Chapter 2; The first sign
322 Words
It started small.
So small no one noticed.
Not Damien, moving quickly through crowded streets.
Not Cora and Keraubs navigating the market.
Not Iris, sitting in the grass.
Not even Isaac—
though he came the closest.
The marketplace buzzed with life.
Voices overlapped. Coins clinked. Fabric shifted in the wind.
Cora moved through it all with precision, scanning shelves before touching anything. Every decision had already been half-made in her head before her hands confirmed it.
“Do we need this?” Keraubs asked, holding up a jar.
“No.”
“What about—”
“No.”
“…You didn’t even look.”
“I don’t need to.”
He sighed, setting it back.
There was a rhythm to this.
A survival pattern.
And they knew it well.
Still—
Keraubs felt it.
A prickle at the back of his neck.
Subtle.
Wrong.
He turned suddenly.
Nothing.
Just people.
Movement.
Normal.
“…You okay?” Cora asked.
“Yeah,” he said quickly. “Just thought I saw something.”
She studied him, then nodded.
“Stay focused.”
But Keraubs didn’t feel convinced.
Because for a second—
he had been sure.
Back at the house, Isaac ran in uneven circles, laughing.
“Iris! It’s right there!”
Iris looked up.
“There’s nothing there, Isaac.”
“Yes there is!” he insisted. “It’s shiny!”
Her smile faltered.
“…Shiny?”
He nodded—
then stopped.
His laughter faded.
“It’s looking at me.”
A chill crept up Iris’s spine.
“Who is?”
Isaac didn’t answer.
He just stared.
At something she couldn’t see.
Across the city, Damien slowed for the first time.
That same feeling hit him again.
Stronger.
He looked around.
Nothing.
But the air felt heavier.
Like the world itself was holding its breath.
High above—
something stirred.
Attention, long withheld, had finally shifted.
And it had found them.
- Writer
