The lower districts looked different in the early morning light.
Fog clung to the narrower streets. The smell of wet stone was stronger. Most of the stalls from the day before were still closed. Only a few early workers moved between buildings, their breath visible in the cool air.
Logan, Ethan, and Luna walked without speaking much. The deeper they went, the more the city's ordered energy net faded behind them. Origin barriers became sparse. The residual energy in the air felt older, less filtered, like the place had been left to its own slow decay.
