Five months had passed since Vivare vanished from existence.

In all that time, Rachel had barely left her room. She didn’t eat, didn’t drink, didn’t sleep, didn’t even go to the bathroom. She only drew — endlessly, desperately trying to use the crystal’s power to bring Vivare back.

Her siblings were worried sick. It was Amanda’s turn, as usual, to bring her food and water.

But Rachel looked disturbingly healthy despite not touching any of it. The crystal’s energy seemed to sustain her. Amanda sighed heavily.

“Rachel…”

Rachel didn’t look up. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had opened her door.

“We need to talk,” Amanda pressed. “You can’t keep this up!”

Rachel still didn’t move.

“This isn’t healthy for you. You can’t just pause your whole life over some… character.”

Rachel froze. Slowly, she stood from her desk.

“Some character?” she repeated, her voice cold.

“Her name is Vivare. And she was more human than most people in this world.”

She turned toward Amanda, one eye shifting to vivid blue, both eyes beginning to glow with an unnatural light. Rachel didn’t even realize they were glowing — rage was burning too fiercely.

“Unlike you, I have nothing,” she continued. “And when I finally had someone who saw me for me, not as someone’s extra, you all took her away from me!”

“Rachel, this doesn’t make sense. You do have people who love you as you are. These powers are getting into your head, you have a—”

A sharp, knife-like shape formed from the shadows around Rachel.

“You don’t have the right to tell me what to do just because you want to play ‘big sister’!” she snapped.

“For God’s sake, you got to do whatever you wanted, while I followed every rule. Yet you’ve always been the ‘best of the best’.”

The shadow-knives shimmered dangerously.

“If any of you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from me.”

Her eyes were ice-cold, dead of emotion. The shadows hurled Amanda out of the room. That was the last time anyone dared to enter.

Six days later

An unexpected guest arrived.

He was a tall, wealthy-looking man with dark skin, a lean frame, and a formal suit. He knocked at the door.

Rachel’s younger brother opened it.

“Hello, young man,” the stranger greeted politely. “Is Miss Rachel Wilde here?”

“Why?” the boy asked. “I could take you to her room.”

The man stepped inside as the boy continued:

“Honestly, it’s been six days since we last saw her, but I’m pretty sure she’s still at her desk drawing. She’s been glued to that chair for five months.”

The man asked quietly, “If I may… what happened to make her like this?”

The boy glanced around, lowering his voice.

“I feel bad for telling on her… but our parents pressured me. A year ago, she got some kind of magic item. My parents didn’t like it, so we took it the first chance we got. She got mad… and, well, the rest is history. I guess the news is out there for everyone by now.”

“I see…”

They reached Rachel’s door.

“Good luck staying alive,” the boy muttered. “She’s usually calm — unless you piss her off like my sister did six days ago.”

The man swallowed nervously and stepped inside.

The room was dim, lit only by the soft glow of the crystal. Rachel hadn’t noticed him yet. He took a cautious step forward… and his foot landed on a curled sheet of paper.

Vivare’s sketch.

Rachel’s head snapped toward him. In an instant, the shadows lashed out, binding him. The air turned cold. Her magic nearly tore his eyes from his skull — but at the very last second, her stubborn, infuriating compassion stopped her.

“Who are you?” she demanded, her vivid pink eyes sharp enough to cut.

“I… I mean no harm,” he stammered, horror and awe mixing in his voice. The power of the Creation Crystal was unlike anything he’d imagined.

“I don’t care,” Rachel said flatly. She released him, turning back toward her desk, vivid memories of loss and destruction flooding her mind.

The man steadied himself.

“What if I could help you bring back what you lost?” he said carefully. “I know things you don’t — about the crystal, about how to control it.”

That made her pause.

“I can help you,” he went on. “But I can’t stay in the country for long. If you’re interested…”

He handed her a business card and a plane ticket.

“I hope you’ll join me at my academy soon, so we can work through this together.”

Then he left.

Rachel stared at the card in her hand.

Why had he come all this way to help her?

What was he gaining from this?

If he was lying… she would sense it from his energy.

Wouldn’t she?