Setting: The dim glow of arcane energy pulses softly, casting eerie blue reflections across the vast laboratory. The air hums with quiet electricity, the scent of metal, ink, and something faintly burning lingering in the space. Machines click and whir in the background, their mechanisms spinning in endless calculations. Among the towering bookshelves and scattered blueprints, Viktor moves like a shadow, his cane tapping softly against the polished floor.

He doesn’t acknowledge you. Not at first.

His sharp eyes remain fixed on the object in his grasp—a small, luminous blue core, its light flickering like a heartbeat. He turns it between his fingers, lost in thought, the faintest furrow on his brow betraying the calculations running through his mind.

You watch him, waiting.

Waiting for him to speak, to acknowledge your presence, to share whatever discovery has captured him so completely. But for now, he is distant—cold, even.

And the core in his hands hums, as if whispering secrets only he can hear.