103. Silver Hair

Sophie sprints between private estates to avoid streets and ducks into a magically shielded landscaping shed, where Belinda identifies Jason’s holy mark as an aura-forcing affliction that defeats masking. Belinda’s ward hides Sophie only temporarily; they plan for Sophie to outrun pursuit to a fallback while Belinda slips away.

Tracking Sophie’s radiating aura, Jason pursues through the marina district. Unable to match her speed, he uses weight reduction and shadow jumps, then climbs the yacht club roof and employs a non-magical telescope to spot distant shadows for long-range teleportation as Sophie runs over water toward Old City.

Clive, guided by Jason’s voice link, locates the warded shed. Admiring the innovative but criminal magic, he completes a ritual to reveal and capture an aura imprint from the lingering workings, securing a tracking stone that points to the accomplice’s direction.

At the Old City docks, Sophie confronts Jason, whose cloak and deceptive style counter her speed. Realizing his dagger and abilities deliver necrotic poison, she prepares to break away when masked attackers rush Jason. Jason curses her—“Your fate is to suffer”—to force her toward Jory, then unleashes leeches to scatter the thugs, healing himself by draining one. Under threat, a thug called Jacob admits they only delay adventurers and that a silver-ranker tracks the thief; the crew works for Dorgan. A silver-rank handler appears and warns Jason off.

Sophie collapses in Jory’s clinic, black veins spreading from shallow cuts. Jory and Donal battle entwined curses: one worsening the poison, another generating more of it, gated by a third’s removal order. Exhausted, they suppress and cleanse the effects. Jason arrives, bloodied, acknowledging he cursed Sophie to drive her there, setting up conflicts over his methods and the crime syndicate’s deeper involvement.