him. The kernel he'd swallowed—could that have been a Seed?
K's eyes widened. That seemed to explain what was happening to him. The kernel had been a Seed, and now it was part of him.
He needed to understand its purpose and how it functioned. The instinctive reaction in the market had saved the younger slave, but he had to learn to control it.
With his eyes shut, he honed in on that feeling in his gut. He tried to replay the events from earlier, seeking that peculiar space where movement had shifted.
He snapped his fingers.
"Domain," he whispered.
But nothing happened.
He frowned and tried again, this time putting in more effort as he remembered the moment when the guard's blade had slowed.
"Domain."
The air shimmered softly, with dust particles lingering in the light longer than they normally would. It was as if everything around him was transformed—there was a weight to the atmosphere, thick with an unshakeable tension.
He extended his thoughts, sensing the relationships among the things around him—the barrel at his side, the crates on the other side of the courtyard, the tavern door. Each was woven together in a tapestry of energy and motion.
A memory sparked to life: the man's sharing his insights about motion. "It's not just speed or mass that matters; it's the combination of both. Change one factor, and the entire equation shifts."
K focused on a small pebble at his feet, visualizing its movement and the path it would follow.
The pebble nudged slightly, rolling a few inches.
His heart raced. It worked.
Suddenly, the tavern door swung open again, and a guard stepped out, scanning the area with a wary eye.
K quickly dismissed the Domain, allowing the world to revert to its usual state. The guard surveyed the courtyard but overlooked the slight movement of the pebble and the boy hiding behind the barrels.
As soon as the guard left, K decided to give it another shot. "Domain." He snapped his fingers once more.
This time, the field felt more robust, more defined. He sensed its borders extending outwards, forming a rough sphere roughly ten meters wide.
K reached out to the boundary, pushing his thoughts forward until he detected a barrier. He realized that was the limit of his Domain.
He practiced for what seemed like hours, shifting small objects and manipulating their movement. Each time he employed the Domain, he felt a little more drained, a dull ache spreading through his limbs.
As the sun set toward the horizon, K heard voices once more.
"Search everywhere," ordered a gruff voice. "The master wants that boy found."
"What's special about him?" another voice questioned.
"He's a Seed-bearer," the first voice replied. "More valuable than all the slaves at the pen put together."
A chill ran through K.
He needed to escape—vanish before they caught him. But how? The city would be crawling with guards searching for him.
K scanned the courtyard quickly, his mind racing. The barrels, the crates, the alley—they weren't just hiding spots. They were his resources.
He needed to familiarize himself with the city's layout to find a way out. But first, he had to gather information.
As night fell over the surroundings, K quietly emerged from his hiding place and cautiously made his way to the back window of the tavern. The glow spilling out illuminated the scene, blending with the murmur of voices inside.
"… heard the Stormhold Empire is sending someone," one voice mentioned.
"For what? Just for a boy with a Seed?"
"Not just any Seed. It's rumored to be one of the rare Essence types. Very powerful."
K leaned in closer, absorbing every word.
"The master's offering a huge reward," another voice chimed in. "Enough to buy a small estate."
"My sister's husband works for Stormhold," a third voice added. "He says they have a special unit just for hunting Seeds. They call them 'Reapers' or something dramatic like that."
"Reapers?" the first voice scoffed. "They're just elaborate bounty hunters with better gear."
"Tell that to the last Seed-bearer they caught. They say the whole village disappeared overnight. No bodies, no blood. Just… gone."
K stepped back from the window, his mind racing. Essence Seed. So that's what he possessed. And people were out there actively hunting for it.
He needed to leave the city tonight.
As he slipped back into the alleyway, something caught his attention—a wrinkled piece of paper, a fragment of a map showing the city and the roads leading away from it. It was exactly what he was looking for.
He quickly tucked the map into his shirt, next to the ledger paper marked with the letter K.
The city gates would be teeming with guards. But with his Domain and the man's knowledge of physics and mechanics, he might just find a way to slip through.
As he maneuvered through the darkening streets, avoiding patrols and searching for the best escape route, a thrilling chill ran through him, buzzing with excitement.