The marketplace buzzed with life—brightly colored stalls, shouting vendors, and the smell of roasted skewers hanging thick in the air.
Zane walked ahead with a small bag of coins, Sera beside him reading off a hand-scrawled shopping list. Lyra was already haggling with a fruit vendor like she was born for it.
"Ace, behave yourself," Zane muttered, looking down at the shadow hovering at his feet.
The shadow rippled, and out popped the tiny lynx-like Void creature. His stubby tail wiggled, ears perked forward. He sniffed the air once and zoomed off without warning.
"Ace?" Zane blinked. "He was just—"
Sera pointed ahead. "There. Shadow gremlin spotted."
Sure enough, Ace had wandered up to the center of the road and was crouching with all the grace of a sneaky loaf, eyes locked onto something.
A tiny baby fox, no bigger than Ace himself, had wandered out from an alley, nose twitching.
"Aww..." Zane pulled out a few stormberries from his pouch. "Poor thing must be hungry."
He crouched and gently placed the berries down between them. The fox sniffed the air and took a cautious step forward.
Ace's eyes darted to the berries.
The stormberries were gone in one unholy gulp.
Ace looked smug. The fox looked betrayed.
Then the fox screeched—a high-pitched, angry bark—and charged after Ace like a furry lightning bolt.
Ace yelped and bolted, shadow-skating around barrels and under carts, the angry baby fox hot on his heels.
People stared. A cabbage vendor nearly fainted.
Sera doubled over, laughing. "He brought this on himself!"
Zane sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Why is my life ?"
Lyra came up beside him with a basket of apples. "Is that a fox chasing your...cat?"
"He's not a cat," Zane muttered. "He's a Void lynx. A menace. A nightmare."
Ace dashed back toward them, skidded to a stop behind Zane's legs, and peeked out.
The baby fox halted, huffed angrily, then flopped onto its side like it had declared war and needed a nap.
Sera leaned down. "Can we keep this one too?"
Zane's eyes widened. "We are not collecting woodland animals."
Ace hissed in disagreement and batted at Zane's shoelaces like it was definitely happening.