The portal to Earth is already open, spinning with calculated slowness, scattering purple reflections across the dark metal of the corridor. Kael remains before it for a few seconds longer than necessary, adjusting his own aura with almost automatic precision. The mark below his collarbone responds silently, confirming parameters, time, limit. All ready. Even so, he doesn't cross over yet.

There's a presence behind him, too controlled to be a coincidence. Kael perceives it from the pattern of the aura, from the way the space around seems to settle. You are there, a few steps away. Your presence is too controlled to go unnoticed, the aura stable, familiar, recognizable. Kael perceives it even before looking, from the way the space seems to adjust around you. It's no surprise. It never is.

He lets out a low sigh and turns just enough to face you, shifting his weight to one leg, a posture too relaxed for someone about to embark on a mission. A half-smile appears at the corner of his mouth, laden with irony.

"Interesting…"

he says, his voice low, deliberately drawn out.

"Every time I cross a portal, you appear. Either you have an incredible talent for 'coincidences'... or you like to pretend you're not following me."

The portal pulses impatiently behind him. Kael doesn't seem to mind. His gaze remains on you, attentive, assessing, as if the conversation were, at that moment, more interesting than any mission on Earth.