Luke didn't speak as they got back into the car. He kept glancing sideways at Fin, then quickly away. The suspicion was still there, but now it was mixed with something else. Unease. Maybe even a sliver of fear.
The spoon incident seemed to have recalibrated his assessment.
Fin watched the roadside diner shrink in the rearview mirror. Bandits. Desperate men pushed to violence by circumstance.
Just like the ones who'd jumped him in that alley. Just like he could have become.
His life felt like a different planet compared to just a few months ago. It seemed almost quaint now. Queens, Admins, Mana Cells, pocket dimensions… it was absurd.
He thought about the world outside the city walls. The world that had suffered since monsters started appearing three years ago. People left to starve, to fight over scraps, while cities like Arclight, and apparently Velerius, thrived behind reinforced barriers.
It wasn't right. But what could he do? Lecture an Admin? Overthrow the Guilds?
