Chapter Three: The Vanishing
Iren hadn't slept. He couldn't. The mark on his chest throbbed faintly, an uninvited presence that had appeared the moment he first saw the dead man's sigil. He had no idea why it was there, or what it meant. He only knew that it burned, a quiet, insistent reminder that something had changed.
Before dawn, he heard it—the faintest scrape of boots against stone, careful, deliberate. The shadow from the alley. The one he had glimpsed the day before.
Iren didn't know why, but he moved toward the alley, keeping low, every sense alert. The shadow moved with precise, deliberate steps, its form fluid in the dim light. It stopped at the spot where the dead man had been lying.
The corpse was gone. Iren's stomach dropped. He crept closer, straining his eyes to catch every movement.
The figure held the body effortlessly, lifting it as if it weighed nothing. The dead man's sigil glimmered faintly, untouched and static, a silent testimony to the impossible death. Iren pressed a hand to the mark on his chest. It burned softly, completely unrelated—a mark that had simply arrived, inexplicable and unwelcome.
The shadow's head shifted slightly, acknowledging Iren's presence, but it made no move toward him. It ignored him entirely, continuing down the alley with the corpse in its arms, disappearing into the twisting streets of Eldoria with silent, unnerving purpose.
Iren stepped forward, trembling. The alley smelled faintly of iron and dust. The man was gone. The impossible death was gone.
He exhaled slowly, pressing his hand over the mark on his chest. It was his mark. Not the dead man's. It had appeared once, unexpectedly, and now it pulsed softly against his skin. Whatever force had taken the man, whatever had defied death, he knew it had nothing to do with him—yet.
He took a careful step back, eyes fixed on the path the shadow had vanished into. For the first time, Iren realized that being unnoticed might not last long. Someone—or something—was watching Eldoria closely, and now, he had seen too much.