Faelan picked up his scarf.
This time, the difference was unmistakable.
The pattern woven into the fabric had changed, parts of it seeming to fade and erode away.
His brows furrowed slightly.
"Are you ready?" Ria asked from the doorway. She had insisted on accompanying him to the city gates.
"Yes," Faelan replied, forcing the thought aside.
He slipped the scarf around his neck, and together they headed downstairs to check out.
The city was already awake by the time they stepped onto the main roads.
Occasional battered vehicles rumbled past, engines groaning as they crawled through the streets.
As they walked, groups of men in worn leather clothing watched them closely.
At this point, Faelan had grown used to people staring.
Though, more often than not… they were staring at Ria.
She didn't seem to pay the stares much attention either, but after a while, Faelan noticed her glancing around more than usual.
"Are you looking for something?" he asked curiously.
"Not something," Ria replied, eyes still scanning the streets.
Then she froze briefly before turning back to him.
"Then what?" Faelan asked.
The obvious answer would've been someone, but he needed to be sure.
"We should turn here," she suggested suddenly, pointing toward a nearby alleyway.
Faelan didn't argue.
He simply nodded as they approached the alley.
Faelan stepped into the alley first, then turned back.
"What hap—"
The words died in his throat.
A man stood a few meters away, dressed in a purple combat suit. Red hair. Mismatched eyes.
And a handgun aimed directly at Faelan's head.
The man kept the weapon steady with one hand while pulling a radio device from his pocket with the other.
"I have a possible lead on the target," he said calmly.
"Copy," a voice answered from the other end.
Faelan's pulse quickened.
He had no idea what was happening.
More importantly—
Ria was gone.
"Where is she?" the man asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Faelan replied, masking his confusion. "Could you please put the gun down?"
"No."
The man stepped closer slowly, keeping the weapon trained on him.
"I'll be taking you into custody. If you cooperate, you won't be harmed."
Faelan frowned slightly.
"Greeting me with a gun really makes me trust you."
The man narrowed his mismatched eyes.
"That tone…" he said. "Sarcasm?"
His grip tightened around the handgun.
"You're surprisingly calm."
The man stopped moving. His eyes widened slightly.
BOOM.
Ria dropped in from above, her feet slamming into the ground hard enough to shake the earth.
"Tch."
She had missed. The Ryve operative had dodged at the last second.
He tried to bring his gun back up.
Ria slapped his arm aside and drove forward, throwing a fist straight at his face.
The man caught it mid-motion.
Palm meeting knuckles.
He used his other hand to stabilize the block, stopping her strike cleanly.
He twisted her arm, pulling her in close, then drove a kick into the side of her knee.
Ria dropped to one knee.
Her fist slammed into his gut. His grip loosened.
She surged upward immediately, striking his face.
He reacted instantly—returning a hit of his own.
Ria tried to catch his arm, but he pivoted, turning his body and driving an elbow into her side.
She staggered for a moment.
He followed with another strike to the back of her knee and locked her into a headlock from behind.
Ria didn't reach for his hands.
Instead, she grabbed his shoulders.
Locked in tight.
Then she lifted.
Using his position against him, she threw him over her shoulder, slamming him hard into the ground in front of her.
Ria tried to bring her heel down onto his head, but he rolled aside at the last second.
Her strike slammed into the floor instead.
The Ryve operative grabbed her leg and yanked hard, dragging her down with him.
Ria sat upright almost immediately—
A backhanded strike crashed into her face hard enough to crack bone.
The man's eyes immediately darted toward the handgun lying nearby.
He lunged for it.
Another hand reached it at the same time.
He looked up.
Face to face with Faelan.
They both pulled on the handgun.
The Ryve operative was noticeably stronger, but Faelan's grip refused to loosen.
The man struck first.
Faelan staggered from the blow, but immediately answered with a punch straight to the man's face.
The Ryve combatant barely moved.
For a brief moment, he looked more surprised than hurt.
Then he snapped back into motion.
He grabbed Faelan by the head and drove his face straight into a rising knee strike.
CRACK.
Blood poured from Faelan's broken nose.
Still—
His grip did not falter.
The Ryve operative wore that same expression again.
Not pain.
Confusion.
"How are you still standing?" he asked.
Faelan wiped blood from his mouth weakly.
"No clue."
CRAACK
A kick slammed into his side.
Blood filled Faelan's mouth as his back crashed against the wall.
The Ryve operative instantly redirected his attention, raising the handgun toward Ria.
BANG
Ria had already moved.
She closed the distance in an instant, slapping his arm aside and sending the shot into the alley wall instead.
***
BREEP
The captain checked the device in his pocket immediately.
Still offline.
But the sound had been unmistakable.
***
SQUELCH
The Ryve operative froze.
A wet choking sound escaped him as blood spilled from his mouth.
Faelan stared in stunned silence.
For the briefest moment, it looked as though Ria's hand had changed shape.
Now it was buried straight through the man's chest—
protruding from his back.
Ria exhaled slowly as she pulled her hand free from the body.
The Ryve operative collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.
"We should go before the others arrive," she said, helping Faelan back to his feet.
Something metallic hit the ground beside him.
Faelan blinked.
A bullet.
Ria's eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's okay," Faelan assured her quickly. "The scarf stopped it."
He glanced down at the fabric around his neck.
"How did y—"
"We should hurry."
Ria placed a hand against his nose.
CRUNCH
"Ow—!" Faelan recoiled as she reset it.
"We should probably find a produce truck," he muttered through the pain. "See if we can get a ride out of here."
"Anything is fine," Ria replied immediately. "Let's just move."
"I-I found him…"
A red-haired man in a purple combat suit spoke quietly into a handheld radio.
"He's dead."
Silence answered him for a moment.
Then:
"Are you sure?" the voice on the other end asked.
Riget knelt beside the body, staring at the hole torn through Noil's chest.
"…Yes."
He reached over and closed the man's eyes.
"They killed Noil."
Another brief pause.
"Copy," the voice replied at last. "Maintain your position. I'll be there in five."
Riget noticed the blood trail leading out of the alley.
Still, he remained beside the body as ordered.
It wasn't long before the captain arrived with the rest of the Ryve squad.
Riget saluted.
The captain acknowledged it with a silent nod before turning toward Noil's body.
No one spoke.
For a moment, the alley remained completely still.
Then the captain finally broke the silence.
"Celot. Riget. Take the body outside the city."
His gaze shifted toward the others.
"The rest of you—move with me."
"Yes, sir," they answered in unison.
The squad followed the blood trail out of the alley.
It didn't stretch far, but it was enough to give them a direction.
***
Faelan's scarf was wrapped tightly around Ria's arm, stained with Ryve blood as they moved through the city streets, the gates finally coming into view.
Faelan walked awkwardly beside her, struggling slightly to keep pace after the beating he had taken.
"Wait," he called out.
Ria stopped immediately, eyes scanning the area before settling on him.
"What?"
"Over there."
Faelan pointed toward a long line of trucks loaded with farm goods.
"One of them might be heading toward Grarg's Keep," he said, already moving toward them.
Ria followed close behind, though her attention kept drifting around the street instead.
Then her eyes widened slightly.
"Let's get on that one."
She pointed toward a truck near the middle of the line.
"Why tha—"
Before Faelan could finish, she was already heading toward it.
Faelan let out an exhausted sigh and followed after her.
This was starting to get annoying.
***
The Ryve captain headed straight for the guards stationed at the gate while the others spread through the area, gathering information from passersby.
"Did a woman with unusual eyes pass through here?" he asked. "Possibly with her arm wrapped in a scarf. She may have had a companion."
The guard thought for a moment.
"No one like that passed through today, sir. But it sounds similar to a pair that entered yesterday. The young man looked like a messenger."
He hesitated slightly.
"Is there something we should be worried about?"
A messenger…
That complicated things.
The captain's eyes drifted toward several crates of tomatoes and lekas scattered near the roadside.
"Why are those there?" he asked suddenly.
The guard glanced over.
"I'm not sure. Maybe they fell from one of the trucks."
The captain looked back sharply.
"Trucks?"
"They transport farm produce to the neighboring cities."
The crates didn't look dropped accidentally.
Then it clicked.
The captain grabbed the guard by the collar and pulled him forward effortlessly.
"Where are those trucks going?"
The guard stiffened immediately.
"I-I don't know," he stammered. "Each truck heads somewhere different."
The captain released him abruptly, tossing him backward before turning away.
"We lost the target. Regroup at the western gate. I'll brief headquarters on the situation."
He spoke into the radio device.
***
Faelan grunted as he shifted in the cramped space at the back of the truck.
"What broke?" Ria asked.
"A rib," he muttered. "Probably just cracked. Doesn't help that there's barely any space in here."
They were seated back to back in the slatted truck bed, every bump in the road sending vibrations through their bodies.
"A cracked rib…" Ria repeated, sounding slightly surprised.
"You're pretty strong, Fae. The average person hit like that by a Ryve wouldn't be moving at all."
"Maybe I got lucky. What's a Ryve?" Faelan asked.
"I don't really know how to explain it.
They're… made to be strong. Durable. They follow orders. Stuff like that."
"How do you know about them? And why are they after you?"
"It's not like the Ryve are some big secret," she said quickly. Then added, "Can you tell where we're going?"
Faelan noticed the shift. She was avoiding the question.
"Not really," he replied. "How often do they come after you?"
"This is the first time they've sent Ryve."
They? Faelan thought.
Who's they?
"I wonder how long it'll be till…" Ria muttered under her breath.
Silence stretched between them, broken only by the occasional jolt of the moving truck.