“What are you saying, Callista? Are you insane? How? The fuck?! What’s wrong with your head?” the city mayor shouted.

  “She!” Callista screamed back, pointing toward Zara. “She’s here for revenge. For what you did to her family!”

  “Shut up! Callista!” The city mayor barked. “Say another word, and I’ll make yret ever speaking!”

  Callista ignored him. Instead, she fell to her knees in front of Zara.

  “I know you’re here for justice… for Rowehe one who destroyed your family. I had nothing to do with it! I swear, I was too scared to stop him. I couldn’t do anything, not even speak out.”

  “Callista, shut up!” Rowen growled, grabbing her shoulder roughly and shoving her backward.

  Callista recoiled sharply, wreng herself out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me, Rowen! Your sins are yours to bear alone. Don’t you dare drag me and our daughter into this mess!”

  Their young daughter, a blonde girl with short hair, broke down. She stepped forward shakily, falling to her knees before Zara.

  “Please, spare us! I don’t know anything about what my parents did. I’m still young—I couldn’t stop them, I swear!”

  Rowen spun to face Callista again, grabbing her wrist and yankioward him. “Callista, you’ve crossed the line! Selling out your own husband. Do you think throwing me uhe bus will save you? Do you?! Weren’t you the one who wanted more wealth? The one who pushed me to act, to give you the luxury you desired? You were the one who set all of it in motion!”

  Callista yanked her arm free with a furious gre. “Don’t you dare twist this, Rowen! I never wahis!” she screamed, stepping back. “You are the sinner here! You are the monster! Face this alone! I don’t want any part of your madness—I know nothing, and I refuse to suffer with you!”

  Rowen staggered. “Callista! You—!”

  Rowen, ed by rage, luoward Callista, his hand aiming to grab her wrist. But Callista reacted swiftly, defleg his attempt and f his grip aside.

  He mao catch both of her hands, struggling to hold her back as their strength cshed.

  “You wretch! You dare betray me?!” Rowen snarled.

  In response, Callista smmed her forehead toward him, trying to headbutt him, but Rowen anticipated it, jerking his head back to avoid the blow. In that same instant, he reached into his coat and pulled out...

  A knife.

  Everyoched, yet no oepped in to stop him.

  Rowen lunged and aimed the koward Callista’s stomach. But Callista twisted to the side at the st moment, shoving his arm away with all her strength.

  And thehing stopped.

  Both of them froze, their eyes widening in disbelief.

  The knife hadn’t hit Callista.

  It had struck Thessara, their daughter, who had been standing just behind them.

  The young girl’s eyes flew wide with shock, her mouth opening in a silent scream as her hands instinctively flew to her throat.

  Blood gushed from the deep wound, spilliweerembling fingers. Her small frame shook violently, her knees bug as she colpsed to the floor. Her body vulsed briefly befoing still.

  “No! No! NO! Thess!” Callista shrieked. She lunged forward, scooping her daughter’s limp form into her shaking arms.

  “My baby! Please, no!” Her sobs echoed through the room.

  Rowen staggered backward, the knife slipping from his trembling fingers and cttering to the floor. His face turned pale, his mouth opening and closing, but no words came, just the horrific realization of what he had done.

  “Thess... no… Thess…” Callista whispered, rog the girl in her arms.

  She pressed her tear-soaked cheek against her daughter’s motionless face.

  From the corridor, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed, growing louder as a crowd of people rushed toward the se. When they arrived, they froze, their eyes widening in shock at the sight before them.

  Callista sat on the blood-soaked floor, cradling the lifeless body of her daughter, Thessara, her face streaked with tears.

  Not far from her, Rowen sat against the wall, his hands trembling, the bloodied knife he had dropped lying spicuously on the ground.

  Ats and his group were already gone, vanishing without a trace.

  “Thess… my baby!” Callista wailed as she turned her face to the onlookers.

  “He took her life! Rowen took my baby’s life!”

  Callista carefully id her daughter’s body ba the floor. Her hands shook as she reached for the kill lying where Rowen had dropped it. Gripping it tightly, she lu Rowen.

  “You killed my daughter! YOU KILLED MY CHILD! I’LL KILL YOU TOO, ROWEN!”

  Rowen barely reacted in time, stumbling backward as Callista thrust the koward him. He caught her wrist, struggling to wrestle the knife away.

  “You’re insane, Callista! Stop!” he shouted.

  “You murdered her! You’ll pay for it! I’ll make you pay!”

  Rowen, desperate, shoved her back, causio stumble. But Callista scrambled back to her feet.

  The crowd, growing rger with every passing sed, could only stare in stunned silehe horrific se unfolded before their eyes like a nightmare brought to life, yet no one dared move at first.

  Finally, as Callista and Rowen grappled once more, several men in the crowd found their ce. They rushed forward, pulling the tart.

  “Stop this! Enough!”

  “Hold her back! She’s going to kill him!”

  “Let me go! He killed my daughter! He deserves to die! Let me go!”

  ***

  Two advanced caravans rolled through the vast desert road under a dark sky, the first hints of dawn beginning to creep on the horizon.

  In the lead vehicle, Ats sat beside Edrik, who guided the caravan through the shifting sands.

  The dim glow of the dashboard s illumihe , pying a live news broadcast summarizing the i involving the city mayor.

  The report detailed the mayor’s crimes, his corruption, and the horrifying truth of how he had killed his own daughter. Yet, the mysterious deaths of the guards within the house remained unsolved, shrouded in silence.

  “We’re ,” Edrik said. “I made sure all the surveilnce cameras were taken offlihere’s no evidence pointing back to us. Nothing at all.”

  Ats exhaled slowly, his eyes fixed on the barren road ahead. “That’s good. Even if they suspect us, Rowe have the means to e after us. The world of Lords is far beyond their reach.”

  “Agreed,” Edrik replied.

  After a brief pause, Ats asked, "How’s Zara?"

  “Kaida said she’s fast asleep,” Edrik replied. “And… maybe this is the first time she’s ever slept this deeply.”

  Ats frowurning to him. “What do you mean?”

  “Zara usually only sleeps for one or two hours a day, at most.”

  “Seriously? I didn’t even know that ossible.”

  Edrik shrugged slightly. “I think she developed that talent as a survival skill, her own way of g with trauma.”

  “I think I’d like a talent like that too,” Ats said with a faint smile. “Imagine only needing to sleep one or two hours a day.”

  After some time on the road, Edrik broke the silence again. “Any enda besides the oied to the Lord Battles?”

  “Yes,” Ats replied. “Avenging Mira.”

  Edrik nodded slowly. He already khe story—how Ats had dived into Mira’s past and the pain she carried from her old world.

  After a brief pause, Ats tinued. “Is there a way to visit other worlds? Mira’s world… or any other world, without waiting thousands of years for the system to allow access?”