Lara stood in the silent gallery, she is wondering who could be after her life, her eyes narrowed at the ink-wash painting hanging beside the empty pedestal. The air around her vibrated with a cold, predatory energy. She moved closer to a painting of a painter on the wall, tapping the frame.
"Hey, painter! I want you to do something for me. I'll buy you a drink."
She snapped her fingers. Inside the canvas, a spectral table laden with steaming coffee and rice wine materialized in the painted landscape. The old scholar in the painting set down his book, his eyes coming alive with a ghostly glow.
"I need you to draw a portrait of the man who stole the knife," Lara commanded.
Without a word, the painted man began to move. His brush danced across the parchment within the frame, ink splattering like blood. As the lines formed, Lara's breath hitched. It was a face she didn't recognize, but the aura captured in the ink felt ancient and suffocating.
Across the city, Alaric was spiraling. After causing a scene at the community center and insulting the local coach, he had managed to slip away from his "friends," clutching a stolen baseball cap.
He sprinted toward his luxury apartment complex, his lungs burning. He reached the door of his penthouse and punched in his security code.
**[ERROR. INCORRECT CODE.]**
"No... no, that's impossible," he hissed, punching the numbers again.
Suddenly, the door swung open. A woman he had never seen before stood there, looking at his disheveled clothes with alarm. "Can I help you? What are you doing at my door?"
Alaric didn't wait. He pushed past her, storming into the living room. "This is my apartment! The furniture, the view—everything! What is happening here?"
"Help! Security!" the woman screamed.
Within seconds, two guards burst in. They tackled Alaric to the floor, pinning his arms behind his back.
"It's me! Alaric!" he screamed as they dragged him toward the elevator. "Look at my face! Don't you remember me? I've lived here for years!"
The guards ignored him, their faces masks of indifference. They threw him into the back of a patrol car and hauled him to the precinct, where he was tossed into a cold, dim holding cell.
"What is going on?!" Alaric roared, rattling the bars of the cell. "What did you do to me? Why is everyone treating me like I've lost my mind!"
Lara appeared from the shadows of the corridor, her expression unreadable. "It seems you still haven't understood the weight of your own wish."
Before he could argue, Lara turned to a passing officer. Her eyes flashed gold, and the man stopped, his gaze becoming vacant. She handed him the portrait the painter had drawn. "Use every possible means to find this man. Now."
The officer nodded like a puppet on a string and wandered off. Lara then turned back to Alaric and reached through the bars, touching his forehead. "Since you don't understand, I'll show you."
The world blurred. In a heartbeat, they were no longer in a jail cell. They stood in the shadows of a luxurious hotel suite in London.
Alaric's heart shattered. There was Shed, dressed in a bespoke suit, laughing with his father as they toasted with champagne. On the table lay a multi-million dollar contract with a top-tier Premier League club. Shed was picking up a pen, his face glowing with the health and fame that used to belong to Alaric.
"That's my life," Alaric whispered, his voice trembling. "That was my contract. I worked ten years for that moment."
He turned to Lara, desperation clawing at his throat. "I don't know how you're going to do it, but return everything to normal. Now! Take it back!"
Lara leaned against the wall, her silhouette flickering. "No. I can't. You have nothing of value to me now, Alaric. You gave your 'currency' to him."
"Then fix it!"
"The only person who can change things back is your friend, Shed," Lara said, pointing toward the man signing the papers. "He has to be the one to give it up. But look at him, Alaric. He has the world at his feet for the first time in nine years. Do you really think he is willing to let go of the life he just started to live?"