The Kingdom Unseen

<p>The city smells of smoke and wet stone. The rain from last night</p><p>has soaked the streets leaving puddles that reflect fractured</p><p>sunlight like shards of broken mirrors. I step carefully over</p><p>a fallen beam boots slipping slightly on slick metal and feel</p><p>the weight of the silence pressing against my ears. It's a quiet</p><p>that isn't peaceful-it's the kind of quiet that signals danger is</p><p>hiding somewhere just out of sight.</p><p>Lyra walks beside me her hand brushing against mine small</p><p>but steady. I don't need her to speak; I can feel her tension as</p><p>sharply as my own. Every shadow seems to twist every alley</p><p>feels like it could hold someone-or something-watching us.</p><p>And maybe it does.</p><p>Elias moves ahead scanning the broken city with eyes that</p><p>are both haunted and calculating. He pauses at the shattered</p><p>remains of a fountain its bronze statue slumped and twisted</p><p>arm reaching skyward as though it had prayed and been ignored.</p><p>The Dominion's gone he murmurs almost to himself. </p><p><br> </p>