I did not sleep that night after the System had spoken to me, and it was not fear that kept my eyes open, but a tension in every breath, a sense that each inhale and exhale was some examination I had not prepared for. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel something observing me, but it was nothing like Kael, who calculated and waited with patient precision. This was older, deeper, a presence that did not require a body to make itself known, and it pressed against my mind in ways I could not ignore. The estate around me felt suspended, the quiet hum of night somehow loaded with anticipation.
It was just after midnight when the air changed, not growing colder, but heavier, as though the world itself had paused to watch. I stood atop the northern tower, where the edge of the estate kissed t
