Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTQQSP28S7J80TM7HXH1T70

The standing stones of the Fae Grove stood sentinel, ancient oaks gnarled and twisted, their branches grasping at the indigo sky. Aurora Carter, known as Rory to her friends, stepped cautiously into the moonlit clearing, her bright blue eyes scanning the shadows. She shouldn't be here. The Fae Grove was forbidden to humans, a place where time moved strangely and the walls between worlds thinned. But the Heartstone pendant around her neck, with its deep crimson gemstone, pulsed with warmth, urging her forward. She had to know why it had been given to her, and by whom. A breeze whispered through the wildflowers carpeting the grove, their petals shimmering in the starlight. Rory shivered despite her jacket. The hairs on her arms rose as if electrically charged. She could feel...something. A presence that sent her pulse racing. "This place is giving me the creeps," she muttered, her voice sounding small and lost. She thought of her cramped flat above Silas' bar, of the comforting neon glow of the Golden Empress' sign. Anything but this eerie, unnatural silence. A flutter of movement caught her eye. In the trees? No, beyond them. A shiver ran down her spine. She wasn't alone. "Who's there?" she called, hating the tremor in her voice. "Show yourself!" But the whispering breeze was her only answer, teasing at her straight black hair. Rory took a deep breath, trying to calm her hammering heart. She was imagining things. Letting the stories about this place get to her. Still, as she moved deeper into the grove, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. The pendant's pulsing warmth against her chest was both a comfort and a warning. It had led her here for a reason. The air grew thick and heavy, pressing in on her from all sides. Feeling light-headed, Rory stopped, bracing her hands on her knees. The silver chain of the pendant seemed to tighten around her neck. What was happening? Fear spiked through her, sharp and cold. The pendant, previously a faint inner glow, now burned bright as a captured sun. And then she heard it - a voice, low and sinuous, weaving through the wildflower stalks. *"Aurora..."* Her head snapped up, eyes wild. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "Evan?" But no, that was impossible. Evan was miles away in Cardiff, hopefully never to darken her door again. But the voice had been so like his, dripping with venom and false sweetness. As the Heartstone blazed against her chest, a shadow detached itself from the standing stones. Taller than a man, with eyes that glowed an eerie green, it watched her with a hungry expression. Rory stumbled back, a scream locked in her throat. What was that thing? Its form shifted and changed as she watched, at times almost human, at others a mass of writhing shadows. Her fingers scrabbled at the pendant's chain, desperate to stop the burning. The instant her fingers brushed the crimson gemstone, the creature shrieked, an awful sound that scraped along her bones. Time seemed to slow, the creature moving as if through syrup as it lunged for her. And in that frozen moment, Rory understood. The pendant wasn't just a pretty bauble. It was her only protection against the monsters of the Fae Grove. As the world sped back up, the shadows engulfed her in a suffocating embrace. The pendant's light flared, a shockwave of power exploding outwards... And everything went black.