Kai stuck to his daily schedule, though his schedule was never slow. That was Kai's flaw—he always wanted to do everything at once. If he passed an empty field, his mind raced with ideas for aqueducts and mills. If he saw a bare wall, he wanted murals, lanterns, and glass. His pace exhausted others, but for him it was never enough.
The morning began with greetings along the main street. Villagers bowed or nodded, smiling as he returned their kindness. Kai never met their eyes, always their foreheads or brows. He couldn't risk slipping—his Restful Gaze could fell even friends into unwanted slumber. To the people, it seemed like a respectful quirk, but in truth it was his restraint.
Glowhollow came first. The kippers were already awake, the miniature city alive with the sound of tiny hammers and splashing water. Kilo stood on a crate like a general surveying his troops. "Kai! Another flawless drill today!"
Kai tilted his gaze to the kipper's brow. "Flawless? Then double it. Victories too easy dull the blade." He ruffled Kilo's hair, ignoring the squeak of protest, and continued onward.
At the farming district, Kai's tattoos pulsed. He raised his arms and stone shifted, pulling a windmill up from the ground like a giant sprouting stalk. Its blades creaked and spun, grain spilling into the chute below. Farmers erupted in cheers.
Not stopping there, he attached a grindstone, linking it with alchemical gears. Farmers now had a place to sharpen sickles and plows. Kai stood back, already sketching ideas in his head for irrigation channels, for rail lines, for—
"Slow down," he muttered to himself. But slowing down was the one thing he never did.
Later, in the wizard's hall, he sat across the board from his opponent. The pieces were already set. Kai leaned on one hand, eyes fixed on the wizard's forehead, and frowned at the chessboard.
"Your move," the wizard said with a smug grin.
Kai moved a pawn. The wizard countered with clean precision. Another move, another blunder. Kai groaned.
"I didn't invent this game," he said defensively as his knight fell. "It's well known. But I'm awful at it."
The wizard's beard twitched with amusement. "Awful is generous."
By the end, Kai's king toppled in defeat again. He threw up his hands. "Enough! Try this instead." From his cloak he pulled out a deck of cards painted with bright numbers. "A game called Uno."
The wizard raised a brow. Minutes later the hall filled with laughter, curses, and shouting as villagers crowded in. Snakes and Ladders followed, dice clattering, children shrieking with joy. Chess was forgotten. Kai's failures at the board only made his new games more beloved.
Still, his mind ran ahead. He dreamt of wagons without beasts, trains roaring across rails, even electricity lighting every street. Too far, too much. For now, he settled on smaller wonders. Mana crystals embedded in stoves and basins heated water for cooking and baths. Families gasped when steam poured without fire. Some cried when they realized they would never again haul wood in the rain.
But Sovereign had not yet crossed into the Old Realm. No Resonants had awakened here, though whispers spread. Kilo and the huntress declared they would face the dream trial when the time came.
Kai frowned, gaze locked to their brows. "Dreams bite harder than waking. Don't."
They only smiled, unshaken.
That night, Kai lay on Nimbus, drifting into sleep. He reached for their dream, trying to slip into its folds, desperate not to leave them alone if the trial came.
The next morning, Daniel joined him. Together they followed muddy roads north, frost biting their boots. After a day's march, they reached a demi-human village. Fox tails twitched, wolf ears pricked, dog eyes narrowed. Suspicion stiffened the air.
"They don't trust us," Daniel muttered.
Kai lifted his hands, speaking to their leader's forehead. "I'm not here to take. I'm here to build."
It took long talks, demonstrations of flowing water, stories of stone homes safe behind walls. By dawn, curiosity outweighed fear. A caravan followed him south.
When they reached the city gates, the beastkin halted. Towers stood above them, walls stretched wide, smoke curling from chimneys within.
Inside, stone houses waited.
"This one… is ours?" a wolf-eared boy whispered, hand pressed against a wall.
A fox-tailed woman touched a window, eyes widening at her reflection. "You can see through walls?"
"Yes," Kai said, gaze never straying from their brows. "Every family gets their own. No masters. No chains."
Some fell to their knees. Others rushed inside, gasping at steaming water pouring from basins, at stoves that glowed without wood. To them, it was sorcery. To Kai, it was proof of what could be built if he didn't stop rushing forward.
The days after were filled with more invention. Lightstones fixed to streets, mana-heated pipes warming homes. He even scratched sketches for stone rails—dreams of trains one day spanning the realm. Daniel found him bent over the plans late at night.
"Too much, too fast," Daniel said.
Kai smirked without looking up. "That's the only way I know."
Then the summons came. A letter sealed in crimson wax, Vorath's crest stamped deep. The king demanded Kai's presence. Refusal was not an option.
Before leaving, Kai walked among farmers gathering pods from strange southern trees. He cracked one open, cocoa beans spilling into his palm.
"Cocoa," he breathed. His grin widened. "We're close to chocolate."
Daniel raised a brow. "Chocolate?"
"Paradise," Kai said, then sighed. "But without sugar, just bitter dust."
The villagers laughed at his words, though they didn't understand.
At dawn, Kai pulled on his cloak. He stood at the gates, stone walls towering above him, villagers gathering inside.
"I'll be gone for a week," he said, eyes flicking across brows and foreheads. "Keep the fires burning. Keep the walls strong."
Nimbus floated overhead. With cocoa beans tucked in his satchel and Vorath's summons heavy in his pocket, Kai stepped beyond the gates. The walls closed behind him like guardians, and his restless heart already leapt ahead to the next dozen things he wanted to build.