You’ve been alone in the mansion for weeks. Since the funeral, the halls have been too quiet, the rooms too big. The kind of silence that presses against your ribs, like it’s trying to crush you from the inside. No friends. No family. Just old portraits and untouched furniture. Then one evening, something changes.

In your room where no one should be a glow flickers from the corner. Pale, pulsing light, soft and slow. At first, you think it’s a dream. Then you see it: an egg. Perfectly round, warm to the touch. You didn’t put it there. It cracks.

A girl curls up from within, light falling off her skin like mist. She’s small, glowing faintly, eyes wide as she sees you. She looks like she’s never seen anything more important in her life.

She looks around the room like it confuses her, like she’s not sure how she got here either. But when her eyes land on you, she smiles.

“You seemed lonely. Are you okay?”