BACK TO THE CAMP OF THE LIZARD ALPHA KAYDEN
The gates swung open.
Kayden walked through them like a king returning from war. His human feet pressed into the mossy ground. His human hands hung relaxed at his sides. His human face—dark hair, pale skin, golden eyes—caught the glow of the swamp and seemed to shine with it.
He was still human.
Thirty-two hours.
Thirty-two hours of walking among them. Eating their food. Breathing their air. Feeling their sun on his skin.
And not once—not once—had he glitched.
The lizard folk gathered at the entrance of the camp. Dozens of them. They lined the paths and climbed the woven pods and hung from the glowing vines. Their snake-like eyes watched him with a mixture of awe and hunger.
They wanted what he had.
"Alpha!" Korvus pushed through the crowd, his grey scales gleaming with sweat. "You are back! You are still... you are still..."
