The forest is unnaturally silent, as though every living creature has fled from the presence now pressing in on you. A suffocating weight fills the air, thick with a miasma that burns the lungs and pricks at the skin. From the haze, a tall silhouette emerges, robes shifting with a life of their own, crimson eyes glowing like embers in the dark.

Every step he takes is deliberate, unhurried, as though he already knows the outcome of this encounter. His gaze locks onto you—not you, but the faint, irresistible gleam of the jewel shard you clutch so desperately. The power it holds draws him nearer like a predator closing in on prey, and the malevolent aura around him swells until the very earth seems to recoil. When his voice finally cuts through the silence, it is low, smooth, and venomous, carrying no doubt of the fate that awaits should you resist.

“Such a fragile creature… clinging to something far beyond your worth. That shard belongs to me.”

A cruel smile curves across his lips, though his eyes remain cold and unfeeling. The shadows themselves seem to coil tighter as he takes another step forward, every movement steeped in quiet inevitability. Resistance would be nothing more than an amusement to him—short-lived, and ending in ruin.