King Felix II and his team were moving at a desperate pace through the treacherous Serpent's Coil Pass, their hearts pounding with the realization that every step left a visible trail of Flow-Neutral Dust. Rhea drove the team forward, but Felix knew their internal DF reserves were draining under the high-stress exertion.
"We need ten minutes, Your Majesty," Rhea urged, consulting her internal chronometer. "Ten minutes of clear ground, and we break free of this terrain. If they haven't caught up, we can find a place to hide the trail."
Felix nodded, his Flow-Dampening Scarf providing eerie, complete silence against the mountain wind. The total isolation from the Global Flow Net was unnerving.
As they rounded a sharp bend, their path was suddenly blocked not by enemies, but by people.
A large convoy of refugees—at least a hundred men, women, and children—was moving slowly and painfully up the pass. They were not from Thighland or the former Chadgard territories. Their clothing was plain, rough wool, and their faces were gaunt and pale. They were clearly fleeing the harsh, puritanical rule of the Holy Kingdom of Lunio.
A desperate, elderly man stepped forward, collapsing to his knees before Felix.
"Please, King of the Flow! We heard rumors of your generous Imperium!" the man cried, his voice hoarse from hunger. "Lunio's Doctrine of Undivided Light has confiscated all our crops and luxury items in their latest 'Purge of Excess.' Our children are starving. We seek asylum!"
The refugees were in terrible shape, and any attempt to bypass them would crush several people on the narrow path.
[SYSTEM ALERT: MORAL DECISION REQUIRED. DELAYING TIME: 30 MINUTES MINIMUM. MORAL INTEGRITY RATING: HIGH. STRATEGIC SAFETY: EXTREMELY LOW.]
Felix looked back at the trail—the shimmering dust visible even in the low light. The Shadow's trackers, whether Lunio or the true mastermind, were moments away from finding them. Thirty minutes of delay meant certain capture.
"We cannot stop, Your Majesty," Rhea hissed, pulling Felix's sleeve. "This is a trap, or at least a catastrophic accident. We must maintain our focus! They are already tracking us!"
Felix hesitated. He could not, in his new role as King of the Aesthetic Imperium—the ruler who had sworn to eliminate Cringe and promote a better quality of life—simply abandon a hundred starving people. Abandoning them to save his own life would be an act of profound, public Cringe-based selfishness that would shake the very foundations of his state.
"Rhea, use the emergency rations," Felix ordered, his voice firm. "We halt. We will spend the next half hour providing aid, distributing provisions, and ensuring the weakest can walk."
He addressed the refugees, his voice amplified by the Prism of Unfettered Desire, projecting a clear, aesthetic image of compassion: "You are safe. The Aesthetic Imperium welcomes all who seek life and focus."
Rhea was furious but obeyed. The delay began. The team was forced to slow down, break formation, and expend precious, non-renewable internal DF to stabilize the weak refugees and prevent panic.
As the thirty minutes ticked by, Felix felt the air pressure change. The strange, sterile atmosphere of the pass grew heavy, and the silence intensified.
The rescue attempt was complete. Felix turned to order the team to move when the ground around them pulsed with a dark, un-aesthetic energy—not the light purity of Lunio, but the cold, clinical energy of a highly engineered magical trap.
Hidden nets of dense, Flow-Neutral material—the same material used in the tracking dust—shot up from the ground, instantly entangling the Flow Guard team and Rhea.
Before Felix could react, a figure emerged from the shadows of a cave overlooking the path. This was not Selene; this was a highly trained, black-armored agent of Lunio, wearing insignia that marked them as the "Hand of Undivided Light."
The agent didn't attack Felix. They simply raised a specialized, large metal canister—a counter-weapon to the Flow.
"King Felix II of the Aesthetic Imperium," the Lunio agent stated, their voice echoing in the dead silence. "You have trespassed and insulted the Doctrine. You are required for questioning."
The agent pressed a button on the canister. A dense, anti-Flow gas immediately enveloped the King. Felix clutched his throat, his vision blurring. His internal DF reserves, already depleted by the moral stop, couldn't repel the force. The Flow-Dampening Scarf—the item Evelyn had insisted he wear—did its job perfectly, cutting his connection to the Global Flow Net just as the gas took effect. He was isolated and powerless.
The last thing Felix saw before blacking out was the face of the Lunio agent, perfectly framed by the rigid, dark armor.
[SYSTEM WARNING: KING FELIX II CAPTURED. DF RESERVES: 5%. GLOBAL FLOW NET: SEVERED. STATUS: KIDNAPPED.]
The King is captured.