The scent of home had changed.
Emberlight no longer smelled like warmth and stone-baked bread. It reeked of tension, metal in the air, fear in the lungs.
I pulled my borrowed shawl tighter around me as we entered through the outer gates, flanked by Donda and Hal, the merchant couple whose kindness had helped me survive the long journey back. The moment we crossed the threshold into the city, the illusion shattered.
This wasn’t Emberlight. Not the one I remembered.
The sigils adorning the streets were new, jagged and unnatural. Where my family’s crest had once flown, twisted banners now rippled: a serpent coiled around a crown. Soldiers patrolled the walkways in pairs, armed and alert, questioning anyone who lingered too long in one place. And the people… they moved like ghosts. No one
