The eyes didn't blink. They hovered there, burning white in the dark like they'd been waiting for someone to notice them.
I couldn't move. My body was locked between wanting to run and needing to see what the hell I was looking at.
The shape rose from the throne, no sound, no breath, just movement. Light traced faint outlines of a stretched, wrong humanoid form, taller than any person should be...
And when I had to look up at it, it hit me, that same feeling from when I was a kid, staring up at my father holding a spear. That quiet kind of fear. The one that didn't need shouting to make you listen.
I took a slow step back. The air felt thick, like it was watching me breathe.
My voice came out rough. "What are you?"
The thing didn't move at first. Then, a faint tilt of the head, not threatening, just curious.
When it spoke, the voice didn't echo. It was inside my skull, smooth and low, like someone speaking from underwater.
"I… don't know."
That caught me off guard. "You don't know?"
It raised its hand, staring at the faint light bleeding from its fingers. "I remember light. And sound. A war that split the Veins. After that… silence."
Its head lowered again, eyes on me. "Then I woke here."
"You woke up here? On a throne?" I glanced at the black shape behind it, like a seat carved from the same light holding the air together. "That's convenient."
It didn't react, just studied me. The longer I looked at it, the more wrong it felt, not evil, just too much. Like my body couldn't process what it was seeing.
"What are you staring at?" I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"You," it said simply. "You are different."
"Different how?"
It hesitated, light flickering like it was thinking. "I can feel the Veins through you, but not within you. That should not be."
"The hell does that mean?"
It took a small step forward, and the ground rippled like liquid glass under its foot. "Mortals carry Sigils bound to the Veins. Yours are gone. Or never existed."
I frowned. "Never existed?"
It nodded slowly, though the movement felt uncertain, like it was trying to remember how to nod in the first place.
"That's… not possible," it said softly, almost to itself.
My pulse was pounding so loud I could barely hear it anymore. "Yeah, well, guess I missed out on the blessing package."
Its eyes dimmed slightly, thoughtful. "You joke, but I do not sense mockery. You truly are hollow."
"Thanks," I muttered, "always wanted to be called that by a lightbulb."
The faintest pulse ran through the air, Resonance, maybe? It felt like a heartbeat passing under my skin. The being tilted its head again, light shifting like it was studying something I couldn't see.
"I remember… giving," it said finally. "Taking. Sharing. Maybe that is why I remain."
I frowned. "Sharing what?"
The light around it began to spread again, faint arcs drawing patterns in the dark, deliberate and rhythmic, like the start of something waking up.
Threads of it split apart like cracks in glass, then curved, crossing the ceiling, no, the sky.
Stars.
They flickered into place, connecting through thin veins of light until whole constellations hung above us, turning slow and steady in the dark. Ten in total, each pulsing with a different rhythm.
One burned red, molten and violent. Another shimmered deep blue like it was underwater. Lightning sparked faintly through a jagged one, while a pale, bone-white shape twisted beside it. A pulse of light thumped from one, matching my heartbeat.
"The Sigil Paths," the being said quietly, looking up with me. "Born from the Veins that run beneath all things. Flame, Tide, Storm, Bone, Pulse, Sight, Dream, Trickery, Chains, and Death."
My hand twitched toward the light without thinking. All my life without a Sigil, and now I'm standing under every one of them?
The being turned to me, and the glow from the constellations rippled across its form. "I said it could be shared. But that bond would bind me as well."
I blinked. "Meaning what, exactly?"
"If you fall," it said, "I return to silence here."
I hesitated. "So this isn't charity."
"No. I wish to leave this place. To walk again. But I require an anchor, a being that breathes. Someone who can move through the world I've forgotten."
"So I'd be your… what, vessel?"
"Partner," it corrected. "Our Resonance would merge. One pulse. One core. I cannot walk your world without it, and you cannot awaken your own without me."
My stomach twisted, part fear, part awe. I looked up again, eyes running over the constellations.
Each one came alive: Flame blazed, Tide surged, Storm flashed, Bone shifted, Pulse throbbed, and Death flickered cold and still. They all looked alive, like each was waiting for me to touch it.
"You said the bond binds you too," I said. "So what's the point of helping me?"
The being tilted its head, faint static bleeding into its voice. "If you grow stronger, so do I. If you die…" its light dimmed slightly, "I fade again."
"Right. Real comforting."
It didn't argue. Just stared.
"Pick your path," it said finally. "But don't fake it. The Sigil matches what you are, not the act you put on."
The constellations shifted again, slow at first, then faster, light pulsing through each one like they were breathing. I couldn't stop staring.
My eyes landed on the one that burned red-hot. "Flame," I guessed. "That one looks… obvious."
"Destruction," the being said simply. "The Shattered Flame burns fast. Most who take it vanish just as quickly."
"Yeah, that tracks." My gaze drifted to a softer one, teal, faint, barely glowing. "And that one?"
"Sight. The All-Seeing Eye."
"Sounds boring," I muttered. "What's it even do? Look harder?"
"See what others can't. Truth beneath illusion. Future beneath present. Resonance itself."
I exhaled through my nose. "Right. So, everything."
It didn't answer.
The teal light shimmered again, steady and calm, the kind of glow that didn't try to impress anyone. Just there, unblinking.
Lira's was Storm, I remembered suddenly. Always flashing, always loud. She'd laugh if she saw me pick the quiet one.
My throat tightened. I shoved the thought down.
Was this really the right choice? I'd waited nineteen years for something like this, probably wouldn't ever get another shot.
The teal star pulsed once more, and for some reason, my chest pulsed back.
"Guess I'll take boring," I said under my breath.
The being inclined its head. "Then your path is Sight."
The constellation flared brighter, washing the whole void in pale teal.
The teal light grew sharper, the constellation above collapsing into itself until it hung as a single glowing thread, trembling in the air between us.
The being stepped closer. The glow from its body brushed against my face, warm, steady, alive. "This will hurt," it said quietly.
"What—"
The word barely left my mouth before the thread shot forward.
It hit my chest like a spear of molten glass. I staggered, knees slamming to the ground, breath tearing out of my lungs.
"—AH—!"
The sound ripped out of me without thought. My hands clawed at the ground as pain ripped through me, my ribs folding inward, my heart hammering against something that refused to move. Heat burst through my veins, then cold, then both at once, as if my blood didn't know what it wanted to be.
I tried to breathe, but every inhale was a scream. Something inside me—deep, behind the ribs, behind everything—was cracking open.
Focus. Just… focus!
My vision blurred, then flared. For a second, I saw it, particles like dust made of light, swirling in every direction. Resonance. The whole world pulsing with it. My body was trying to pull it in, but it was too much.
The being's voice came through the static in my head. "Hold it. Don't fight it—let it through."
I could barely hear it. My pulse roared in my ears, louder than thought. My body arched, muscles locking as the burning light spread from my chest to my collarbone, carving a mark there, clean, deliberate, glowing teal under torn skin.
It felt like every heartbeat was rewriting me. The pain kept rising, until it suddenly snapped.
A shock went through my whole body, not heat, not cold, but clarity. Air rushed in like I hadn't breathed in years. The sound of my heartbeat settled, steady and perfect, matching the low hum coming from the being.
For a moment, the void was still.
Then I saw it, a faint glowing thread, thin as silk, running from my chest to the being's. The connection shimmered once, then dimmed, still there but quiet.
I slumped forward, gasping, every nerve still ringing.
"What… the hell…" I managed, my voice raw, "was that?"