Chapter 1: Eyes of the Deser
KarmaLi_Ann sat by her small window, the brush trembling slightly between her fingers.
The night was quiet, and the city was drowned in deep silence… except inside her room.
In front of her, dozens of paintings hung across the walls.
But every painting showed the same thing.
Eyes.
The eyes of a man she had never met.
Karma stared at the new canvas she was working on.
Dark shadows surrounded the golden iris, as if the desert itself lived within that gaze.
She sighed softly and whispered to herself,
"Why do I keep painting you…?"
She didn't know who he was.
She had never heard his voice before.
And yet… she saw him in her dreams every single night.
The same eyes.
The same calm… yet dangerous gaze.
She placed the brush down and slowly stood up, looking around at the paintings on the walls.
One… two… ten… thirty…
Until she reached the sixtieth painting.
Sixty paintings of the same mysterious eyes.
Suddenly—
Knock.
Karma froze in place.
The sound came from the front door.
At this hour of the night…?
She walked carefully toward the door, her heart beating strangely fast.
Slowly, she opened it.
And the moment she lifted her eyes—
Time stopped.
A tall man stood before her, wearing a sand-colored cloak, his dark hair moving slightly with the night breeze.
But Karma noticed none of that.
Because she was staring directly into his eyes.
The same eyes.
The same eyes she had painted sixty times.
The man smiled faintly and said in a calm voice,
"Good evening… are you Karma Li_Ann?"
For a few seconds, she couldn't answer.
Then she whispered with a shaky voice,
"…I painted your eyes."
The man raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
"Did you?"
Karma slowly nodded.
"Sixty times."
The man fell silent for a moment…
Then he said quietly, with a mysterious tone,
"It seems the desert… has finally chosen you."
And in that moment, Karma felt it deep inside her heart—
Her entire life
was about to change from this night forward.