Berlin slept under a blanket of cold rain and flickering neon, its old bones breathing steam and indifference. Fang walked with Marcus slumped over his back, the boy unconscious and his hoodie torn, limbs limp like a broken marionette. Drops fell from Fang's slick coat, each splash tapping into the silence like a slow metronome.
The streets around him glitched. Not visibly, no human would notice but Fang wasn't human. He saw the static in the air, the thin, invisible threads snapping around lamp posts, window panes, and passing cars. Anomaly had widened the veil.
"Not bad for a first run," Fang muttered, glancing at the battered Marcus. "You didn't die. Progress."
He reached the apartment door, unlocked it with a wave. Anomaly had bypassed the landlord's security hours ago and carried M
