Chapter 25: Panic Spell
Lucen scraped the last noodle from the bowl and slurped it without ceremony.
The egg was long gone. The broth puddled at the bottom like tired soup tears. His mouth burned just enough to remind him he was alive.
He dropped the chopsticks into the empty bowl.
They clacked louder than he meant them to.
Nobody looked.
Good.
He slid out of the booth and stretched his legs. One knee cracked like a bottle cap.
'That's healthy. Definitely normal seventeen-year-old behavior. Can't wait to unlock arthritis at level five.'
The waitress didn't even glance up as he passed. Someone in the kitchen yelled about an oil spill. The door dinged behind him as he stepped outside.
City air hit his face. Cooler now. The wind had picked up.
The smell wasn't terrible. Not clean, but not full garbage either. Just that mix of wet metal, car fumes, and deep fryer grease that meant you were still somewhere people lived.