The shop lay in partial ruins — shattered glass cases, dimmed gemstones scattered across the floor, and the echo of the attack still trembling through the walls.The intruders, bound by shadows, hung unconscious like insects caught in a web.
Eris, calm as ever, picked up a fractured gem still sparking with dark energy. Her face showed something rare — focus.
"They won't come back alone," she said, her voice resonating in the heavy air. "If black gold is moving again, someone powerful is pulling the strings. And I intend to find out who."
Selene frowned."You're going alone?"
Eris turned those infinite black eyes on her and allowed herself the faintest smile."The capital has corners where even your shadows, Nyx, would not be welcome. Leave this to me."
There was no room for argument. The Umbriphage vanished into the depths of the shop, swallowed by the darkness itself.
Selene sighed, weary, and took my hand."We have to go back to the castle. We're not safe here anymore."
I nodded, though my thoughts were elsewhere.On the floor beside the collapsed counter, the doll stared back at me with its violet glass eyes. The cracks across its face glowed faintly, and deep inside my mind I could still hear that fragile whisper:
"Don't leave me here…"
A shiver ran through me. Selene would never approve, but I couldn't ignore the call.
"Wait," I said, kneeling down.
Selene stiffened the moment she saw me reach for it."Nyx, no. That thing nearly destroyed you."
I held the doll in my hands. The porcelain was cold — too cold — almost as if it breathed."It's not just an object. And if someone else finds it, they could use it against me. At least… if I take it with me, I'll know where it is."
Selene hesitated, then sighed in defeat at the determination in my eyes."Fine. But we chain it."
We did. Using a length of dark silver chain we found in the wreckage, we bound the doll's small arms. Even restrained, its eyes flickered faintly — as though it were smiling from within.
Eris returned for a brief moment before we left."Be careful. That doll is more than a vessel. If you carry it, remember — it isn't grateful. It's desperate. And desperation always seeks a way to escape."
I said nothing. I placed the doll in a reinforced sack and hid it beneath my cloak.
The journey back to the castle was silent. Selene and I spoke little, each lost in our own thoughts. The sky was heavy with black clouds, as if it too sensed what we carried.
When I finally crossed the gates of the castle, the weight of the doll in my lap reminded me of a truth I could no longer ignore:I was not returning as the same person who had left.
The shadows within me had found their echo outside —and now that echo came with me, bound in chains, yet very, very awake.