Arrival in Red City

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In three blinks of an eye — four, if someone had sharper vision — an orange blur darted past the city's outer gates. The sentry guards only felt a sharp gust of wind brush past their cheeks, rustling their uniforms, before silence reclaimed the entrance.

Kael-X stopped just inside the city limits, his sharp amber eyes scanning his surroundings.

The city spread out like a well-ordered labyrinth — tall metal watchtowers glinting under the afternoon sun, cobblestone streets weaving through dense blocks of structures, and colossal advertisement boards flashing neon lights. High-rise apartments loomed near the heart of the city while smaller brick homes decorated the outskirts. Despite its tidy design, the city was far from quiet. Vendors called out their deals along the market streets, exhaust fumes from hover-bikes lingered in the air, and gangs with colorful tattoos loitered on corners, keeping their territory in check.

The Red City was a tier-four city, one of the cleaner and wealthier urban zones compared to the chaos of lower-tier cities. It was a place where trade thrived, where power moved behind locked doors, and where silence could be bought for the right price.

Yet Kael tilted his head, an almost annoyed expression flickering across his face.

"Wait…" His voice was a whisper but carried the sharp edge of confusion. "This city doesn't even have anything… red. No red streets. No red walls. Not even a damn flower. So why the hell is it called Red City?"

His mind ticked rapidly. Maybe it was a political name? Maybe the founder liked the color? Or maybe—

He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. He wasn't here for trivia.

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As Kael walked down the streets, the bustling noise of Red City washed over him — arguments over prices, laughter spilling from taverns, the subtle hum of traffic. Every so often, his sharp gaze brushed over gangs, young men with wild grins and cold eyes lounging lazily against walls or idly spinning blades in their hands. Their insignias, mostly spray-painted marks or rough patches, marked out territories clearly.

They looked up as the stranger in bright orange passed by, their curiosity briefly piqued, but no one dared to step forward.

He wasn't looking for trouble, and the aura rolling off him — cold and precise like a blade honed for war — warned them to stay out of his way.

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The city was alive with the hum of chaos when Kael-X stepped off the cracked sidewalk into the dimly lit plaza of Red City. The towering neon signs flickered against the night sky, painting the streets in sharp contrasts of crimson and electric blue. To most, Red City was nothing but a cesspool — a place where ambition and death danced on the same razor's edge. But to Kael, it was an opportunity.

The hood over his head cast deep shadows across his face, hiding the sharp glint in his eyes as he moved like a phantom among the bustling crowd. Every step he took seemed deliberate, silent, as though he had rehearsed the streets of this dangerous city in his mind long before arriving. He wasn't here to explore. He wasn't here to wander. He had a plan — one that demanded a base of operations, somewhere quiet, somewhere unnoticed.

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Maya and Elijah found him first.

The siblings had been leaning against the rusty rail of a half-broken balcony outside their rundown apartment, watching the city life slip by below. Maya, sharp-eyed and always quick to spot something unusual, nudged Elijah when she saw the hooded boy step into the plaza with an unnatural calmness.

"That kid," she said, her tone laced with suspicion. "He doesn't move like the others. He's not... ordinary."

Elijah squinted, brushing a strand of dark hair from his forehead as he studied the stranger. Seventeen? Maybe eighteen. Alone. And that aura — cold but calculated — was enough to make even seasoned hustlers in the city step out of his path. "Yeah," Elijah murmured, his instincts screaming that this boy was trouble. "He's either lost… or looking for something."

When Kael finally stopped in front of their spot, the air shifted. People nearby instinctively kept their distance, almost as if some unspoken warning kept them from getting too close. He raised his head slightly, enough for them to see the sharp angle of his jaw beneath the hood but not enough to reveal his eyes.

"I need an apartment," Kael said, his voice low, smooth, but commanding enough to sound like a statement rather than a request. "A quiet one. Somewhere no one asks questions."

Maya and Elijah exchanged bewildered glances.

"Wait… what?" Elijah stepped forward, his brows furrowing. "You don't just show up here and—" He paused, studying Kael with a hint of disbelief. "You're… what, seventeen? Eighteen? What's a kid your age doing in Red City? This isn't a place for—"

"Doesn't matter," Kael interrupted, his tone sharp but calm. He turned his head slightly, his hood casting an even darker shadow over his face. "I just need a place. You'll handle it?"

Maya crossed her arms, her sharp gaze trying to read him. "You're not even going to explain where you came from? You just wander in here and… what, expect strangers to get you an apartment?"

Kael ignored the question completely. His movements were quiet, precise, as he pulled something from the inner pocket of his black jacket. The dull light of the flickering neon caught on the crystalline vials he placed into Elijah's hand — Compound-X, glowing faintly with that signature, eerie blue luminescence. Then, almost casually, Kael dropped a small pouch onto the cracked concrete at their feet. The sound it made was sharp, metallic, and when it spilled open, the contents glimmered under the streetlight.

Mayanium stones.

Maya's sharp inhale cut through the silence. Elijah froze, his gaze locked on the stones. Mayanium wasn't something you casually carried around in Red City — let alone handed out as payment. It was rare, dangerous, and valuable enough to buy loyalty, fear, and betrayal all at once.

"Wha—" Elijah's voice cracked slightly as he stumbled over his words. "Do you have any idea what you just dropped here? People kill for this, you know that, right? Where the hell did you get—"

"Payment," Kael interrupted smoothly, his tone unchanging, almost indifferent. "For the apartment. For information. And for silence."

Maya stared at him like she was trying to peel back the layers of his mind, her jaw tightening. "You… stole this," she said flatly, her voice quiet but laced with accusation. "There's no other way a kid like you gets Mayanium and Compound-X. Unless…" Her voice trailed off, almost afraid to finish the thought.

Elijah turned sharply to her, whispering harshly, "Maya. Don't—"

But she ignored him, taking a step forward. "Who are you? You don't talk, you don't even take that hood off, and you just stroll into Red City like you own the place. So tell me, what are you really looking for?"

Kael didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He just tilted his head slightly, as though considering whether or not their curiosity deserved a response. Then, with that same calm voice, he said, "Names. Just your names."

It was such an odd request, delivered with such chilling neutrality, that both siblings hesitated. Maya frowned, still glaring, but Elijah — cautious yet curious — finally answered.

"Elijah," he said reluctantly. Then, with a slight nod toward his sister, "Maya."

Kael's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile but close enough to unsettle them. "Elijah. Maya." He said their names like he was etching them into memory, as if they carried weight he could measure. Then, turning on his heel, he started to walk away, only to pause briefly and add, "I expect the place ready by tomorrow. And everything you know about this city… I want it. Fast."

Maya opened her mouth to argue again, but Elijah held up a hand, stopping her. The gleam of the Mayanium stones still scattered on the concrete between them told him everything. Whoever this boy was, he wasn't someone they wanted to anger — not here, not now.

As Kael disappeared into the shadows of the alleyway, the faint hum of his boots against the cracked pavement fading into the distance, Maya let out a frustrated breath.

"This is insane," she muttered, crouching down to scoop the stones back into the pouch. "People are going to notice. Word spreads fast in Red City — you can't just throw Mayanium around and not expect someone to come looking."

Elijah stared after the hooded figure, his thoughts spiraling. That boy — Kael — moved like someone who'd seen too much, like someone who carried danger in his very breath. And yet, there was something unsettlingly calm about him, like the chaos of the city couldn't touch him.

"Yeah," Elijah said quietly, gripping the vials of Compound-X tighter in his fist. "But one thing's for sure… he's not just some kid wandering into Red City by mistake."

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That night, as the city pulsed with noise and tension, Maya and Elijah sat in their cramped apartment, the pouch of Mayanium and vials of Compound-X sitting untouched on the table between them. Neither of them spoke for a long time, the weight of what had just happened sinking in slowly, like the calm before an inevitable storm.

They didn't know who Kael-X

really was.

But they both knew this: Red City had just become a far more dangerous place.

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