Chapter 83
This part of the world reeked of lesser privilege, thinner hopes, and sinking dreams.
a small, sophisticated, and almost forgotten side of the world where everyone knew who was who, and what family you came from was still your first name.
A family of strangers. That's what this place felt like now.
The moon shone down on hollow streets, gliding softly over a cluster of duplexes — weary survivors of time.
One of them stood with its yellow-painted walls cracking in long, tired lines, flakes of debris fallen like dry petals.
It was a house that had aged faster than the people inside it, a relic that had stayed longer than it was ever meant to.
A window dragged open from the upper floor, giving a rusty, metallic squeak that broke through the night's quiet.
Kairen stood there — his face calm, soft around the edges. The air was different here.
It didn't choke like the city's. It was cleaner, freer, even if the streets weren't neat.
