The pipe bent in my hand as I walked. My fingers were numb, but I didn't let go. The metal was slick from the thing's blood. The sky above stayed burnt. The clouds hung like dead lungs.
The street was cracked. Nothing moved. Windows were broken. Doors hung off hinges or were bolted with rusted chain. I passed a car half-swallowed by vines and soot. Its windows were smashed, the inside black with rot.
I heard something behind me. Footsteps. Light. Not afraid. I turned and saw a girl.
She stood on the far end of the alley. Pale coat. Hood up. Eyes like knives. She held a crossbow low, pointed at the ground, but her finger rested near the trigger.
"Keep moving," she said.
I didn't answer.
She stepped forward. Careful. Like I was something that might bite.
"You kill the shriekhound?" she asked.
I nodded.
Her eyes narrowed. She didn't look impressed. "With that?"
She meant the pipe.
"Yes," I said.
She looked past me at the pile of ash where the creature had died. The wind caught some of it. The flakes danced in the air, then vanished.
"You shouldn't be alive," she said. "Those things don't miss."
"They missed today."
"No," she said. "They didn't."
We stood there. The air smelled like old smoke and burned iron. Her eyes studied mine.
"Your blood smells wrong," she said.
I didn't know what that meant. I didn't ask. I just walked past her.
She didn't stop me. Only turned to watch.
"You'll die by morning if you keep walking blind," she called.
I kept walking.
The city opened up ahead. Ruined buildings clawed at the sky. Something had burned it all a long time ago. Maybe magic. Maybe war. Maybe both.
[QUEST: REACH A SAFEHOUSE BEFORE MOONFALL.]
[OPTIONAL: AVOID DETECTION — REWARD BONUS XP.]
The voice in my head again. Cold. Measured. Not mine.
The wind picked up. I smelled something dead. Not far off. I moved fast.
I passed a fire barrel with bones stacked beside it. Some human. Some not.
Farther ahead, I saw lights. Faint and orange, like candle flames inside a storm.
A bar. The sign above the door was rusted but still there. It said "Bell's Hollow." I didn't know what that meant. Maybe it used to be a place where people laughed.
Now, nothing laughed.
I went inside.
The man behind the counter had silver eyes. Not natural silver. The kind that reflects too well. He didn't speak. He just looked at me.
"You got coin?" he asked.
"No."
"Then what do you want?"
"Heat."
He snorted.
"Sit by the stove, stranger. But don't bleed on the floor."
I sat. The stove gave off weak heat. It helped.
Another man sat across the room. Heavy coat. Hood down. He had no ears. Just scars. His left hand was metal. He drank from a cracked bottle. Didn't look up.
"You smell it too?" he asked me without turning.
"Smell what?"
"Smoke. Blood. Dragon-wake."
I looked at him. He laughed once. It was dry.
"Don't worry. You'll learn."
[EMBER CORE – RESONANCE DETECTED.]
The system again. The stove crackled. Something inside me pulsed. Not just warmth now. A flicker. Like kindling.
Then I heard glass break.
Not inside. Outside.
Fast footsteps. Then a scream. Then nothing.
Everyone in the bar went still. The silver-eyed man pulled a blade from beneath the bar and muttered something in a language I didn't know.
The door slammed open.
A man stumbled in. His face was burned. His mouth foamed. Behind him, something crawled.
It had no face. Just teeth.
I stood.
My hands burned. The pipe was still with me. I raised it.
The thing came in low, moving like it was all muscle and no bone.
I didn't wait. I swung.
It dodged. Too fast.
The next moment, it was on me. I hit the ground hard. Its claws scraped across my side.
The pain was bright.
I punched it. My fist caught fire.
I don't know how. I didn't think. I just burned.
The thing shrieked and fell back. Smoke rose from its chest. The flesh sizzled.
[EMBER STRIKE – UNLOCKED.]
I stood up.
The man with no ears nodded once.
"Dragon blood," he said.
And the bar went silent.