Anny had grown used to the pendant's warmth. It was subtle, comforting, like a heartbeat she carried but didn't own.
That morning, as sunlight filtered through her window, it pulsed faintly against her chest — a rhythm she hadn't noticed before. She paused mid-step, fingers brushing the smooth surface.
"Strange," she murmured.
Abigail, watching from the doorway, noticed immediately. Her brow furrowed.
The aura.
It was faint, almost imperceptible, but unmistakable. Not Ezerus. Not yet. Something else was stirring — something new.
"Are you feeling well?" Abby asked lightly, her voice calm but careful.
Anny shook her head. "I… I don't know. It's like it's trying to… speak to me?"
Abby's chest tightened ever so slightly. She had seen this before in other subjects. It always came in small pulses first. Signals. Warnings. Sometimes they were ignored. Sometimes they were the beginning of something… dangerous.
Elsewhere, hidden behind layers of wards, Deshmuck observed.
Her masked face tilted slightly, eyes tracking every pulse of energy emitted from the pendant.
Good.
It was responding exactly as she had intended. The synchronization was activating. Faster than expected, perhaps. But that was acceptable. Everything she had done, every calculation, every adjustment, was leading to this moment.
The silver-haired prince shifted in the throne room far above the mortal realm. A subtle warmth brushed his chest. He frowned, sensing the faintest pull of a presence he could not name. Something was linked to him now. Something he had yet to see.
Back in the mortal world, Anny's hand gripped the pendant tightly. A wave of light flickered around it, soft but undeniable.
Abby's eyes narrowed. She's feeling it.
For a heartbeat, everything paused. The world seemed thinner, quieter, like the veil between realms had thinned just enough to let something peek through.
And then it vanished.
Anny blinked, confused. "Was that… nothing?"
Abby smiled softly. "Nothing at all, my dear."
But somewhere deep in the shadows, Deshmuck's quiet voice whispered beneath her mask:
The game has begun.