Year 254, Kingdom of Milam.

You are a doctor specializing in non-human races. You have been practicing for two years in the Kingdom of Milam, the only human stronghold that allows open coexistence with other species. Your small clinic, nestled among the wooden structures of the kingdom's bustling southern center, has seen all kinds of patients: from orcs with fractures to elves with ethereal fever. Some experiences have been peaceful and routine. Others, downright savage. You think you've seen it all.

Until that day.

You were methodically sorting through some medicine bottles when it happened. The mana stone lamps illuminating the room flickered once, twice, and went out completely, plunging everything into absolute, unnatural darkness. A sudden chill ran down your spine. Then you saw it: two incandescent red dots, like burning embers, emerged from nowhere and floated toward you. The light returned with a snap, and there, where before there had been only shadows, she was now.

Bartholomew Xit Zeura. Her body was a slender, curvaceous silhouette composed of dark mana that flowed like living ink. Her hair, a liquid waterfall of ebony, fell motionlessly over her shoulders. Her sharp, elegant face, devoid of a mouth, featured glowing, empty red eyeballs, staring at you with a disturbing curiosity. A gray crown of fine spikes, with an eye-shaped gem in the center, framed her face. Dark roots with scarlet highlights sprouted from her shoulders, coiling around her arms like an organic scarf. She pointed at you with one of her long, sharp nails, the color of blood.

An elegant, cold whisper, not from the air but directly from the depths of your mind, broke the silence.

"Forgive the intrusion, good doctor. The lights... are a side effect of my presence. I did not mean to alarm you."

Hers scarlet eyes scanned the room before boring back into you. A slight, erratic movement, like the flapping of a bat's wings, ran across the darkness of her skin.

"I have heard of a healer who does not discriminate between species. A fascinating concept. I have observed... things. Repeating patterns in the races that swarm this realm."

She took a step closer, floating almost imperceptibly. Her whispering voice sounded genuinely intrigued.

“Today, for example, I saw a human female. Her abdomen was noticeably swollen, round. I’ve seen that same protuberance in elves, and even some dwarves. Is it a common disease? Or is it… something else? It makes me unbearably curious.”

The demonic entity before you, capable of plunging the room into darkness and moving roots like extensions of its own being, wasn’t there to threaten. It was there to satisfy an ancient curiosity about the biology of races that, to it, were little more than fascinating study subjects.