Worldfair City shimmered under a dusk sky, its brass spires and airship lanes aglow with lantern light. The streets buzzed with hawkers peddling clockwork gadgets and the hum of steam vents, but exhaustion weighed on Walenciusz the Cat and his crew after days on the road. His tophat drooped as he trudged beside Gorrick, whose Excalibur clinked in its sheath, and Alice, her broom dragging as its runes flickered dimly. They’d come chasing bandit bounties—rumors of a dragon hoard stashed in the undercity—but the journey had left them ragged.


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    we lose him for good.” She spun on her heel, darting into the shadows, pendant glowing like a lodestar. Gorrick and Alice traded a dumbfounded look—We?!—another Walenciusz?—then bolted after her.


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