Kael moved silently through the crowd, his face half-hidden beneath a draped cloth.
Hood drawn low, steps light.
He blended in like any other passerby—just another cloak among many.
But his eyes were sharp.
And his ears were open.
All around him, the city buzzed with unrest.
Conversations overlapped like waves crashing, and every one of them… was about yesterday.
About him.
"Did you see the crater? The Devil destroyed half the estate in seconds!"
"I heard even the Duke couldn't stop him."
"What about that artifact Kaelion mentioned? Maybe that's what caused it."
"Some kind of ancient evil… I swear, this is how the world ends."
Kael kept walking.
No reaction. No words.
But beneath the cloth, he smiled.
Good.
The panic was spreading faster than fire.
The Devil had become more than a threat—he was becoming myth.
And that was exactly what Kael wanted.
The less they understood him, the more they feared him.
The more they feared him, the more they'd cling to Kaelion.