Shura stepped out of the dorm.
The air outside felt cooler—processed, clean in a way that didn't belong to the Lower District. It brushed against his face and settled there, unfamiliar.
Behind him, Einn, Nexa, and Blair stood beneath the stone archway.
They didn't follow.
They just watched him go.
Three silhouettes, quiet against the fading amber of the Beacon's cycle.
Shura paused at the entrance.
The Free Area stretched out again before him—orderly, precise. No dust. No cracks. No visible neglect.
Even here, where people came with nothing—
there was no compromise in the system.
That… was strange.
His eyes moved once across the courtyard.
"…Einn. Nexa. Blair."
He said their names under his breath, testing them.
Then a small smile touched his face.
He turned—
"Why can't you just stay here?"
The voice reached him before the footsteps did.
Shura glanced back.
They were already there.
Closer than expected.
Einn stood slightly forward, Nexa beside him, Blair just behind—half-present, as usual.
"I need to work," Shura said. "And I have to go now. It's far. If I stop, I won't reach."
Nexa blinked.
"Wait—what?"
Her hands dropped to her sides in disbelief.
"You're going to walk that? All the way?"
Shura tilted his head slightly.
"I don't have another option."
There was a beat.
Then—
Einn and Nexa both laughed.
Not cruel.
Just… stunned.
"You just walk everywhere?" Einn said, shaking his head. "That's not how people travel."
"You'll collapse halfway," Nexa added. "Or worse—you won't even know you're lost."
Blair stepped forward then, eyes half-lidded, voice quieter but sharper.
"You really don't know anything," he said. "And still—you move like you've already decided everything."
Shura didn't respond.
Nexa exhaled, then gestured forward.
"Come on. Follow me."
She didn't wait for agreement.
"I'll show you the transit. Boats, rail—whatever gets you there faster."
They started walking.
After a few steps—
Blair stopped.
He turned slightly, already pulling back.
Einn caught his sleeve.
"Where are you going?"
Blair didn't look at him at first.
Then—
"I'm not coming."
A pause.
"The light's too much today."
Nexa looked at him.
No argument.
Just a small, understanding smile.
"Rest then."
Blair nodded once—and turned away.
Gone as quietly as he had followed.
Einn watched him for a second, then shrugged lightly.
"Let's go before you actually try walking across the entire district," he muttered.
The streets narrowed as they moved away from the Free Area.
The architecture shifted.
Less open.
More compressed.
Buildings leaned inward, their upper levels almost touching—stitched together by pipes, and metal ribs that pulsed faintly with Viora.
Steam hissed intermittently.
Brass valves lined the walls.
The ground shifted from stone to grated metal in places, footsteps ringing hollow beneath them.
People were already moving.
Not rushed—
but purposeful.
Carts rolled past, pulled by hand. Workers carried tools, crates, coils of material. No one wasted motion.
Einn glanced sideways at Shura.
"So… where are you actually from?"
Shura didn't look at him.
"I don't remember."
Nexa raised a brow.
"That's your answer?"
Shura nodded once.
"I lost my memory. Someone helped me after that. That's all."
Silence.
Then—
Einn and Nexa looked at each other.
And laughed again.
This time louder.
"Seriously?" Nexa said. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard."
"If you told me you fell from the sky, I'd believe that faster," Einn added.
Shura didn't react.
"…Then believe that," he said calmly.
That slowed them—just a little.
Nexa studied him for a second longer.
Then exhaled.
"Fine. Doesn't matter."
She pointed ahead as they turned into a tighter passage.
"Listen instead."
They entered a narrow street where two people could barely walk side by side.
Pipes crowded the walls. Heat radiated off them in uneven waves.
"People don't walk long distances here," Nexa continued. "Not unless they have no choice."
"For short travel—boats," Einn added. "For longer routes—rail lines. Between districts, between kingdoms."
Shura's gaze shifted.
Ahead, through a break in the structures—
water.
"I've seen the paths," he said quietly. "I just didn't think they were meant for me."
Einn let out a short breath.
"Everything's meant for someone," he said. "You just don't stay outside it forever."
They turned one last corner.
And the space opened.
The canal stretched out before them.
Wide.
Still—but not silent.
The water caught the morning cycle light, turning gold in uneven waves. Not pure. Not clean.
But alive.
Buildings rose on both sides in carved Gothic stone—arched windows, narrow towers, surfaces etched with age and precision.
The city didn't decorate.
It engraved.
At the edge of the canal, tethered to a worn iron post—
a single boat drifted.
Long. Narrow. Dark.
It rocked gently against the stone, the movement barely disturbing the surface.
Nexa slowed.
"Here," she said.
"This is where you stop walking."
Einn folded his arms, watching Shura.
"Try not to fall in," he added.
Shura stepped closer to the edge.
The water reflected the Beacon light—
but not perfectly.
It broke it.
Distorted it.
Like everything else here.
He looked at the boat.
Then at the canal stretching beyond sight.
A path—
he hadn't taken.
Until now.