(Modern-day, Austrian border, archaeological site of the Black Eagle Count family crypt)
The final layer of burial mound was carefully brushed away, revealing the object resting upon the chest of the crypt's occupant—not the anticipated family crest, but a dark red gemstone set within a silver cross. Even under the harsh glare of the headlamp, it remained murky, like congealed, aged blood.
"Dr. Lin, look at this!" The assistant's voice echoed in the narrow tomb. "A cross-cut... craftsmanship I've never seen before. Instruments detect faint anomalous energy readings, but the spectrum is unidentifiable."
Lin Wei (modern) donned white gloves and held her breath. As project lead, she knew this family's history all too well: In the mid-fourteenth century, Count Karen von Blackwood—the Black Eagle who ruled the borderlands—and his fiancée Isabella de Moreau perished together in a sudden conspiracy, bringing the family's downfall. All records remained vague, as if that history had been deliberately erased. This gemstone was the sole non-standard item buried with them.
An indescribable pull emanated from the gem's depths. She motioned for her assistant to step back, taking charge of the final cleaning herself. The instant her fingertips touched the gem's cold surface through the latex gloves—
Thud.
A heartbeat thundered like a drum, not through the air, but exploding directly within her skull.
Visions flooded like a burst dam: the scent of rust and fire filled her nostrils, the shrill clash of blades pierced her eardrums. She "saw" herself—no, another girl in a tattered green dress—plummeting from heights, her screams torn apart by the gale. She 'heard' a man's desperate roar piercing the veil of time and space—"Isabella!!!"
Then came a cascade of shattered images: a pale, frail old man coughing up blood; a slick-faced man snatching away deeds with a fake smile; a figure bearing the iris crest walking resolutely away in the cold rain... Finally, all the images shattered into boundless darkness and a sensation of falling.
"Dr. Lin!!"
Her assistant's terrified cry grew distant. Lin Wei felt her consciousness being forcibly "wrenched" from her modern body, pulled toward the crimson vortex of blood and fire deep within the gem. Before consciousness faded completely, her final sensation was a searing, stinging pain in her palm—as if the cold gem had suddenly ignited, branding itself into her soul.
[Modern Timeline, Dark]
Meanwhile, in the year 1348:
Beneath the stone tower of Moray Castle, the maid Ella clutched her mistress Isabella, her breath gone and her green dress soaked in blood, wailing in anguish. In the girl's cold hand, a cross-shaped gemstone identical to the one in the tomb (now covered in cracks) lost its last glimmer of light.
Yet, as Ella's tears fell, a tiny spark ignited deep within the gem's core, flickering like a sudden flame before beginning to beat slowly and stubbornly.
Thump... Thump...
Like a heartbeat that had waited far too long, finally reunited with its other half.