The alleys beneath Kwenra District grew narrower the deeper they went.
Kazi kept pace behind Rhazir as they descended into Novara's understructure, a forgotten maze of tunnels and abandoned tram routes that slither beneath the polished streets above. The city's hum became muffled here, replaced by the low drip of leaking pipes and the shuffle of vermin through rusted grates.
The air was thick with the sharp tang of rusted metal and the damp, sour scent of mildew. It clung to the back of Kazi's throat, heavy and unwelcoming, like the breath of something old and forgotten. The smell spoke of decay, of corroded chains, damp stone, and time left to rot in silence. It was the scent of a place long abandoned, where nothing had moved in years but the mold creeping along the walls.
"Where are we going?" Dakarai asked, stepping over a cracked support beam. His voice echoed faintly, bouncing off walls lined with long-dead wiring and graffiti that pulsed faintly with phosphorescent ink.
"Her name is Temba," Rhazir replied. "She used to be an Extractor."
Kazi narrowed her eyes. "You're talking about bounty hunters."
"She wasn't after coin," he said. "She was after resonance signatures. Anyone who awakened outside official channels, Temba tracked them down."
Dakarai scoffed. "Sounds like the kind of person we don't want to meet."
"We don't have a choice," Rhazir said. "If she's still alive, she knows how to find people the world wants to keep hidden."
They stopped at a rusted door halfway down the sloped corridor, where the walls closed in and the air turned stale. The metal was marred by time and violence, long and scorched streaks ran across its surface like the aftermath of an old fire, while deep, jagged grooves clawed into the steel hinted at something far less natural. Rhazir knocked once, then placed his hand on a small plate embedded in the wall.
A click echoed through the corridor, crisp and sudden. Silence followed; then, a second, softer click.
With a groan like a breath drawn from forgotten lungs, the door creaked open an inch, slowly and deliberately, as if whatever waited beyond needed to be sure they were meant to enter.
Rhazir didn't hesitate and stepped inside.
The room was lit by fireless lanterns slabs of amber crystal embedded into the walls, glowing with soft, pulsating light. Every surface was covered in maps, resonance scans, Azibo Line markings, and sigil notes written in chalk. Cables crisscrossed the ceiling like tangled vines in an overgrown jungle, drooping low and swaying slightly with the weight of years. Some sparked faintly at the ends, frayed and exposed, while others disappeared into cracked panels and rusted conduits, as if feeding life into the dying walls around them.
In the center stood a woman with silver braids coiled tightly behind her head. Her left eye glowed violet; the other was sharp and watchful. Her cloak was layered, lined with plates of darkened metal that looked like they had once belonged to something not entirely human.
She didn't look up from the resonance scanner cradled in her gloved hand, its screen pulsing softly in the dim light.
"I told you I was done chasing ghosts, Rhazir," she said, her voice edged with tired defiance.
"This isn't a ghost," he said. "It's a signal."
Temba set the scanner down slowly and turned to face them. Her gaze swept over them, analyzing every aspect of the people in front of her. She passed over Rhazir, paused on Kazi, then settled on Dakarai. And there her eyes lingered, not with surprise, but with recognition. Like she was seeing more than just the people in front of her; measuring something invisible beneath their skin.
"So, you brought awakened children to my doorstep!" she exclaimed
Kazi bristled. "I'm not a child."
"No," Temba said, stepping closer. "You're a beacon. And you've got the kind of burn on you that draws things in from far, far away."
Kazi met her gaze without flinching. "They took someone from me. I need to find them."
Temba crossed her arms. "That resonance flare a few days ago? That was you."
Neither Kazi nor Dakarai answered, but the silence was loud enough.
"If I felt it," she said. "Then so did others. Dangerous ones."
She stepped back to the scanner and activated it. A map of Novara shimmered into the air above the table. In the lower left, near the industrial ruins past the freight line, a pulsing red dot blinked slowly.
"Three days ago," Temba said, her voice low and clipped. "There was a spike in displacement energy, the same frequency we see when temporary rifts or jump points are forced open."
Kazi leaned in, eyes narrowing. "Like the mark we saw in Luma's apartment."
Temba gave a single, slow nod. "Exactly. Someone opened a door... but they didn't close it cleanly." She let the words hang there, heavy and unfinished, like the echo of something still bleeding through.
Rhazir pointed at the red dot. "Is that where they went?"
"It's where something went," Temba corrected. "Could be a decoy. Could be a trap."
Kazi's mark tingled beneath her sleeve. "It doesn't matter!" she exclaimed.
Temba raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure girl?"
"I'm not leaving her behind," Kazi said. "So you can either help us, or we'll take our leave!"
A smile crept across Temba's lips, it wasn't warm, but impressed. She turned toward a locker and retrieved a small pulse disc, handing it to Kazi.
"You're gonna need this."
"What is it?" Dakarai asked.
"Insurance," she said. "For when the door opens both ways."