The workshop was a wreckage of broken vials and shattered machinery. The bookshelves were half-stripped, their remaining volumes leaning at awkward angles.
The space had clearly been abandoned for years. My hand clock ticked faster as I approached a book. Is this the powerful artifact? A fucking book?
It seeped with an ominous energy, as if it were calling to me.
When I reached for it, the sensation was unbearable—it felt as though the book touched me instead, like gripping a living beast. I pulled it from the shelf with a sense of devastation, but I held on.
The leather vibrated with energy. Heavy chains were wrapped around the binding, secured by a central lock. Silver filigree framed the edges, pulsing with an ethereal glow against the velvety midnight-plum cover. The corners were encrusted with silver crystals that scattered tiny sparks across the room.
I fought the urge to recoil and pressed the silver hand clock into the lock's indentation. After a heartbeat of silence, it clicked and turned on its own. The chains loosened slowly and fell away. The book thrummed with latent power, its silver emblem pulsing with inner light.
As my fingers brushed the cool, crystalline edge, a soft chime like distant bells echoed through the silence. Amethyst star-like motes of light drifted from the ceiling, drawn toward the book's awakening. The air crackled with unseen force—then exploded.
Obsidian-tinted magic appeared around the book, as a concentrated aura of deep light, restrained yet intense. It formed precise circular patterns and sigils that hovered steadily, their edges glowing with a muted metallic shimmer. The energy moved in controlled currents, like slow embers drifting through the air, radiating a steady, low-burning glow.
The sigils reflected in my eyes, burning with an infernal fire. A torrent of symbols flowed through me, strange glyphs etching into my skin like glowing circuitry, pulsing in sync with my heartbeat. Each symbol was a piece of a puzzle that was slowly consuming me. I felt myself drift out of my body, pulled into a vague, void space.
Before me, suspended above a weathered stone altar, pulsed a sphere of raw, malevolent power. Its outer shell, crafted from dark, unyielding metal, was segmented into bands inscribed with glowing runes that writhed like trapped serpents. At its heart, a colossal indigo crystal blazed, its facets splitting the ambient light into jagged shards of lavender. Tendrils of fiery energy coiled and danced around the artifact, mirroring the molten glow that emanated from the crystal's core. I reached out and grabbed it in my palm.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. The gears were moving.
And then—the sky churned with an unnatural twilight, bruised with shades of deep mulberry and smoldering ember. Dark, heavy clouds swirled like tormented souls, illuminated by unseen forces. Against this tumultuous backdrop, a dark figure emerged, poised on the precipice of both creation and destruction. Sharp, obsidian horns curved from her head, cutting through the swirling mist.
Her presence was a palpable chill, a stark contrast to the fiery glow pulsing within the eye-like orb at the heart of her colossal scythe. The weapon itself—an obsidian arc crackling with ethereal violet energy—hummed with ancient power, its jagged edges promising swift severance.
"How dare a mortal try to steal my core," the figure spoke, her voice a dreadful, hollow echo that vibrated in my very marrow. She raised a hand, and I felt myself wrenched upward, floating helplessly as spectral chains coiled around my body, and the world drifted away.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a wide landscape choked with ruby flowers. They felt like a soft pillow for my concerns, a sweet, numbing comfort I never wanted to leave. But then, I heard it—footsteps.
The horned figure was there, trying to invade my consciousness. But something shifted. I felt her confusion, and in response, I made my flowers burn. Scorching, white-hot fire consumed the field.
"What is this? What are you?" she screamed, her voice cracking with terror. "This is unbearable wrath!"
She tried to run, but it was too late. My hunger was greater than her fear. I opened my mouth and consumed the shadow whole.
Then, I blinked.
I was back in the workshop. The taste of her fear still lingered on my tongue—bitter and cold. Invisible violet chains pulsed into existence, anchored deep within my chest. They stretched across the small gap between us, tethered to the heart of the creature crouching on the floor.
"How could a mortal with no Alchemy do this?" she screamed, her voice trembling with terror.
"You didn't feel as powerful as my books described you," I muttered.
She looked at me with pure loathing, crossed her arms, and shied away like a scolded child.
"Come on, don't be dramatic," I teased. "We're a team now."
Up close, she wasn't quite the titan I'd seen in the vision. Her skin was a matte, pitch-black void, traced with shimmering silver lines that swirled around her limbs like living, silken garments. She was smaller now, almost delicate, but her eyes remained the same—deep violet pools that looked startlingly human.
Shouts and screams erupted from outside, followed by the thunder of hurried footsteps. I shoved the book into my pack and lunged toward the door, but I was too late. The Enforcers had already blocked the path. I stared at the entity expectantly, but she turned her head like a scornful child and totally ignored me.
Damn it.
Their guns were leveled at my chest. "Shit."
I pulled my weapon and squeezed the trigger. Click. "Are you kidding me?" I hissed, slamming the radiant gun against my palm. Desperation began to claw at my sanity.
Click-click-click. Click.
Empty.
I tossed the junk aside and reached for my backup—one shot left. I fired, the bolt of light whistling past an Enforcer's shoulder before the sidearm hissed and went cold.
"Damn it," I spat. I was surrounded.
Not now. Not after everything I did to get here.
Suddenly, the air grew heavy, thick with the scent of rain. A massive ripple distorted the corridor as a wall of water surged from the floor and burst, throwing the Enforcers in every direction.
"She's with the Elites!" someone shouted.
A man stepped out of the void the water magic had carved. He was the blond Elite from the carnival. I retreated until my back hit the bookshelves; there was no other way. He closed the distance until he was a foot away, towering over me. He leaned down to meet my eyes.
Those striking hazel eyes beneath the mask were not strangers to me.
Victor!
"Hello, darling," he said, his tone mocking.
A shield of water began to spiral around us, whirling fast enough to deflect the Enforcers' fire. In an instant, the world outside went silent. Behind the liquid glass, the Enforcers were reduced to blurred, frantic shapes. Victor's gaze fixed on me.
"You look like you're having a difficult time, darling," he said, his voice a calm hum. "I can get you out of here. But my assistance isn't free."
"Fuck you," I spat.
He laughed—a deep, hearty sound that made his head tilt back. He wiped a stray tear from his eye, still chuckling. "Here is my bargain. Option one: I leave you here. You'll be seized, trialed, and given god-knows-what penalty. Or," he leaned in, his hazel eyes glinting, "I get you out of here for a very small cost."
His eyes seeped with deceit, but I didn't care to ask for the price. Since he hadn't killed me yet, I still had a chance. I glanced behind him—it was risky, and I was out of options. But well, no risk, no fun.
"Fine. I agree to your bargain."
A hint of surprise crossed his face; if I'd blinked, I would have missed it. He reached out and snapped a bangle around my arm. It twisted and clicked, shrinking until it fit my wrist perfectly.
"Did you really think it was that simple?" he murmured, amused. "Now we are tied by magic."
Before I could react, he laughed and grabbed me by the waist. "Hold tight."
The sphere around us began to whirl with violent force. Nausea hit me like a physical blow. I fought to stay sober, clutching the book in my pack as the world dissolved into a blurring rush of water and light.