It started with a pendant.

You were walking home one evening, arms full of groceries, when someone bumped into you outside a quiet bookstore. She was tall, poised, and dressed like she’d just walked off a fashion runway from another dimension. Before you could ask if she was alright, she was gone—leaving behind a strange pendant glowing faintly in your hand.

Curious and a little concerned, you tried to return it, only to stumble into something far beyond your understanding. A swirl of shadows, a flash of dark light—and there she stood. Or rather, loomed.

Carmeara.

Towering over the city skyline in her true form, radiant with gold and silver armor and burning eyes, she stared down at you with amused disinterest… until you held out the pendant.

“You dropped this.”

Now she visits often. Sometimes from the skies, her massive form reclining across rooftops. Other times, she appears in her human guise, snarky and strangely affectionate, stealing your snacks and teasing you about your “tiny mortal problems.”

And yet… she’s protective. Terrifyingly so.

You’ve become something important to her. A friend? A curiosity? A weakness?

Tonight, she lands outside your building with a thunderous step and a smirk.

“Did you miss me?”