A beautiful morning.
That was the cruel part of it — the sky was clear, the light was soft, and the city looked almost peaceful from the outside.
The three of them stood before the gate. It was large, reinforced, guarded.
"Mom." Mendriya's voice was muffled under the cloth wrapped around her face. "Why did you cover our faces?"
"Because if anyone recognizes you here, they'll kill us." Linea kept her eyes forward. "Both of you — keep it on."
The gate had a line. People shuffling forward in silence, heads down, eyes low. Jhed joined the queue and watched their faces.
Something's wrong here. These people look exhausted. Not tired — exhausted. Like they've been tired for so long they've forgotten what rest feels like.
His number came up.
"Once you're inside, you can't leave," the guard said flatly. "If you want to exit the city, it costs a hundred gold coins. Move."
"Understood." Jhed walked through.
Linea and Mendriya followed.
Inside, the city was beautiful in the way ruins are beautiful — the structures were there, the streets were wide, but everything living inside them had been hollowed out.
Torn clothes. Sunken eyes. Bodies that had been fed just enough to keep working and no more.
"Why does a city this size look like this?" Jhed said quietly.
"Because a cruel man took it," Linea said, not breaking stride. "And he's been taking from it ever since."
"Mom, why did we come here?"
"Because we can hide here, Mendriya. Longer than anywhere else."
"How?"
"I know someone."
Jhed scanned the streets as they walked.
No men. Not a single one. Only women and girls — maybe a few who look twenty, twenty-five at most. And soldiers.
He watched two guards carry a dead old man through the street, his bones visible through his skin. Carried like luggage. Disposed of like waste.
So this is what this world looks like outside the jungle.
They stopped in front of a small wooden house with a broken door.
Linea knocked.
Footsteps inside — slow, careful. The door opened a crack.
"Linea." The woman stared. "You're... come in. Quickly."
She ushered them inside and shut the door behind her.
Jhed looked around. Empty bowls. One bed. A single window with a torn curtain.
The woman's right hand was missing all its fingers. Her clothes were dirty, her hair unwashed. She was thin in the way that came from months of not enough food.
"Things are bad," she said, before Linea could speak. "Worse than bad. We can't eat properly. We can't leave. It's unbearable."
"I know, Emilie. I know."
"Who are they?" Emilie nodded toward Mendriya and Jhed.
"You can take them off now," Linea said.
They unwrapped the cloth from their faces.
Mendriya exhaled. "Finally. I couldn't breathe in that thing."
Jhed pulled his off quietly.
"These are my children," Linea said.
Emilie's eyes went wide. "Your — children? Loane never told me. He never said anything."
"We've been apart for a long time. He didn't know how to."
A pause.
"Loane came through here. A few days ago." Emilie's voice went careful. "He said he couldn't stay long. That they'd found the location of the hiding people. He seemed... hurried."
Linea's lips pressed together.
"He died, Emilie. He killed all the people who were hiding with us. Loane was among them."
Emilie said nothing. Just looked at the floor.
The silence stretched.
"The situation here has gotten worse," Emilie said finally. "How are you going to hide these children? Especially—" she glanced at Jhed— "him."
"You two." Linea turned to them. "Don't go outside. If you absolutely have to — cover your faces. Both of you. Always."
"Where's Weel?" Linea asked.
Something in Emilie's expression dimmed.
"They took him. Forced labor. If he doesn't work, we both starve. That's just how it is here." She looked at her fingerless hand without expression. "That's how it is for everyone."
A knock at the door.
Hard. Official.
Emilie opened it.
Two guards.
"We heard there's a man here." The guard's eyes moved past Emilie into the room. "We've come to collect him. For work."
"Why?" Linea stepped forward.
"Don't work, don't eat. Simple." The guard's gaze landed on Jhed.
Jhed read the room in one second.
If I refuse, they'll take me anyway. And they'll make things worse for everyone here. Emilie. Linea. Mendriya.
There's no version of this where I win by fighting it right now.
He reached for the cloth and wrapped it back around his face. Then he stepped forward.
"I'll go," he said. "I'm ready."