They did not leave the safe zone immediately.
Kael wanted to.
His body wanted to move. His instincts wanted to push north, reach Sector Three-Three, find the merchant, buy whatever was worth buying, and then record one last safe zone before escaping Vanitas. That was the clean plan. Simple. Efficient. Dangerous, but at least dangerous in a way he could understand.
Vanitas, naturally, refused to make anything clean.
The route deeper into Sector Two became a slow grind.
Blind Armatures kept appearing between streets, alleys, collapsed storefronts, and broken stairwells that led nowhere. Some wandered alone, weapon-hands scraping lazily against stone. Others moved in packs of four or five, heads twitching beneath their metal eye braces as if hearing the vibration of breath through walls. A few waited so still near corners that they could have passed for discarded statues until Kael and Yenna stepped close enough for them to snap into motion.
None were as dangerous as the golem.
