The world had dissolved into a churning ink-black sea, its surface rippling with skeletal hands that clawed upwards, not for air, but for *her*. Vesna Kolar thrashed, a scream lodged in her throat, as the shadowy digits closed around her ankles, attempting to drag her down into the abyss where the Abbey of Silent Respite used to be. The air, thick with the scent of ozone and something acridly sweet, tore at her lungs. Her vision blurred, not from tears, but from the impossible pressure of the Nemesys’s burgeoning presence. “Vesna! Flee, child!” The voice, sharp as a winter wind, cut through the suffocating dread. Sister Iryna, her adoptive mother, stood on a precarious shard of what was once the abbey’s bell tower, her face a mask of gaunt urgency. Her once-placid features were etched with sharp alarm, her silver hair whipping around her like smoke. She was clutching something, a roll of parchment, its edges singed. “Iryna!” Vesna choked, pushing against the encroaching darkness. Her own hands, rarely unsteady, shook with a power she barely understood, a faint violet luminescence flickering at her fingertips. It wasn't enough. The shadow-tendrils recoiled from the light, but more surged forward, relentless. Iryna launched herself across the chasm, landing with a jarring thud beside Vesna. Her eyes, stripped of their customary calm, darted in panic. “No time, little spark! The Veil thins. It’s here, truly here.” She pressed the parchment into Vesna’s hand, her grip surprisingly strong. “The Lacrimae. Seek them, all seven. Only they can sever the bond, Vesna. Control your destiny.” Before Vesna could respond, a crack, like reality tearing itself apart, rent the air. A section of the remaining stone floor beneath Iryna’s feet dissolved into a spray of void-touched dust. Iryna’s eyes met Vesna’s, a lifetime of love and regret condensed into a single, agonizing glance. “Forgive me, my daughter,” she whispered, her voice barely a breath. Then she pushed. Hard. Blinded by the sudden force, Vesna stumbled, tumbling away from the collapsing abbey, away from Iryna, and into the dense, blighted woods bordering the sanctuary. The forest, once familiar refuge, was now an expanse of grasping branches and decaying foliage, reeking of damp loam and the sickly sweetness of the Blight. She scrambled to her feet, the cryptic map clutched in her hand, its worn vellum warm against her palm. A faint, almost imperceptible tremor ran through the forest floor. The Nemesys was devouring her home. And Iryna. The thought spurred her forward, dread of the unknown drowned out by the immediate collapse behind her. She ran, her simple novice robes snagging on brambles, the screams of the abbey’s destruction echoing behind her. Her lungs burned, her legs ached, but she didn't stop until the roar of the Nemesys faded into a low, menacing thrum, a vibration in the very air. She collapsed against the rough bark of a gnarled ironwood tree, gasping, her heart a frantic drum against her ribs. The woods were silent now, save for the rustle of dry leaves and her own ragged breathing. She risked a glance back. A gaping maw of blackness now consumed the horizon where the abbey once stood, a tear in the fabric of the world. It pulsed, a hungry, living void. “Lost something, little bird?” The voice, gravelly and low, emerged from the shadows beneath a cluster of weeping willows. Vesna flinched, spinning around. A figure emerged, tall and broad-shouldered, his silhouette sharp against the muted light filtering through the canopy. He wore dark, practical leather armor, scarred and worn, and a long, blunted sword hung at his hip. His face was rugged, framed by dark, unruly hair, and his slate-gray eyes held a predatory glint. He looked like the trackers spoken of in rumors—sellswords who hunted bounties on the fringes of Ravka. “Who are you?” Vesna demanded, though the mercenary leather and unsheathed iron answered plainly enough. He offered a slow, humorless smile. “Call me Stellan. I'm hired to bring you in, Vesna Kolar. Heard you had a certain… unique glow about you. Price on your head is rather impressive, considering.” He took a step closer, his eyes raking over her, assessing. “Figured a secluded order wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Didn't quite expect a literal hole in the world, though.” He gestured vaguely behind her, towards the pulsing void. Vesna instinctively took a step back, clutching the map tighter. Her fear of him was immediate, visceral. Not just because he was a stranger, an enemy, but because his presence felt like a tightening coil around the fragile threads of her own volatile power. “I won’t go with you,” she stated, trying to infuse her voice with defiance. Stellan merely raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I think you will. The alternative is less appealing, I assure you.” He drew his sword with a soft rasp of steel, its dull edge reflecting the dim light. “Now, come along quietly, and maybe we can avoid any… unpleasantness.” “I said no!” The words ripped from her, charged with a sudden, uncontrollable surge of raw energy. A ring of violet light burst from her, not merely flickering this time, but detonating outward with concussive force. It slammed into Stellan, knocking him back a few paces, his foot dragging a furrow in the damp earth. He grunted, surprised, but recovered quickly, his eyes narrowing. “A spark, indeed,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. He raised his sword, its tip pointing directly at her. “Feisty. Good. Makes the hunt more interesting.” Before either of them could move, the world *screamed*. It wasn't a human sound, or an animal cry. It was the shriek of fabric tearing, of reality unraveling. The pulsing void behind them expanded, not just eating the landscape, but *twisting* it. The trees around them began to wither, their leaves curling and blackening in an instant, their wood dissolving into fine ash. The very air grew cold, sharp, and laden with an unbearable pressure. From the heart of the void, something began to emerge. Not a creature, not a form, but a *disruption*. A swirling vortex of impossible angles and hungry shadows, punctuated by flashes of raw cosmic energy that seemed to claw at the edges of perception. It stretched, it pulsed, it *reached*. The Nemesys. Stellan, for all his hardened mercenary demeanor, froze. His gray eyes, typically calculating, held a stark, raw panic. He glanced from Vesna to the monstrosity, then back again. The bounty. Survival. The choice hung heavy in the air, a breath away from consuming them both. The Nemesys let out another, mind-shattering shriek, and a tendril of pure shadow, thicker than any tree trunk, snaked out from the void, slamming into the ground where Stellan had stood moments before. The impact cratered the earth, obliterating the willows, and sent a shockwave that nearly knocked Vesna off her feet. The remaining trees began to crack and splinter, the bedrock itself groaning. “Bloody hells,” Stellan breathed, his face pale. He sheathed his sword with a decisive clang, his decision made. There was no bounty if there was no world to spend it in. He lunged, not at Vesna, but past her, grabbing her arm with a vise-like grip. “Forget the capture! We run!” He didn’t wait for her to consent, didn't wait for her to find her footing. He simply hauled her along, dragging her through the blighted undergrowth, away from the encroaching horror. She stumbled, scraped her knees, but his grip was unyielding, pulling her onward, away from the inevitable consumption. Behind them, the shriek intensified, the ground trembled with unimaginable force, and the last, crumbling remnants of the Abbey of Silent Respite were swallowed whole, leaving nothing but an ever-expanding maw of oblivion. Stellan didn’t stop until they were far enough that the screaming void was merely a faint, echoing thrum against the backdrop of the dying forest. He finally released her arm, turning to face her, his chest heaving, pupils still dilated from the near-miss. His gaze flickered to the black tear in the horizon, then back to her, lips drawn tight. “Looks like your sanctuary is gone. And you’re coming with me.”

The Drowning Sea