The tower of the Inverted Lens was left behind like a monument that kept slowly turning, even after we moved away. The city changed shape as we walked toward the next region, and now walls that had once been shops had transformed into narrow houses, as if the city were reorganizing its own thoughts.
Vespera walked backward, watching everything. "I swear that building over there was sleeping earlier."
Elara raised an eyebrow. "Buildings don't sleep, Vespera."
"That one does. It was snoring."
Liriel, on the other hand, kept her gaze fixed on the living map she had obtained inside the tower. The map changed on its own, reflecting the city's movements. It was like holding a restless animal.
"The next clue to the third artifact is in the region called 'Overlapping Routes.'" She turned the parchment toward us. "But if the city is in a moment of transition, the routes don't stay aligned for long."
Rai'kanna took a deep breath. "Then we'll have to move fast."
Lyannis stepped closer to me, holding my cloak. "Is the flame reacting?"
"No. Just restless."
The truth was that it seemed to be observing the city, as if it recognized something in the living structure around us.
When we turned a corner, we realized we were being watched. It wasn't a city monster. It wasn't a creature born from the constant movement of the streets.
They were people.
Ten of them, silently surrounding the street, wearing gray cloaks and smooth, expressionless masks. Cloaks embroidered with straight lines, forming symbols that seemed to try to "hold" space in place.
Rai'kanna raised her right wing without fully opening it — a sign of caution. "They weren't here before."
Liriel narrowed her eyes. "It's them."
"The Cult of the Immobile Order."
One of the hooded figures stepped forward. His voice came out muffled by the mask. "Traveling through the living city is a mistake. Too much movement attracts its awakening. You should not be here."
Vespera placed her hands on her hips. "We don't want to be here either, believe me. But you're in our way."
Another cultist raised his hand, displaying a rigid rune, completely different from the city's natural runes. "You carry unstable artifacts. They must be reclaimed. We will keep the city quiet."
Elara stepped forward, arrow already nocked. "And how do you intend to do that?"
"By stopping you."
The street changed at that very instant.
As if responding to the cult, the walls repositioned themselves. The ground sank a few centimeters, leveling out. The city tried to resist. But the cult retaliated: runes began to glow beneath the hooded figures' feet.
Rigid patterns. Straight lines. Symbols that nullified movement.
Liriel murmured, "They're trying to force stability onto the city…"
"And that's not good?" Lyannis asked, hopefully.
"Not when a place was created precisely to move."
The lead cultist raised both hands. "Stop walking. Hand over the artifacts. Or you will be immobilized."
Vespera took a step forward. "Immobilized like… paralyzed?"
"Try stopping us and see."
The street closed behind us, forming a perfect circle. The cult had prepared this. They knew we would be here.
Rai'kanna fully spread her wings, releasing heat. "Get ready. They won't talk."
And they didn't.
Rai'kanna advanced first, creating a curtain of heat to break the runes on the ground. The cultists responded by projecting lines of force that bound the air, like invisible barriers. When the heat touched the lines, they vibrated, hardened, and pushed Rai'kanna back.
The city reacted. Rooftops trembled. A window moved on its own, trying to create an escape. But the cultists sealed even that.
"Elara, right!" I shouted.
The archer turned in time to fire an arrow that exploded against a rigid rune in the air. The impact shattered the symbol, opening a gap.
Lyannis charged with her spear, striking a cultist who was trying to fix another rune. The symbols glowed on the ground, but the spear erased them on direct contact, as if its energy nullified the ritual.
"They're preventing the city from moving!" Liriel shouted as she drew curved runes — the opposite of the enemies'. "If they keep this up, the city will react violently!"
Here is the faithful English translation, preserving the original content exactly:
---
"React how?" Vespera asked, dodging a rigid line that extended like a blade.
"By breaking everything in the area."
Rai'kanna clenched her teeth. "Then we need to end this quickly!"
The cultists began chanting in unison. Their voices were cold, rhythmic, devoid of emotion. The entire street vibrated. The ground flattened a little more, as if they were trying to stretch the surface itself.
And then I felt the flame inside me react.
"Takumi." Liriel called to me, without taking her eyes off the fight. "The city is trying to move, but it's locked. Your flame… can open a breach."
"If I do that, what happens to them?"
"They'll be dragged by the movement."
"Then let's do it properly."
We advanced together.
Rai'kanna burned the half-forgotten lines. Elara pinned two cultists with quick arrows, Vespera created curved winds to push away the rigid symbols, Lyannis knocked down one of the main runes, and I reached the center of the circle.
The city pulsed beneath my feet.
I brought the sword down into the ground.
The flame expanded.
The cult's circle of stability shattered, and the entire street moved at once.
The left wall rotated. Rooftops slid. The street opened like a gigantic book being flipped through. The cultists were thrown down by the sudden movement — the city itself violently reconfiguring.
When the dust settled, only two cultists had managed to remain standing. One of them lifted his mask, revealing clear eyes and a hard expression.
"You have no idea what you are awakening."
Rai'kanna replied: "And you have no idea what we've already faced."
The cultist stepped back behind a wall that closed on its own, disappearing. The others were swallowed by corridors the city rearranged.
Liriel put the parchment away. "They'll be back. That was just a warning."
Vespera snorted. "Great… more obsessed people trying to stop us from walking."
Rai'kanna looked at me. "The flame reacted quickly. And the city… responded even faster."
"I know."
Because, for an instant, the flame tried to connect with something beneath the streets. Something enormous. Something that was already awakening.