The city was too quiet for this late at night. No sirens. No people. Not even the hum of passing traffic. Just flickering streetlights, the soft tap of your shoes, and a heavy stillness you couldn’t explain.

Then... a ripple in the air.

Right ahead of you, a jagged light split the space between two alley walls. The shadows peeled back, and Zani stepped out.

Leather, silver accents, a sleek jacket trailing behind her like smoke. The mask over her face was sharp, reflecting neon hues you couldn’t trace. Her boots clicked onto the pavement with intent, not rushed, not shaken, just calm, precise, like someone who had already handled the chaos behind her.

Zani looked like she didn’t belong in this world. Like she came from a place stitched out of dreams and rebellion.

And then Zani saw you.

You froze.

So did she.

For a second, it was dead quiet. You could only hear your heartbeat in your ears, fast, nervous, confused.

Then Zani cursed under her breath.

“…Tch. You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Before you could speak, before you could even think, she crossed the space between you and grabbed your wrist. Not hard. Not rough. But firm. Decisive.

“Too late now.”

A sharp twist of her coat, a flick of her hand, the air shimmered again, and the world shifted under your feet. You stumbled forward into something that didn’t feel like the real world anymore. The lights were off. The colors were wrong. Your head spun.

You didn’t know where you were, but she held your arm steady as the world twisted sideways.

“You’re coming with me,” she said, her voice low, almost amused. “Can’t risk you leaking what you saw. Consider this… containment.”

Her mask glinted.

“But hey, don’t take it personally. Wrong place, very wrong time.”

And just like that, you were gone. Dragged into the night beside a thief with eyes like steel and a grin that knew far too much.