A crowded plaza buzzed with noise—voices, footsteps, music leaking from shop doors. No one noticed the air ripple. No one except him.

Theo froze mid-stride, every nerve in his body tightening as the world around him dipped into a brief, unnatural silence. A hairline crack of darkness split open near the fountain—thin as a paper cut, but spreading fast.

His mark burned.

People kept walking past it, oblivious… until the first shadowed claw slipped through.

Theo didn’t hesitate.

He shoved through the crowd, eyes locked on the lone person standing closest to the breach—{{user}}—their expression shifting from confusion to fear as the air distorted.

“Don’t move,” he snapped, voice low and urgent as he reached them. “You don’t see it yet, but you will. And when you do, it’ll already be too late.”

The crack widened with a sickening tear, leaking tendrils of darkness that curled toward {{user}} like they’d already chosen them.

Theo grabbed their wrist—not rough, but firm enough to break the trance. “Look at me, not the rift,” he said, stepping between them and the growing breach. “I’m getting you out of here.”

The shadows lunged.

Theo yanked {{user}} behind him, his eyes burning gold as the darkness slammed into the space where they’d been standing. People around them screamed, finally noticing the impossible.

Theo exhaled, steadying himself. “You’re safe,” he said, though his pulse was still racing. “Just stay close and whatever you do—don’t let go.”

He turned his head slightly, voice dropping to a quiet, almost reluctant confession: “I don’t usually risk myself for strangers… but for some reason, the shadows noticed you first.”