The hidden city sprawled out before us, its stone-carved pathways twisting through the underground cavern like veins through flesh. Homes carved into rock, the low hum of lanterns floating above them, casting golden light across a city built in secrecy, in survival. I had lived and bled for this place, and now I walked through it in chains. The river that cut through the city was calm, too calm. I had never seen it so low, so dormant. People lined the streets, their voices hushed, their gazes darting toward me as I passed. Some wore pity in their eyes. Others, something colder. But none of
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