The days following the café meeting slipped by in restless thought. Jonas reopened files and blueprints, staring at the city’s dormant plans with renewed suspicion. The altered system was no simple revival—it bore the signature of something built in secret, evolving beyond his intent. Late one evening, Jonas’s phone buzzed: a message from Lena. “Meet…

The next morning, Jonas found himself walking the familiar cobbled streets of Ghent toward the old city office. The brisk autumn air bit gently, carrying with it the scents of damp stone and fallen leaves. His mind replayed Lena’s cryptic email, the mention of that unfamiliar update tugging at a memory buried beneath years of…

Chapter 1 – The Ember Call Jonas Vermeer sat at the edge of his sparse kitchen table, the canal outside whispering its usual secrets. The flat was quiet, save for the occasional creak of old wood and the distant hum of trams. He had lived here for three years, long enough for the solitude to…