Jamie didn't stop.
The moment the mark on her shoulder pushed, she followed.
No hesitation. No second thoughts. Just instinct.
Her boots barely made a sound against the ground. The faint shimmer of her Anti-Flow flickered around her, unstable, inconsistent—like a presence that couldn't decide whether it existed or not.
Ahead—
The alley twisted sharply, then split into two narrower paths that barely deserved to be called streets. The air here felt different—thicker, quieter.
The group ahead moved fast.
The six figures moved like wolves—not the mindless beasts of the Iron Forest, but coordinated. Professional.
Jamie's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, definitely not normal people."
She kept her distance, weaving through the shadows, slipping from wall to wall. The Obfuscation Band on her wrist pulsed faintly, dulling her presence, making her something the eye refused to focus on.
Still—
They were Votaries, she could feel it. That steady weight, that pressure that said: they are aware of the world in a way you are only beginning to understand.
And yet—
She followed, drawn by the push in her shoulder, the Ouroboros mark tingling with each step. She didn't know where they were going. She didn't know why she was following.
But every time she tried to turn back, the mark burned. Every time she hesitated, something pulled.
Follow.
Her breath hitched.
"What?"
Another pulse.
Stronger.
'Don't let them out of your sight.'
Jamie frowned
"This isn't my problem… why am I doing this?"
But her feet didn't stop.
"Tch."
The group moved through the narrow passages with practiced ease. They knew this part of the city. They had done this before.
Jamie adjusted her pace, slipping past a hanging cloth line, ducking under a beam.
The shadows around her shifted.
Jamie noticed it—a flicker at the edge of her vision, a deepening of the darkness in the corners of her eyes. As she moved, they seemed to move with her, watching. She shook her head, thinking it was just her imagination, and surged forward.
The alley narrowed.
The six figures slowed, then stopped. They had reached their destination—a nondescript door set into the side of a crumbling building. One of them produced a key. The door opened.
Jamie pressed herself into a recessed doorway, watching.
They were about to disappear inside.
Then—
One of them paused.
Turned.
His eyes scanned the darkness behind them.
"Careful. Something's been following us."
Jamie's heart stopped.
Her fingers twitched.
Footsteps, slow and measured, began closing in.
Jamie swallowed.
"Calm down, they can't see me."
"We can see you." One man yelled.
She hesitated.
Then slowly, very slowly—stepped out.
Six pairs of eyes locked onto her.
Silence.
"You're a kid?"
The man at the front—tall, broad-shouldered—frowned. He had been expecting something else. Someone else. Not a child. He squinted.
"What are you? Twelve? Thirteen?"
"What?" Jamie blinked. "I'm nine."
All six of them exchanged looks—surprise, confusion, something that might have been disbelief.
"Nine?" one of the women said. "What are they feeding children these days?"
Another woman—taller, sharper—shook her head.
"She's Awakened. That's why she looks older."
"Anyway, what are you doing all alone in these parts? It's not safe, you know?" the broad-shouldered man said.
"I was taking a walk."
"At this place?" the tall woman raised an eyebrow.
Given the location, one wouldn't be convinced that a person here was simply walking due to its desolate nature.
"What about you guys? What are you doing here all alone at this time?" Jamie shot back, crossing her arms.
"There's six of us," one other guy corrected.
"And how does that explain what six of you are doing here?"
The man opened his mouth and closed it again.
"Oh, I know—you were also taking a walk, right?"
"Yeah..." The man replied nervously while the tall woman nodded.
"Ok, now that we understand each other, I'm leaving."
She took a step—
"Wait."
She stopped.
"Yeah?"
One of the men who hadn't spoken stepped forward. He had been looking at her funny since this brief confrontation began, so Jamie wasn't at ease.
"Where were you going?"
Jamie shrugged.
"Home. It's late."
He didn't smile. He pointed at her feet.
"Your boots."
Jamie glanced down. Coal dust from the path she came through. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"...So?"
"That's the same coal dust from the path we just passed. And you're sweating."
"The weather is quite hot. You're sweating too, you know."
The air shifted. Subtle but real. Their intent changed.
First it was just the normal air of a normal person at a normal time. But slowly it became heavy. Even though their expressions and countenance didn't change, Jamie could sense it.
Malice.
One of them sighed, then spoke.
"They're sending children now?"
Another scoffed
"Pathetic."
The man at the front raised a hand slightly.
"Relax."
His gaze stayed on Jamie.
"I'm willing to overlook this. You're a child. You don't know what's happening. Just tell us who sent you, and you can go."
A pause.
"Come on now, tell me who..."
'I don't like this. Let me just point them in a random direction and go home...'
Jamie opened her mouth to speak but something tightened.
She didn't know why.
Didn't understand it.
But
She couldn't say it.
Wouldn't.
"...don't know." she said instead.
The man sighed.
"Last chance."
The mark on her shoulder burned. She turned and ran.
He was in front of her instantly
No warning.
No build-up.
Just—there
Jamie skidded to a stop, eyes wide.
"Oh come on—" Her jaw tightened.
The six of them formed a loose circle around her. A woman—the sharp-faced one—reached out, and the space between them warped. She redirected Jamie's attempted dodge, pulling her off balance.
Jamie stumbled. A man caught her from behind. His grip was like iron. She couldn't move.
She slammed her Anti-Flow outward.
The man's grip loosened—just enough—and she twisted free.
She knew that she couldn't fight a Votary, but she had a number of artifacts, so she decided to use them to make her escape. Flare stones, smoke pellets, a small net woven from iron-bark fibers. She threw a smoke pellet at the ground. The alley filled with grey vapor.
The pursuers did not panic.
One of them simply balanced the smoke. It thinned, dispersed, ceased to be an obstacle.
Jamie threw a flare stone at the scarred man's face.
He accelerated. It passed through empty air.
She then felt her footing shift.
"—!"
She barely adjusted when a strong kick sent her crashing into a wall.
"That hurt." She muttered, rising to her feet.
The six calmly walked toward her in a loose formation. If she wanted to, she could try to run between the gaps, but she knew that they would catch her if she tried. She was outmatched.
Fighting beasts was different than fighting humans.
Beasts followed instinct. They had patterns, tells, predictable responses. Even the smart ones, even the Apex—they were still animals at the end of the day.
Humans were not beasts
They were cunning, calculated, and above all, unpredictable. It was just like she was experiencing with these six right now. They adapted to her tricks faster than she could deploy them. They covered each other's blind spots. They anticipated her movements. Jamie had practiced hunting. She had caught prey. She had killed prey.
But she had never fought people who knew how to fight back.
'When I get back, I need to train in how to hunt people.'
The shadows were closer now. They seemed to be watching, at the edge of everything dark, but Jamie was too preoccupied with the current scenario to give them much thought
She decided that now would be the best time to use the other aspect of her Trait. The Emperor allowed her—or any user, for that matter—to amplify or diminish the disorder within a concept as its first Resonant. So far she had been using the diminish aspect to manifest her ice. Now she chose to amplify. The only other people who knew were Elias, since she showed him in the forest, and Aina, since she was on its receiving end.
A pillar of fire erupted from her palm.
Not ice—flame. The sudden burst caught the scarred man off guard. He stumbled back, his sleeve smoldering.
The others hesitated.
For a moment, Jamie had room.
She bolted.
The scarred man caught her.
He didn't kick her this time—he slammed her against the wall. Her head cracked against the brick. Her vision swam.
"I'll ask you one more time," he said. "Who sent you?"
"Go to hell."
A strike caught her ribs. Air left her lungs.
"Again. Who sent you?"
She said nothing.
He hit her again. Her head snapped to the side. Her lip split. Blood dripped down her chin
Jamie spat blood.
"Ready to talk now?"
"No," she replied
The man pulled her back and slammed her into the wall
One of the women stepped forward
"Hey. That's enough. We didn't come here to beat kids.
"It's not enough." The scarred man's voice was cold. "We've failed too many times. The boss isn't happy.
"Beating a child won't fix that."
"She's not a child. She's Awakened. And she knows something."
"Still—
"Maybe she doesn't know anything," one said.
"Then why would she run?"
"Well, in her defense, if a group of strangers suddenly asked me about a random person while using a path that everybody passes through as evidence of my involvement, I'd run too."
"You're bringing this up now?"
Jamie's shoulder burned.
The mark pulsed.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the street.
They all froze.
Three figures emerged from the darkness. Two were Votaries—Jamie could feel it. But the one leading them...
The scarred man's face went pale.
"A Saint," he breathed.
The six exchanged glances. The man's grip loosened. Jamie slid down the wall, her back scraping against the cracked brick.
She was surrounded.
But the pursuers were distracted.
"Take her," the scarred man growled. "We're leaving."
One of the women reached for Jamie's arm.
'Now.'
Jamie reached into her Copper Ring. Her fingers closed around a small, round object—one of the artifacts Elias had made for her in the Iron Forest. Its function was simple, and she had called it stupid when Elias explained what it did. Now she was grateful
She threw it at her attackers
"Just stop resisting and come quie—"
"Flashbang!"
Light exploded. White. Blinding. Total.
The shadows around her recoiled—just for an instant—but the light had made them deeper
A hand reached out of the darkness, and Jamie was pulled just as she turned to run
She collapsed on the floor.
Not the alley floor. Something else. Wood. Polished. Familiar.
She groaned.
"...ugh..."
Her vision was blurred, her ears ringing from the artifact she tossed. Blood dripped from her split lip onto the floorboards.
She looked up.
Gyan stood over her, arms crossed, her expression cold. The shadows of the room seemed to cling to her, to pool at her feet, to breathe with her.
In mild terms she was... displeased. She tilted her head and asked coldly.
"Are you happy now?"