Starfall noticed several cargo crates stamped with the mark of Dock Four. Understanding came at once. After hours of wandering, this was his passage out. Curiosity followed close behind. If the crates were bound for Dock Four, then hiding within them was the simplest way to slip through unseen.

  He tore open a gap in one of the containers already loaded onto a long steam freight train, its heavy frame resting on eight iron wheels, prepared for departure. With bare hands, he peeled the metal back, climbed inside, then pressed it closed again until the wound vanished. The iron settled as if untouched.

  Twenty minutes passed before the wagon lurched into motion.

  Inside the darkness, the Crystal of Zerulyth glowed white-blue, faint but steady. Its light revealed rows of sealed crates. Starfall opened one carefully. Most of the cargo consisted of mixed sorcerer potions, crude blends without bearing the mark of the Sorcerer Faction. Cheap. Dangerous.

  So this is what Dock Four feeds on, he thought.

  Beyond the walls of District Four, Cheng and his men swept past on steam scooters just as the freight convoy rolled through the gate. They did not know Starfall rode inside one of the steam freight train they passed. The arrival of Cheng’s group sent ripples of fear through the streets. Doors closed. Windows shuttered. Many feared a clash between Cheng and Axel, even in Axel’s absence.

  Cheng ordered one of his men forward. “Go to Axel’s residence,” he said. “Tell whoever you find that we are not here to fight. I will explain the rest later.”

  The group pushed into the black market. The crowd forced most of Cheng’s men to remain outside. Cheng and two others entry. They asked no questions. They searched only with their eyes, scanning faces, corners, reflections in the glass.

  Starfall was nowhere to be found.

  Inside the cargo, Starfall cracked the container just enough to breathe. The sharp scent of fuel crept in. The harbor of District Six lay ahead. He did not know what storm waited behind him in District Four.

  After two hours of searching, Cheng found nothing.

  He exited the market and ordered his men to spread across the district.

  Then they came.

  A mass of figures advanced together, nearly a hundred strong. All wore black. All moved as one. Axel’s men. They hurled Cheng’s envoy onto the ground before him. The man’s body struck hard at Cheng’s feet, broken and bleeding.

  “You dare come here while our boss is gone,” one of them said.

  Cheng’s group, only ten strong, shifted into stance. Weapons were drawn. Breath slowed.

  “Listen,” Cheng said, forcing calm into his voice. “I am not here to start a war. I do not have time for this. Step aside.”

  “You think we would believe that,” came the reply.

  Clubs rose. Blades caught the light.

  Cheng’s eyes hardened. Rage burned behind them.

  It seemed there would be no avoiding blood this time.

  The steam freight train rolled through the iron gates of Dock Four, steel screaming against steel as the harbor swallowed it whole. When the wagon finally shuddered to a halt, Starfall prepared to leave the way he had entered. He reached for the seam he had torn open earlier.

  Before he could move, the shriek of a crane split the air above him.

  A massive hook descended. The roof of the cargo container was lifted clean away. The moment it rose, the container’s walls collapsed outward, metal clanging as the structure gave up its shape.

  Starfall stood exposed.

  Dozens of armed men reacted at once. Rifles swung toward him. Targeting lights flickered across his chest.

  “Intruder!” the captain shouted.

  Starfall raised both hands and stepped down from the pile of crates. “Wait!”

  “Stay where you are!” the captain barked. “Have you been inside this cargo from the start?”

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  “Yes,” Starfall answered calmly. “But I can explain.”

  “He’s seen too much,” the captain snapped. “Fire.”

  Gunshots thundered through the dock.

  The rounds struck Starfall head-on. They failed to pierce him, but the force hurled him backward into the crates behind. Containers burst open. Sorcerer potions shattered. Viscous liquid drenched his clothes, burning through dye and concealment alike. His darkened skin faded. White hair bled through. The disguise unraveled under chemical rain.

  The captain stared.

  “Cease fire!” he ordered, realizing too late what stood before him.

  Starfall surged upright and crushed the captain’s weapon in his grip. Metal screamed as it folded like paper.

  “I told you to listen,” Starfall roared.

  He hurled the captain across the dock. The man struck a freight wagon and fell limp.

  The rest panicked.

  They were commonfolk. Dock hands. Loaders with rifles they barely understood. Fear overtook discipline. Bullets poured toward Starfall again. He met them head-on, fists and bodies colliding. He struck, threw, shattered lines. Chaos swallowed Dock Four.

  Then a voice cut through the noise.

  “Stop! Stop everything!”

  A dock overseer ran forward, pale with terror. “If you harm him, Lord Star will kill us all!”

  The gunfire died at once.

  Starfall turned slowly.

  Fury burned behind his eyes. He struck one of the men who had already lowered his weapon, sending him sprawling. Then he advanced on the overseer, each step heavy with restrained violence.

  “Do not use my father’s name,” Starfall said. “There is only me here.”

  The overseer trembled. “Understood, Lord?”

  “Starfall,” he replied. His voice steadied. “That is my name.”

  He wipe remaining spilled potion and torn fabric from his ruined coat, hands settling at his waist. The anger bled away, replaced by cold control.

  “Now,” Starfall said, “we will speak.”

  He gestured for the overseer to follow and began walking among the towering cargo stacks.

  “First,” Starfall asked, “why am I forbidden from entering this place?”

  The overseer swallowed. “Actually, it's not just you but everybody without the permit. Those were council orders.”

  Irritation flickered across Starfall’s face, but he nodded. “Fine. Then tell me what truly happens here.”

  The overseer exhaled and spoke carefully. The black market, he explained, was an ecosystem of All Realm. Necessary. Dangerous. It had to exist, but its full machinery could never be exposed. Dock Four was the artery. From here, illicit goods flowed outward to every corner of All Realm.

  Starfall watched as containers were loaded into starships. “And the profits?” he asked. “Where do they go?”

  The overseer hesitated, then bowed his head. “My rank is too low to know that, Lord Starfall.”

  Starfall accepted the answer for what it was.

  “And my faction,” he pressed. “The Extraterrestrial. They play a role here, don’t they?”

  The overseer nodded and produced several documents, hands shaking as he offered them up.

  “They built this place,” he said. “They designed its regulations. All of it approved by the Council.”

  Starfall took the records and began to read, his expression unreadable as Dock Four continued its endless, secret work around him.

  Several of the soldiers who had fired upon him stepped forward and dropped to their knees. They bowed low, foreheads pressed to the steel floor, voices trembling as they begged for their lives. Starfall granted it without hesitation.

  “Please, Young Lord Starfall,” one of them added, desperation spilling over. “Do not report this to Lord Star. We still have families.”

  The calm Starfall had rebuilt shattered in an instant.

  The papers in his hands crumpled, then tore as he flung them aside. His voice thundered through Dock Four.

  “Why are you all so terrified of that retired old man?” he shouted. “Look at me. I am the one standing before you now.”

  They bowed even lower.

  “Forgive us, Lord Starfall,” they said in unison. “But with all respect, we know what Lord Star is capable of.”

  “Useless,” Starfall roared, fury rising unchecked. “Can you not see that I am not him? I forgave you. Is that not enough?”

  None of them dared answer. They remained kneeling, unmoving.

  Then the dock doors burst open.

  Burgess stormed in, breath heavy, eyes wide. He rushed to Starfall’s side at once.

  “Starfall, what did you do?” Burgess asked in panic. He waved his hand sharply, ordering the kneeling soldiers to disperse.

  “There was a misunderstanding,” Starfall replied, his voice still tight with anger. “It is resolved.”

  Burgess exhaled deeply, rubbing his chest. “Thank the heavens. If anything had happened, I would have lost face before your father.”

  Starfall froze.

  Slowly, he turned his head toward Burgess. His neck cracked with the motion. His eyes widened, pale and dreadful, his expression twisting into something feral.

  “What did you just say?”

  Burgess hesitated, then shrugged. “I suppose I should have told you earlier. Your father hired Cheng and me to accompany you. But don't worry, even so, we are still friends.”

  Silence fell. While Burgess chuckled.

  “How much?” Starfall asked. His voice was flat, deadened, but his lips trembled. “How much did he pay you?”

  “Not as much as our usual contracts, cause this is small matters,” Burgess said lightly. “But neither of us could refuse. You know what it means to turn down your father.”

  He laughed.

  Starfall’s hands clenched until his knuckles whitened. His teeth ground together. The whites of his eyes flushed red at the edges. He lowered his head, shoulders shaking as words slipped from him in a broken murmur.

  The dock overseer, sensing danger, quietly stepped back, putting distance between himself and the heir.

  “Why,” Starfall whispered, breath uneven. “Why does that damned old man follow me everywhere? Why can he not let me do my work with my own hands? Why can he not trust me? They never see me as I am. They fear me only because of him. I cannot endure living forever beneath his shadow.”

  Burgess reached out, alarmed. “Starfall. Are you good?”

  “If you rule them through fear,” Starfall murmured, voice sinking into something colder, darker, “then I will teach them what true terror looks like.”

  He pulled the Crystal of Zerulyth from his pocket and crushed it in his grip. The crystal flared, white-blue light exploding outward. It raced across his body, bathing him in radiance as if his flesh itself were burning.

  He turned toward Burgess, screaming, his voice echoing through Dock Four.

  “I will show you how terrifying I can be.”

  “Starfall, what are you doing?” Burgess shouted, panic fully breaking through his composure.