The bell above the door jingled.
Ren barely looked up.
He was still halfway trying to scrub orc baby spit off the counter.
MARRA (stepping inside, calm):
"You redecorated. The smell of panic is new."
REN (grinning):
"Oh, hey, welcome back. While you were gone I got threatened, sold baby armor, and possibly offended royalty with soup trauma flashbacks."
Behind her, Lannic stepped in.
Still dusty. Still smirking like time couldn't touch him.
LANNIC:
"You left him here alone?"
MARRA:
"I was hoping the mannequins would eat him if he touched too much."
REN (sincerely):
"They tried. I bribed them with compliments."
ROLAN (mannequin, whispering):
"He called me emotionally supportive. I folded."
Ren stood, hands up like a guy who'd seen things.
REN:
"Okay so... your vampire king buddy? Veyrix Kuron?
He showed up earlier all regal and sharp-jawed, gave me the 'stay out of politics' speech.
It was very vampire mafia with tax advice kind of vibe."
MARRA (rubbing her eyes):
"What exactly did you say to him?"
REN (thinking):
"I may have said something like,
'Marra's out doing religious thread crimes or whatever, don't stab me, I just work here.'"
LANNIC (choking on laughter):
"Perfect. Beautiful. You've officially survived a threat from the King of the Crimson Spire. You're practically local now."
MARRA (dry):
"You're also one misquote away from being exsanguinated in your sleep."
They sat.
A moment passed.
Marra unrolled a small enchanted scroll and Lannic leaned over it, tracing glowing lines with one finger.
MARRA (quietly):
"We'll need to move if we want to flank Ashrunner before duskfall."
Ren froze.
REN:
"Wait, wait—Ashrunner?
Is that a person? Or a threat? Because that sounds like the kind of name I'd scream during a nightmare."
Marra and Lannic exchanged a glance.
LANNIC (calm):
"It's not a name you say lightly.
Or publicly. Ashrunner moves between shadows and time fractures.
They've already killed three sector envoys."
REN (blinking):
"Okay but... why does it sound like you're planning to kill them?"
MARRA:
"Because we are."
REN (raising a finger):
"Cool. Totally normal.
Just casually assassinating dimension-walking nightmares now."
Before they could reply—
Ren squinted at the scroll.
It showed something strange.
Two mirrored circles. One glowing gold. One silver-blue.
REN:
"...What's that?"
LANNIC:
"The Twin Zones."
MARRA (nodding):
"Sunreach and Moondim.
They rotate through the world like breathing.
Day and night don't follow time here — they follow geography."
REN (snapping his fingers):
"Wait—hold up. That's it.
That's what was bugging me."
He stood, hands waving like his brain was catching up to his mouth.
REN:
"When I first landed here… it looked normal.
Bright sky. Sun overhead. Birds. Warm dirt. A bit too many glowing rocks, but still — day mode, right?"
MARRA (nodding):
"Sunreach."
REN:
"Yeah, sure, fancy name. But then — I walked like… maybe fifteen minutes?
Through a canyon, past some weird half-carved statues—"
LANNIC (interjecting, curious):
"Statues?"
REN:
"Yeah, looked like warriors frozen in mid-scream. Not art.
Creepy. Way too detailed. One of them might've moved, not even kidding."
He paused. Finger pointing upward now.
REN:
"And then bam — sky flicks. Like someone flipped a switch.
Sun gone. Moon up. Stars everywhere. I didn't even blink. It just happened."
MARRA (sharply):
"That fast?"
REN:
"No fade. No dusk. One step and it was like walking through a light filter into another world."
LANNIC (slowly smiling):
"...That's when I found you."
REN (grinning):
"Yeah! You were standing there like a chill philosopher with dusty boots and judgment in your eyebrows."
LANNIC (chuckling):
"You'd just tried to punch a statue in the jaw.
And you were yelling at your sword."
SNARKSTEEL (from Ren's back):
"I remember that! You said, and I quote—'Screw this stone bitch, I'm from another galaxy!'"
REN (shrugging):
"I stand by it."
MARRA (rubbing temples):
"So you crossed from Sunreach to Moondim... without realizing."
REN:
"Like walking between two moods. It felt like the world was shifting around me, not the other way."
LANNIC (looking at Marra):
"It really looks strange maybe you are also a special case dropped from another universe."
MARRA (quiet):
"Then he's not just watching the fracture happen.
He's already walking the seam."