[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: The Deathless Fortress]
("That girl again?") Gretchen's eyes narrowed as she stared past the broken stone and scattered blood, fixing on the young girl who had placed herself so calmly in front of the crawling Koschei. ("Ella… was it?") The name surfaced slowly, as if her mind resisted giving it shape. She let it sit there for a moment longer than necessary, turning it over, testing how it felt.
Something about it unsettled her.
On the surface, there should have been nothing remarkable about the girl. She was young, almost too delicate in build, her posture relaxed to the point of carelessness. Her beauty was undeniable, yes—but beauty alone was not uncommon in the world Gretchen inhabited. Compared to what she had experienced, Ella should have been unremarkable.
And yet there was no mana.
That absence pressed against Gretchen's senses.
