The moment he stepped out his perception tightened. It wasn't gradual. It felt immediate like something was place behind his eyes. A sharp nauseating pressure was settled into his skull.
"Shit."
Vayne's hand lifted slightly towards his temple but stopped short. The sensation didn't feel fully physical. It felt like the pain didn't belong to his body. More like it had interfered over his sense of perception itself.
String like threads had appeared. Just like the ones he had once seen in the alley.
Thin distortions stretched across the space around him in unstable lines, as if reality itself had been fractured and left unrepaired. The energy was not consistent enough to be fully visible, but they were impossible to ignore.
Vayne stared forward while closing one eye and squinting the other out of pain. He exhaled slowly.
"...Again."
The pressure eased slightly. It didn't fully disappear but it felt as if his mind got used to it. Like it had completed its initial intrusion. The threads lingered for a few seconds longer.
Then faded.
Vayne stood still until the sensation settled fully. Everything felt disoriented. It was almost sickening. Like a constant dizziness that wouldn't subside. His eyes teared up, something rose sharply in his throat.
"..Blergh."
He threw up on the floor.
The people in the lift with him reacted slowly. Like they hadn't registered what just happened. With a small step back, they slid their well polished shoes across the smooth floor.
A woman near the corner put her rectangular device away and raised a hand to her face, turning away. Her expression was filled with disgust. One of the men exhaled sharply through his nose, eyes narrowing as he looked at Vayne.
"...Seriously?"
Vayne wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his brows tightened slightly.
A patrol officer stepped from the outside into the lift. She stared at the vomit on the floor. Grabbed Vayne's shoulders and threw him out of the lift.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, we will have this cleaned immediately."
A man in the lift raised his hand in a fist.
"Yeah—you will. What in the Wyrd is a lowline doing up here? Tch..."
The patrol officer replied.
"Our sincerest apologies. We have no control over the issuing of identification cards."
The people in the lift stepped out hastily walking around the sludge on the floor. They shot nasty glares at Vayne as they away from the lift.
Pausing for a bit, Vayne looked at his surroundings. He got up to his feet and started walking.
"You... You really know how to make an entrance."
Fay's voice came from below him. It broke apart into short bursts of laughter.
"…Hah—no, seriously… that was—"
Vayne's expression didn't change. But the back of his neck and ears felt slightly warmer. He started to walk a little faster.
The lift structure behind him descended as he moved forward, its clean vertical lines disappearing into the layered architecture below.
The street he had stepped into was wider than anything in the Lowline district.
Roads weren't just paved—they were reinforced with faint metallic seams that ran in thin lines beneath the surface. Above him, elevated transit rails cut through the air between buildings. Sleek pods moved along them quickly without any noise. There was no exposed wiring. No broken panels. Even all of the light sources were integrated into the architecture itself.
It's not like it was completely clean. But it didn't look like the home Vayne was used to.
"...This place is annoying in a different way."
His shadow shifted.
"How?"
" ..."
Fay tried to hold in his laughter. This place seemed objectively better than the Lowline district.
"Pfffffttt. You're mad because nothing here is falling apart, aren't you?"
Fay kept going, amusement still in his voice.
"Let me guess—you prefer when everything's broken."
Laughter escaped as he spoke.
"...Or you're just jealous."
"No...?"
Vayne tilted his head slightly looking up. Fay laughed under his breath.
"Is that supposed to be a question? Man you're funny—anyways, you're looking for that doctor right? Why don't you try asking around?"
Vayne kept up his pace. The streets gradually shifted as he moved deeper into the district. It didn't feel cramped in the usual way, but it still felt tight—like everything was arranged too deliberately, too controlled. As if the space was being watched from every angle. Cameras were everywhere.
His shadow shifted slightly.
"…Hm."
A brief pause.
"I'll be back later."
Before Vayne could respond, Fay detached from his shadow and drifted into the surrounding shade, moving quickly out of sight.
Vayne exhaled once and looked forward. The Ashen Ward continued to open as he moved. The farther he went the less crowding there was. Vayne didn't have a reference for what the upper districts were supposed to look like. But something didn't feel right.
"Ugh."
The pressure returned, but his vision didn't distort this time. Vayne slowed slightly but didn't stop. The pain was not nearly as bad as before. He looked around, scanning the space for the threads that always appeared.
And then he saw her.
Just within the natural flow of the street ahead, slightly offset from the main path. The threads moved towards her. But stopped as soon as they got close. The energy recoiled like they refused something. Almost as if her presence prevented alignment entirely. Vayne started walking towards her.
The girl's eyes drifted to her right, landing on Vayne for a moment before she looked away again, not holding the gaze for long.
He didn't walk directly toward her—just in the same direction, letting the distance close naturally. The threads seemed to lose stability the closer they got to the girl.
The girl stopped a few meters ahead, just long enough to tilt her head slightly as if she'd noticed something off in the timing of his steps.
Vayne didn't stop. He kept walking forwards.
She paused for a second and continued to walk. Vayne kept moving at a distance that didn't make it look like he was following her. If anything, it looked accidental—two people moving through the same route without obligation to acknowledge each other.
The threads kept reacting.
Closer.
Stop.
Pull back.
Closer again.
Like they couldn't decide whether they were allowed to touch her presence at all. Something about this wasn't matching the pattern from before. The threads didn't show up only near one person before.
The girl didn't look back. But her path subtly shifted.
"So you noticed."
His voice was quiet. The girl didn't immediately respond.
"…Of course I noticed."
Her tone was flat. She didn't seem annoyed. In fact it seemed like she was lacking any sort of feeling.
"You were very obvious."
"I wasn't trying to be."
That made her glance sideways at him for the first time properly.
Her hair was a deep violet, falling naturally in uneven, loosely tied sections. Her steady dark blue eyes matched her age—close to Vayne's, perhaps slightly older. She carried herself with a calm, effortless composure, like she didn't need to adjust for anyone else.
Her clothes were layered and ceremonial in feel: elegant fabric arranged in structured sections, a fitted bodice with ornate patterns, and ribbons and frilled edges shaping the silhouette into controlled waves rather than excess. Even the skirt didn't feel like ordinary cloth.
"...You know, it's even worse that you're following me and not even trying to hide it."
Vayne's gaze stayed forward.
"I wasn't trying to follow you."
The girl gave a short hum and glanced upwards tilting her head slightly.
"…You were walking behind me for six minutes."
"I was going the same direction."
"That's what following is."
"..."
Vayne really couldn't say anything to defend himself here. He paused for a bit and then spoke again.
"I wanted to talk to you."
Her movement was delayed a little. Like she was weighing whether the sentence was worth responding too.
"If you're trying to hit on me, I'll break your ankles. And if you're just being creepy, I'll make sure crawling is the fastest way you leave."
She said it casually like she's done it before.
"...Why my ankles specifically?"
"I don't know. If you used your brain, you'd understand it means buzz off."
He just exhaled once.
"I'm not trying to hit on you. But I see something around you."
That made her stop walking. Vayne stopped too. The girl didn't turn immediately.
"…Something?"
"There are threads that move toward you."
A pause.
"And stop."
The girl slowly turned. She fully turned and looked at him properly for the first time.