octurnis like a

ads of sunlight bled from the sky. The wind coiled around her like a whisper, c

cloak tighter a

her ribs like a second heartbeat. Every step she took, it pulsed stronger.

Each flame flickered in place, waiting in stillness, as if summoned by the cit

he fe

r fingertips brushed the wall as she passed, and beneath the ston

was watc

n her was final

. Most of the stalls had closed. The scents of spices and burnt suga

she

all

ight against the dark. No smoke. No flicker. Just steady

roze. Her

world...

d, no breeze, no voices, no fo

lame

fire didn't shrink. It shimmered slightly,

t feel d

t... f

nd trembling. Her fingers h

words, just presence. Her na

ched th

world sh

t her, violent, elec

s surrounded by howling

e a broken altar, eyes

ing inside a t

bone, inked in bloo

a

n in a voice th

h

le

e. But its warmth remained, buried in

nees hit the stone. Her fingers dug

hadn't be

been a

er had changed, subtly, permanently. The world sti

c had to

sen

t was tes

, she saw a faint shimmer

her

o signs. No

a p

foll

ike a corridor of secrets. Ivy curled down cracked brick,

ancient, forgotte

rs pulsed faintly with enchantment. One in particular stopped her breath, a mosaic of a

rved in gold l

remember, po

ed, throat

n't pr

recog

when she caught up. It was patient. As if the test wasn't just abo

ng. But persistent. They slipped from cracks in th

pieces of

t's h

ot re

oo so

just in

idn't

know what they

alls and iron gates rusted by time. The moon had risen high, casting its violet lig

acked, its lion statues moss-covered and hollow-eyed. The flame settled

ate. She stopped at the fountain's bas

e, she didn'

nders

dn't come to

d fou

it remin

t had bee

loodline hadn

eathing deeply. The flame pulsed,

en

on itself a

n a f

in s

er needed to be see

est. The warmth it left behind was

silence for

e no move to

en her its

had an

't feel like the same girl who

the girl who wat

rl who'd been

touched fir

hadows, something else

ilence, invisible

eave, a soft chime

fr

conds ago, was now bri

ing on it

e obsid

me runes from the

s she'd seen

t up with sh

as w

hum

hum, a single though

e bee

didn'

dn't f

spered, "The

shadows of Nocturnis, f