Chapter 10: Something That Shouldn’t Be There

The transaction should have ended like any other.
Kael had already weighed the metal, tested its structure, and paid a fair—if slightly reduced—price for it. The new climber didn’t argue much, which in itself wasn’t unusual. New climbers often valued certainty over negotiation, especially when dealing with someone who clearly knew what they were doing.
He gathered his things, adjusting the straps of his pack with a small, unconscious movement that gave away more than his words had. There was a slight hesitation in how he shifted his weight, a carefulness that didn’t come from confidence but from trying not to make a mistake.
Kael noticed it, but she didn’t comment. It wasn’t her place.
He was about to leave when he paused, like he had just remembered something.
“Wait,” he said, reaching back into his pack. “There’s one more thing.”
Kael didn’t react immediately. “There usually is.”
“It’s… different,” he added, pulling out a smaller bundle, wrapped more loosely than the others.
That was enough to catch her attention, though she didn’t let it show.
“Everything is these days,” she replied, holding out her hand.
He placed it down carefully, but without the same confidence he had shown with the metal. If anything, he looked slightly uncertain now, like he wasn’t entirely sure what he had brought out—or whether he should have.
Kael unwrapped it.
At first glance, it didn’t look like much.
A shard. Dark, smooth, not quite reflective but not dull either. It didn’t resemble metal, stone, or glass in any way that felt familiar. Its edges weren’t sharp, but they weren’t rounded either—like it had been shaped without being cut.
She picked it up.
It was lighter than it should have been.
And warmer.
Not noticeably. Not enough for someone else to question.
But enough.
Kael’s fingers stilled for the briefest moment.
Then she turned it once, slow and deliberate, as if it were just another item being evaluated.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“Lower floors,” he said. “Around Three or Four, I think. It was just… there.”
“Just there,” Kael repeated.
“Yeah. Didn’t look like anything useful, but I figured someone might want it.”
Someone might.
Kael lowered her gaze back to the shard.
It didn’t match anything she knew.
Not incorrectly.
Just… not at all.
And that—
That was rare.

“How much?” she asked.
The climber blinked, slightly surprised she hadn’t dismissed it immediately. “I don’t know. It’s probably not worth much.”
Kael almost smiled.
Almost.
“That depends,” she said. “On whether it does something.”
“I didn’t test it.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
He hesitated. “I can just take it back if—”
“I’ll buy it,” she said, cutting him off.
Too quickly.
She knew that.
So she leaned back slightly, softening it.
“Low price,” she added. “It’s unverified.”
He relaxed almost immediately. “That’s fine.”
Of course it was.

The negotiation didn’t last long.
It didn’t need to.
He named a number that was far below what Kael would have been willing to pay, and she accepted without pushing it further. There was no reason to draw attention to something he clearly didn’t understand the value of.
Coin changed hands.
Simple.
Clean.
Final.

He packed up the rest of his things with a bit more ease now, like the trade had reassured him.
Kael wrapped the shard again and set it aside, not with the verified goods, not with the questionable ones either. Just… separate.
She would deal with it later.

“You’re new,” she said, almost casually.
He glanced up. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yes.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “That’s reassuring.”
“It’s not meant to be.”
He adjusted his pack again, preparing to leave. “I’ll get better.”
“Probably,” Kael said. “If you don’t rush it.”
He paused slightly. “Rush what?”
“The part where you stay alive,” she replied.

He studied her for a moment, unsure whether she was being serious.
She was.
“You’re careful,” she continued, “but not used to it yet. That’s a bad combination.”
“Why?”
“Because careful turns into hesitant,” Kael said. “And hesitation gets noticed.”
“By what?”
“By everything that’s better at this than you are.”

He didn’t respond immediately.
Good.
That meant he was thinking.

“Train,” Kael added, her tone still even. “Not just inside. Outside too. Build the habit before you rely on it.”
He nodded slowly. “Alright.”
“And avoid groups that think pushing new climbers around is a personality,” she continued. “They’re usually worse than whatever you’ll find on the floors.”
That earned a small, genuine smile. “I’ve heard about those.”
“Then listen to what you heard.”

He adjusted his pack one last time, more firmly now.
“Thanks,” he said.
Kael shrugged. “Don’t make it a waste.”

He left like most people did.
Without looking back.
Without realizing he had just traded something that didn’t belong in any category Kael understood.

The market continued around her, unchanged.
Voices. Movement. Trade.
Normal.

Kael didn’t touch the shard again until later.
When the crowd thinned and the noise settled into something softer, she reached for it, unwrapping it carefully this time.
The surface caught the light oddly—not reflecting it, not absorbing it, just… holding it for a fraction longer than it should.
She turned it in her fingers.
Waited.
Nothing.
No shift.
No reaction.

She pressed it lightly against the table.
No sound.
No resistance beyond what was expected.

“…Alright,” she murmured.
Not useful.
Not yet.

She held it closer this time, studying the edges, the texture, the way it seemed to sit in her hand without fully settling.
It didn’t match metal.
Didn’t match stone.
Didn’t match anything she had seen come out of the Tower before.
Not even the inconsistent materials.
Those were wrong.
This was—
Unfamiliar.

Kael set it down again, slower than before.
Then picked it up once more.
Turned it.
Waited.
Still nothing.

For a brief moment, she considered testing it further.
Applying pressure.
Trying to break it.
But something in the back of her mind—quiet, persistent—told her that might not be a good idea.
Not because it would fail.
Because it might not.

She exhaled softly and wrapped it again.
Carefully.
Deliberately.
Then placed it inside her bag instead of leaving it with the rest of her goods.

“…Later,” she said to no one.

The Tower stood in the distance, unchanged as ever.
Silent.
Watching.
Or maybe not.

Kael didn’t look at it this time.

Instead, she leaned back in her chair and waited.
For Riven.

Because if there was anyone she trusted to recognize something that didn’t belong—
It was someone who had actually been inside.

And for the first time in days—
She wasn’t entirely sure what she was holding.