A sullen moon hovers in the sky, swollen and pale. Its light spills across the courtyard’s ancient stones, transforming every crack and crevice into a restless shadow. The night feels feverish, as though alive with the pulse of energies lurking just beneath the surface. Despite the stillness, my skin prickles, every hair on my arms rising in foreboding.
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I’m on my way back from a fruitless search for answers in the library, my mind spinning with half-forgotten texts and obscure references to the vow. So far, each attempt to unravel the contract’s power has ended in frustration. Exhaustion weighs on me, yet something in the air tonight makes it impossible to retreat to bed. Instead, I wander, drawn by an inexplicable pull that leads me through corridors and out into the open sky.
The vo
