Renzia paused in the middle of the dimly lit, dust-den room, her movements deliberate as she began to unbuttoorso. Each csp released with a soft click, the sound almost swallowed by the heavy silence. She carefully removed her head, setting it aside with reverence, before opening the hollow cavity of her frame.

  From within, Vivienne’s shapeless mass began to pour forth like a slow tide, the viscous, inky substance pooling on the floor before it began to shift and writhe. The dark tendrils coalesced, folding and sculpting themselves with uling gratil Vivieood in her prime form. Her bck eyes gleamed with predatory delight, a cruel grin spreading across her face as she stretched, her limbs elongating momentarily before snapping bato pce.

  “Ah, much better,” Vivienne purred, running her hands through her dark hair. Her voice carried a nguid satisfa, as though she had just woken from a deep and pleasant slumber. She turo Renzia, her gaze softening slightly. “Thank you, my dear. You’ve been wonderful.”

  Renzia reassembled herself with her usual silent efficy, repg her head aoniorso. She stood straighter once she was whole again, tilting her head slightly as she observed Vivienne.

  Vivienne gnced around the room, her expression shifting to one of curiosity. The space was heavy with the weight of years. Broken furniture y scattered amidst the dust, and faded tapestries hung limply oone walls. The air was thick with the faint, stale tang of abando, yet beh it was a faint, tantalizing thread of energy—old, but potent.

  She inhaled deeply, tasting the aether in the air. Her grin widened. “This pce has secrets,” she murmured. “How exg.”

  Vivienne crouched he base of the room’s only door, her cwed fingers brushing against the cold stone floor. The fai hum of aether vibrated beh her touch, like an old melody waiting to be rediscovered. She stood, motioning for Renzia to follow.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Vivienne said, her voice low but brimming with anticipation. “Mama is still hungry.”

  Renzia nodded once, silent as ever, her needles glinting faintly in the dim light as she readied herself. Together, they approached the door, its a wood swollen with age. Vivienne pced a hand against it, pushily at first, then more firmly until it creaked open, revealing a narrow, winding corridor beyond.

  The hallway was lined with flickering sces, their fmes casting long, dang shadows against the rough stone. Vivieepped forward fidently, her cing rhythmically on the floor as she led the way. Behind her, Renzia followed, her movements a mix of fluid grad meical precision.

  “We’ll find him soon,” Vivienne said, her voice carrying through the corridor like a soft, menag melody. “And when we do, Rathik will wish he’d never drawn our attention.”

  The two desded deeper into the keep, the taste of a aether growing stronger with every step, guiding them toward the heart of whatever power y hidden within these walls.

  The corridor twisted onward, its oppressive silence broken only by the faint hum of power that grew stronger with each step. Vivienhe way, her bck eyes gleaming with anticipation, her cwed firag the rough stone walls as if sav the energy embedded within. Behind her, Renzia moved with silent purpose, her needles glinting faintly in the dim torchlight.

  Then, the texture of the air shifted. The musty, stale st of the keep gave way to something er, more refined—polished wood and faint traces of inse. Vivienne paused, her head tilting as she she air, tasting the ge.

  “Well, this is ued,” she murmured, her voice low but tinged with intrigue.

  The chamber they entered was startlingly different from the ruins they’d been traversing. The floors were , polished to a faint shine, and the walls were adorned with tapestries that, while aged, were still intad vibrant. A long wooden table sat in the ter of the room, its surface immacute, as though waiting fathering to ehere was even prhting.

  Vivienne’s lips curled into a slow smile. “Iing. Someone has been keeping house.”

  Renzia moved forward cautiously, her head tilting as she took in the pristine surroundings. She k briefly, toug the floor with her cloth-ed fingers, then gnced back at Viviehe tilt of her head almost questioning.

  “No,” Vivienne said softly, her grin widening. “This isn’t an illusion. Someone has been living here. And they’ve been expeg pany.”

  They pressed on, the trast between the decayed ruins and the increasingly well-kept areas uling. They passed through corridors lined with unlit sces of intricate design, past rooms furnished with velvet chairs and dustless bookshelves. It was as if they had stepped into a different time, a world preserved amid the rot.

  Finally, as they rounded a er, they heard it—the faint shuffle of footsteps and the soft hum of a voice. Vivienne froze, her grin widening as she motioned for Renzia to stay silent. They crept forward, the faint glow of light spilling from an open doorway ahead.

  Peering ihey saw a figure: a servant, dressed in simple but garments, carrying a tray den with a pitcher and goblets. The servant, a young man with an unassuming face, was humming softly to himself as he moved about the room.

  Vivienne’s grin turned predatory. “Perfect,” she whispered. “Let’s have a chat.”

  Renzia moved first, her steps unnervingly silent as she slipped behind the servant. Before he could turn, her hand shed out, snatg him by the colr and lifting him off the ground with startling ease. The tray cttered to the floor, the sound eg sharply iherwise quiet space.

  The servant gasped, struggling feebly against Renzia’s iron grip. “W-what—? Who—?!”

  Vivieepped into the room, her grin wide and menag as she regarded the terrified man. “Oh, don’t be afraid,” she cooed, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “We just have a few questions for you.”

  The servant’s eyes widened in terror as Renzia carried him effortlessly into the corridor. They moved swiftly through the winding halls, back toward the more decrepit and abandoned parts of the keep. They found ay, crumbling chamber and deposited the servant unceremoniously onto the floor.

  Vivienne crouched beside him, her cing rhythmically against the stone as she leaned in close. “Now,” she purred, her bck eyes log onto his. “Let’s start with something simple. Who are you, and what exactly is this lovely little fortress hiding?”

  Her grin widened, revealing sharp teeth. "And please, don’t waste our time. Renzia here doesn’t have much patience.”

  The mannequin stood silently behihe glint of her needles catg the faint light, their threat unmistakable.

  The servant’s breaths came quid shallow, his wide eyes dartiween Vivienne’s menag grin and Renzia’s impassive form. He swallowed hard, his hands trembling as he raised them defensively. “P-please… I’m just a steward! I don’t know anything important, I swear!”

  Vivienne’s grin never faltered, though her bck eyes darkened with a glint of malice. She tilted her head as though studying an i beh her cws, her sharp talons flexing with a sound like steel scraping against steel. “A steward,” she drawled, her voice low and mog. “That makes you useful. Potentially. You know things, don’t you? Things like who’s running this charming little deathtrap of a keep. Or perhaps… that radiant monstrosity glowing above us?”

  The man’s breath hitched, his words stumbling over one another in his desperation. “S-Skoll Rathik… he’s the master of the keep. But I don’t… I don’t know much about the orb! It’s not something I’m allowed to question. I just—”

  Vivienne’s hand shed out, her cws burying themselves into the stone beside his head with a force that sent cracks splintering across the surface. The steward froze, trembling, his wide eyes fixed on her as though staring into the abyss. “Try again,” she hissed, her voice soft yet razor-sharp. “Surely someone in your position knows something more. Otherwise, why are you still breathing?”

  “I-I don’t know!” he whimpered, tears spilling down his pale cheeks. “I just see some of the human priests! They e every few months… when the orb dims… they do some kind of ritual and it brightens again! I swear, that’s all I know!”

  Vivienne pulled her cws free from the wall with deliberate slowness, the screeg sound eg ominously in the cramped space. “Oh?” she murmured, dragging her cws across the wall in long, deliberate gouges that sent shivers down the man’s spine. “And these priests… do they wear their allegiances on their sleeves, or shall I guess?”

  The man’s lip quivered as he shook his head, sweat dripping from his brow. “I-I don’t… I don’t know—”

  Vivienne moved faster than he could blink, her other cing around his neck with uing force. The tips pricked his skin, drawing thin rivulets of blood that slid down to his colr. She lifted him effortlessly, f him to his toes. Her grin twisted, being something far more sinister. “But I think you do,” she whispered, her breath hot against his ear.

  His posure shattered. “Aegis!” he cried, his voice high and desperate. “They’re from Aegis! That’s all I know! I swear on my life!”

  Vivienne dropped him without ceremony, watg as he crumpled to the ground in a trembling heap. His hands flew to his neck, clutg at the shallow wounds as he coughed and sputtered.

  “Good boy,” she said smoothly, her griurning to its usual sharp pyfulness. She turo Renzia, who stood motionless nearby, the glint of her needles catg the dim light. “Now then, sweetheart. What do you think? Should we let this guilty little rat scurry off and risk him squealing before we’re ready? Or…” She k down beside the man, her smile widening into something feral as her sharp teeth gleamed. “…should mama have herself a little snack break?”

  Renzia tilted her head slightly, her silence almost thoughtful, as if p Vivienne’s words with an eerie, meical precision. The glint of her needles caught the dim light, refleg the promise of swift judgment that seemed to pulse through the room like an unspoken threat.

  Vivienne’s grin widened, her bck eyes gleaming with a dark satisfa. “You’re quite right, my dear,” she purred, her voice smooth and dangerous. She turned back to the steward, her gaze no and unwavering. “Tell me, did they force you into this little arra? Or were you simply motivated by greed? Do they pay you well for your silence, or is this the kind of pce where loyalty is just a currency you’re too eager to trade?”

  The steward, still on the ground, looked up at her in fusion, his breath ing in shallos. “Y-yes, my dy,” he stammered, clearly terrified. “They pay well... enough. I’m just... I’m just doing my job.”

  Vivienne’s smile stretched wider, her cws gleaming as she took a slow step forward, her voice a low, velvety hiss. “Ah, yes. That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.”

  With a fluid motion, her cws darted forward, pierg his chest with brutal precision. The steward’s eyes widened in shock, but no sound escaped his lips as Vivienne ripped her cws free, the thud of his lifeless body hitting the ground the only sign of his passing. Blood pooled beh him, a dark stain against the cold stone floor. Vivienne wiped her cws , the flicker of satisfa in her eyes as she turned away, pletely unfazed by the age.

  “Another one for the pile,” she mused, her grin never wavering. With a flick of her wrist, she beed Renzia to follow, the mannequin moving silently in her wake. They proceeded deeper into the keep, their steps eg in the silehat hung heavy in the air.

  The further they vehe more the structure seemed to transform. The crumbling, dipidated walls gave way to freshly painted doors and well-kept corridors, as though the pce had been teo only retly. The air grew thick with the st of polished wood and burning dles, a sharp trast to the decrepit state of the surrounding fortress. This wasn’t just a ruin—it ce brimming with secrets, and Vivienne was eager to uhem all.

  Vivienne rouhe er with Renzia at her side and found herself face-to-face with a squad of guards, their polished armor catg the dim light in sharp, almost defiant glints. The air in the narrow corridrew heavier as they locked eyes, their expressions twisting from surprise to suspi in an instant.

  Vivienne, unfazed, let her lips curl into a slow, dangerous smile. “Is there something wrong, gentlemen?” she purred, her voice a honeyed caress u by a razor-sharp edge.

  The guards hesitated, their gazes darting to the figure before them. Barefoot, utterly unclothed, her ashen skin streaked with blood like some macabre fashion statement, Vivieood a head and a half shorter than the smallest among them—but she carried herself as though she were a queen addressing her subjects. Her fidence dripped with menace, a predator sizing up her prey.

  “Intruder!” Called out one of them.

  The front line of guards drew their swords in unison, the metallic scrape ringing out like an arm. Behind them, the rear guards began ting, their hands glowing with the telltale signs of dawher.

  Vivienne’s grin widened, her bck eyes gleaming with dangerous amusement. “I guess there is,” she murmured, her gaze settling on one of the ters, the golden hue of dawher swirling around her like a bea. “Oh no you don’t, darling.”

  Her form rippled unnaturally, her ashen skin shifting as she discarded her petite frame for something far more menag. Her body expanded, lines growing harsh and jagged as she transformed into her colossus form. Though the corridor wasn’t tall enough to aodate her standing upright, she didn’t to be.

  Now on all fours, her massive form domihe space, cws gouging deep into the stone walls as her elongated arms reached over the startled front line. Her colossal hand shot forward with terrifying speed, snatg the dawn exomancer mid-t. The woman’s scream was cut short as Vivienne’s cws closed around her like a vice, the bones in her body shattering with siing cracks. Vivienne crushed her effortlessly, the remains colpsing to the floor in a spray of crimson and goldeher that dissipated into the air like smoke.

  The guards in the front turned pale, their resolve faltering as they stared at the age. Vivieilted her head, her grin widening as her bck eyes glinted with malevolent delight. “Anyone else feeling brave?” she taunted, her voice reverberating with the depth and menace of her massive form.

  Renzia remai her side, silent but ready, her needles glinting with lethal precision as she stepped forward, her fluid, meical grace making her an equally terrifying presence.

  The guards hesitated, the tension in the corridor thiough to choke on. One of them turo run, only to have Renzia intercept with unnerving speed, a sharp needle slig through his throat in a single, precise motion. He crumpled, blood poolih him as the remaining guards stumbled ba a panic.

  “Shall we make this quick?” Vivienne rumbled, her massive form ing closer, the stoh her cws crag with every movement.

  The guards didn’t wait for her to act. Abandoning their formation, they scattered in a desperate bid to escape, their armor cttering as they fled down the hall.

  Vivienne chuckled, her voice a low, rumbling growl. “Smart choice,” she said, shrinking bato her prime form, her ashen frame once again plump and bloodied.

  “e, sweetheart,” she said to Renzia, brushing past the remains of the exomancer without a sed gnce. “We still have friends to find.”

  SupernovaSymphony