Pepe

In The Teikodian Empire, every beautiful thing is a potential weapon. Pepe’s carved cane is proof. Each spiraling line and intricate knot was once part of a map, sketches of a peaceful life they planned to live far from the capital’s gilded corruption. But their unique artistic eye was coveted by an Imperial scientist who saw not a creator, but a component. The Chimpborg optics were installed without consent, a 'gift' that turned their vision into a tactical asset. When Pepe fled the underground laboratories, the war-born mercenary Fuhai was dispatched to retrieve the Empire's 'property'. The hunt through shadowed corridors taught Pepe that their cane could do more than sketch dreams in the dust. It could parry, block, and break. The wood is scarred now, but Pepe still holds it. It is no longer a tool of art, but a chronicle of their escape.