CHAPTER 9 VAELOR'S GIFT
The city had changed overnight.
Not in sound.
In absence.
No dogs barking.No shopkeepers shouting prices.No children throwing stones at broken windows.
They walked three blocks before they saw the first body.
It was Joren, the butcher who used to slip Kael scraps wrapped in paper that smelled like grease and kindness.
His throat was opened so neatly it looked surgical.
Pinned to his chest was a small silver plaque bearing Vaelor Creed's crest.
Aira covered her mouth.
Riven muttered, "No… no, no…"
They found more.
The old apothecary who gave Kael fever medicine.The blind man who told stories for bread.The woman who let Kael sleep in her cellar during winter.
Every one of them marked.
Every one of them chosen.
They reached Lysenne's shop last.
It wasn't burned like the others.
It was dismantled.
Shelves overturned. Bottles shattered. The counter split clean in two.
Lysenne lay behind it.
Her eyes were closed.
She looked like she was sleeping.
Kael dropped to his knees so hard his teeth rattled.
There was no system message.
No quest.
Just a human being erased because she had cared.
Riven turned away and vomited.
Aira knelt beside Kael and put her hand on his shoulder.
Kael didn't move.
Vaelor hadn't sent a warning.
He'd sent a message.