Kaiser allowed himself exactly three heartbeats of awe, precisely enough time to commit the impossible skyline stretching before him to memory. Then, like folding an intricate map, he carefully tucked away the emotion deep within the recesses of his mind. Awe was a tool, something he used to wield against others, but it was never a master he allowed to govern his actions.

His gaze flickered briefly toward Ivan, whose expression was frozen in open-mouthed astonishment. The younger man's widened eyes and slackened jaw spoke volumes more clearly than words could. Kaiser absorbed the sight, swiftly concluding this spectacle was not ordinary for this world, not even close. Arkhold was primitive by comparison, and the other town with its ridiculous scaly walls… Whatever foolish name they'd given it, had been downright crude in comparison. At least this meant he hadn't misjudged the world entirely; if Ivan, clearly more acquainted with it, was equally astounded, this place was undoubtedly unique.

Reassured by Ivan's transparent reaction, Kaiser refocused himself immediately. Information was paramount, and he had developed methods in his previous life precisely for moments like this. He mentally invoked his protocol, familiar and reassuringly precise:

Keep Quiet: He would remain guarded, revealing only the bare minimum required, and never allowing unnecessary truths to escape his lips.

Analyze All: Every detail, no matter how seemingly trivial, would be noted and filed away—nothing in this alien metropolis would escape his scrutiny.

Infiltrate Slowly: Abrupt moves made for easy targets. Kaiser would observe patiently, become indistinguishable from the populace, blending seamlessly before making any decisive moves.

Seek Weakness: No city, regardless of its outward glory, was invulnerable. Beneath the surfaces and brilliant lights would lie fractures, points of stress and decay waiting for someone like him to exploit.

Exploit Opportunity: Every encounter was potential leverage, every overheard word could become a weapon. Kaiser would use it all, turning every chance into an advantage.

Remain Unseen: Until the moment was ripe, his presence would remain unnoticed, mere whispers and rumors, gone before fully acknowledged.

Kaisers eyes narrowed slightly as he mapped out escape routes, hiding places, surveillance points, and blind spots. Each breath anchored him further in this new reality, turning overwhelming chaos into structured, actionable data.

A distant shadow caught his eye—a deep gorge nestled between towering buildings, hidden from casual sight. A shadowed valley, untouched by the pervasive neon glare above. It seemed almost to call out to him, a perfect starting point from which to begin understanding this new world.

Without warning, Kaiser reached out and firmly grasped Ivan by the shoulder, disregarding the younger man's startled jerk. He had no interest in explanations or discussions—only action. And before Ivan could so much as react, Kaiser bent his knees and propelled them both off the rooftop's edge.

Ivan remained quiet, perhaps too overwhelmed or simply adapting to Kaiser's abrupt methods. Either way, Kaiser appreciated the silence, the absence of distraction. It allowed him to fully embrace this new environment.

As they dropped into shadow, Kaiser's smirk widened, not out of arrogance, but in quiet acknowledgment of the game that was beginning, a game this city did not yet realize it was about to play.

When they landed at the bottom of the shadowed valley, Kaiser's grip tightened around Ivan's shoulders again, as if physically impressing the rules onto him. He kept his tone low, clipped, every word pressed with the weight of command. "Don't speak with anyone unless you absolutely must. Don't reveal a single thing about yourself. Don't look people in the eye too long, and don't stare at anything you can't explain away. Blend in. Do not stand out."

Ivan's mouth opened, then closed again. He looked dazed, repeating the words like a mantra: "Capital city… capital city…" For a moment, it seemed like he might lose himself to the awe again, but Kaiser released his grip, pushing him lightly forward, snapping the younger man out of his trance.

"Of course, I get it, I get it," Ivan said, blinking quickly, his voice shaky but recovering. "Sorry, it's just… back home, all I ever heard were rumors—my scumbag parents wouldn't shut up about the capital, about how wild it was, how you could vanish in the crowd and never be found again, or get rich in a day, or lose everything in an hour. But none of it comes close to this. The stories didn't do it justice."

Kaiser regarded Ivan for a heartbeat, reading the truth in his words. In that moment, he couldn't bring himself to blame the kid. This place was a living myth, a storm of color and power and possibility that even his own heart struggled to comprehend. If Ivan was off-balance, he had every right to be. Kaiser himself had felt a similar vertigo, only he wore it deeper, letting it feed the fire of his ambition rather than drown him in wonder.

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With Ivan steadied, the two emerged from the shadows and stepped out of the narrow alleyway that had funneled them into the city's main street. Instantly, their senses were assaulted by a rush of light and motion. To their left loomed a colossal glass building, its surface gleaming with shifting reflections—guards stationed all around, their uniforms unmistakably official, each one carrying themselves with pride. Kaiser's eyes tracked their movements, noting the patterns: the checking of papers, the gentle herding of people toward exits, the quietly intense surveillance of anyone who lingered too long.

At the far side of the building, through a wall of seamless glass, Kaiser watched as a pair, a man and a woman blinked into existence, the faint glitter of a teleportation still fading from their forms.

Not far from them, an officer was leading another man in a slow circle, guiding him to a marked platform; within seconds, the man vanished in a flash of light. Ivan, following Kaiser's gaze, finally put the pieces together and muttered, "It's a teleportation center. For the capital. Makes sense, I guess, but…"

Kaiser's mind spun the implications instantly. The architecture, the security, the flow of people, none of it was accidental. This was an artery of the city, a controlled point of entry. Anyone arriving here was instantly registered, watched, cataloged. And they had arrived on the roof, not the arrival hall. Ivan mumbled, "That slug-brained maid must have scratched something wrong on those tickets… figures."

Kaiser almost answered with a flippant agreement, but something about the memory of Sama's cocky grin and the casual way she'd handled the tickets made him pause. No, he thought. That girl wasn't as clueless as she looked. For all her cursing and swagger, she played her part well. Maybe a little too well. Maybe she'd sent them to the roof on purpose, to keep them off the grid, away from the watchful eyes and the official records.

The realization made him laugh—a rare, genuine sound, sharp and edged with amusement. He clapped his hands together once, twice, startling Ivan, who gave him a look of pure confusion.

Kaiser shook his head, still smirking, his tone laced with a kind of dark approval. "Well played, maid. I underestimated your potential. Looks like there's more to you than a mouthful of vulgarity."

Ivan just stared at him, lost, but Kaiser was already moving, his mind racing ahead, new possibilities opening in every direction.

Kaiser pressed forward, a light but insistent grip at Ivan's sleeve—a silent reminder to keep moving, to keep their rhythm natural and unhurried. "Don't stare, don't linger, and don't forget what I told you," Kaiser murmured, voice pitched low and unyielding. Ivan, already gaping again, closed his mouth with an audible click and tried to match Kaiser's stride, eyes now darting nervously, not daring to fix on any one thing for too long.

The city's veins unfolded before them, and what veins they were—more like rivers of chaos, each person a current themselves. Kaiser moved with true calm, never letting his gaze rest more than a second on any one detail, but devouring everything all the same.

To his left strode a pair of large figures, each sheathed in armor thick as vault doors—one in gleaming gold, the other in battered black, both with helms that hid their faces, yet their postures spoke of pride. Their steps made the ground thrum, but nobody so much as glanced their way.

Just ahead, a trio of women glided past, their dresses absurdly voluminous, layers of crimson and emerald silks billowing behind them, sleeves so wide Kaiser wondered if wings hid within. The tallest of them wore a hat shaped like a spiral staircase, while the shortest had her hair braided with actual gemstones.

But it was the people themselves that made Kaiser pause inwardly, even if his stride never faltered. There were, of course, many who looked like those from any old city—tired men in work aprons, women hawking bread from baskets, bored guards and flushed children. But there were also those who shattered expectation.

He passed a man whose lower face ended not in lips and chin, but a sharp, glossy black beak, eyes dark as midnight. Next to him, a woman's pale neck glowed with tiny, neat black scales, her smile revealing slightly too-sharp teeth.

And then there were the truly towering ones—strange, tall beings, some so tall they had to duck beneath banners and strange glowing screens. Their bodies flickered, similar to that butler, but not the burning orange of Tristan, but blue and sometimes green, pulsing softly in the air around them. Kaiser made a note of them: dangerous, or perhaps powerful enough not to care about hiding.

All the while, Kaiser kept his pace steady, his gaze never sticking to anything for too long. Ivan, for his part, was doing his best to look nonchalant, but his awe still leaked out in twitching fingers and shallow breaths.

As Kaiser walked, weaving naturally with the flow of the crowd, something kept niggling at the edge of his awareness. He scanned the faces, the clothes, the strange mix of the normal and the futuristic, but there was something else. Something off in the proportions of the world.

It struck him in the shape of a passing crowd. The people here—they were shorter than those of Arkhold, shorter even than the denizens of Orlogolog. The men rarely stood above his shoulders, and the tallest women here were even shorter. For a moment, Kaiser glanced at Ivan beside him, and he could have sworn the boy had shrunk, his head now only reaching Kaiser's collarbone.

But then the truth dawned. It wasn't Ivan, nor the crowd, that had changed. Somehow, impossibly, Kaiser himself had grown—his perspective lifted, his stride longer, his view of the world subtly altered. He was, by any measure, half a head taller than he remembered being. He felt it in the way the crowd parted just a little more easily, in the weight of his own body, in the angle of his vision above the sea of unfamiliar faces.

Kaiser didn't let it slow his pace, but a sly, private grin ghosted across his face. Whatever else this city was, it was full of surprises. And so, it seemed, was he.

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