The night breeze felt different.
Cooler. Heavier.
Alex strolled through the dimly lit streets of New York, hoodie up, hands jammed in the pockets like any other tired 20-something with too much on his plate and zero clue how to digest it all. The city buzzed as always — taxis blaring, food carts sizzling, someone yelling at Siri — but his mind was elsewhere.
Four new rewards. A crazy dragon fight. A walking human weapon getting blinked out of existence by a pissed-off wizard.
Totally normal week.
He'd opened them all earlier in the night — a sleek new dagger that looked like it was forged by edgy gods, armor that somehow adjusted to his body like it had Bluetooth settings, a wild 50-point boost to his Agility (which he already felt while nearly outrunning a damn subway), and a skill he hadn't even tried out yet. Something with the word "Phase" in it. He didn't touch it.
Too much, too fast.
He needed air.
But peace didn't last long.
As he turned a corner near 49th and Lexington, a sudden yell sliced through the quiet. Then—
Bang.
Someone collapsed in the alley.
Alex sprinted over, eyes wide, pulse kicking up like a war drum. A man — mid-thirties, bleeding out, still barely breathing. And then, footsteps echoing.
The killer.
Already halfway down the alley, turning once. Not to hide. Not to run faster.
No.
To flip Alex the middle finger.
Then he vanished into the shadows like some jackass Batman knockoff.
Alex just blinked. "What the hell?"
Blue and red lights bathed the brick walls a second later. Sirens.
Too late.
Cops stormed in like a SWAT drop, and there he was — hoodie on, blood on his sleeves, standing over a dying man.
Yeah. It didn't look good.
"Hands up!" one shouted.
"Whoa, whoa—no, I just saw it happen!"
"Step away from the body! Hands where I can see them!"
He obeyed, slowly lifting his hands.
"This is such bullsh—"
The cold click of cuffs cut off the rest.
"Looks like we got our guy," one cop muttered like it was scripted.
"Unbelievable," Alex grumbled, dragged away as the officers slapped his rights into his ear like a playlist on repeat.
Across the street, an old security camera blinked red.
Watching. Recording.
In a building no one noticed, on a floor that didn't exist on paper…
Someone watched.
And smiled.