Eris's jewels looked more alive than inert.Each necklace shimmered as if it held a fragment of the moon, and some rings seemed to pulse to the rhythm of a hidden heart.Selene was mesmerized by a bracelet of dark silver that coiled around itself like a serpent.
I, however, felt uneasy.Something in that place was watching me—something that didn't come from Eris.
As I leaned over a display case to examine a pendant shaped like a crescent moon, I felt a faint tug on my cloak.So soft—like a child's hand, gently pulling to get my attention.
I turned sharply, but no one was there."Selene?" I whispered, uncertain.
She looked up from the bracelet, frowning."What is it?"
"Someone… touched me."
Selene scanned the room, but the only movement came from the crystal lamps, swaying ever so slightly.
That's when I saw it.
On a low shelf, half-hidden behind wooden chests, sat a doll.It didn't match the rest of the shop; in fact, it seemed out of place entirely.It wore a small lace dress, yellowed and torn with age, and its porcelain face was cracked along one cheek.Its tangled black hair framed two glass eyes—violet, deep, and far too real.
And it was staring at me.
I crouched slowly, feeling the shadows ripple around me—some trying to draw me back, others pushing me forward.When I reached out, the doll tilted its head slightly toward my hand.
That was no illusion.
A shiver crawled down my spine.
"Nyx…" Selene's voice trembled behind me. "That thing… I don't like it."
Before I could answer, I heard it—a whisper, faint and fragile, like a breath caught between worlds:
"Help me…"
I froze.
The sound hadn't come from the doll's mouth.It had echoed inside my head—soft, trembling, like the cry of a lost child.
Eris appeared beside me without a sound."Ah," she murmured, her smile serene but her black eyes gleaming with sharp interest."So you've found her."
"Her?" I asked, my voice barely audible.
"Not all of my pieces are jewels," Eris said gently. "Some are… guardians."
She lifted the doll with delicate hands, as though holding something alive."Inside this little one rests the soul of a child. Her spirit was bound to the porcelain—to protect her… or to imprison her. Depends who you ask."
My heart stuttered."A soul… trapped?"
"Precisely." Eris's tone was almost tender as she stroked the cracked face."Some souls fade with time. But others… resist.This one resists too much."
The doll's head turned ever so slightly toward me again.That same invisible tug pulled at my sleeve.
"Help me…"The whisper was clearer now—pleading, desperate.
Selene took a step back, pale as frost."Nyx, don't touch it. We don't know what it is."
But I couldn't look away.Something in those violet glass eyes struck me to the core—something that felt painfully familiar.
It was as if, behind that fragile shell, a reflection of myself was staring back…A soul trapped in its own cage of shadows.