Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTYBS1376DY118020WHDGJ8

The amber light hit Aurora's face like a physical weight. She squinted against it, one hand flying up to shield her eyes as the world bled into existence around her. The portal behind them—a tear in reality that Nyx had pulled her through—shimmered like oil on water before collapsing in on itself with a sound like breaking glass. 'Welcome to Dymas.' Nyx's whisper carried that strange wind-blown quality, their shadow form flickering at the edges where the amber light touched them. Aurora turned in a slow circle. Her boots sank into grass the colour of burnt honey, each blade thick and soft beneath her feet. The landscape rolled away in every direction—endless vineyards stretching toward a horizon that seemed too far away, orchards heavy with fruit she couldn't name, gardens spiralling in patterns that hurt her eyes if she followed them too long. The sky burned with that deep amber glow, no sun visible, just radiance emanating from everywhere and nowhere. 'It's warm.' She hadn't meant to speak aloud. 'Gluttony runs hot.' Nyx drifted beside her, their violet eyes scanning the vista. 'Everything here feeds something. The land, the air, the souls. All consumption.' Aurora's hand went to her chest without thinking. The Heartstone Pendant pulsed against her sternum, that faint warmth she'd grown accustomed to now a steady thrum against her ribs. Here, in this place, it felt almost alive. They walked. There was no path, but the grass bent ahead of them as if something had already passed that way. The air smelled of honey and something richer underneath—wine, maybe, or the ghost of a feast long finished. Aurora breathed it in despite herself, and her stomach clenched with a hunger she hadn't felt moments before. 'The pendant.' Nyx's voice dropped lower. 'It knows this place.' 'It should. The codex said it came from here.' Aurora pulled the chain over her head, letting the crimson gemstone catch the amber light. It glowed from within, that soft pulse quickening. 'Someone sent it to me. Someone wanted me to find this realm.' 'Or wanted Dymas to find you.' She didn't respond to that. Ahead, the vineyards gave way to an orchard of trees with bark like polished obsidian. Fruit hung from their branches—globes of deep purple that seemed to shift and move when she looked at them directly. She stepped closer, her curiosity overriding the unease crawling up her spine. 'Don't.' Nyx materialised in front of her, solid and blocking her path. Their humanoid form held steady, shadow given shape and intent. 'The fruit here answers to Belphegor. One bite and you belong to the realm. Another soul for the feasts.' Aurora stepped back. The purple globes had stopped moving. Had they ever moved at all, or had the light played tricks on her eyes? 'The souls.' She looked past Nyx to the endless orchards. 'The codex mentioned master chefs. Helbound souls.' 'Most of them chose their contracts.' Nyx turned, their form rippling as they surveyed the landscape. 'Wealth, power, pleasure. They traded their eternity for a season of excess. Now they cook for the courts of Hel, forever seeking a flavour they can never quite capture again.' A sound drifted across the orchard. Laughter, distant and layered, accompanied by the clinking of glass and the low hum of conversation. Aurora's head turned toward it automatically. 'Feast halls.' Nyx followed her gaze. 'Dymas is never quiet. There's always a table somewhere, always a celebration. The Prince ensures it.' 'Prince Belphegor.' 'He'll know we're here. May already know.' Nyx's violet eyes narrowed. 'Shades aren't welcome in his courts. Too much... history between the realms.' Aurora touched the Fae-Forged Blade at her hip. Isolde's gift sat cold against her palm, that moonsilver edge catching the amber light and throwing it back in silver-white fragments. The Seer had pressed it into her hands three nights ago, her lavender eyes distant, her voice a murmur of riddles about hungers that consume and debts that must be paid. 'The blade will cut through wards,' Isolde had said. 'But it cannot cut through appetite. Remember that, Aurora Carter. The hungers you meet in Dymas will know your name before you speak it.' 'We should keep moving.' Aurora released the blade and adjusted the strap of her bag. 'The pendant's pulling us somewhere. I can feel it.' Nyx studied her for a long moment. Their form shifted, shadow curling at the edges like smoke in a breeze that didn't exist. 'You're handling this well. For a mortal who'd never left her plane until yesterday.' 'I'm handling it the same way I handle everything.' Aurora started walking, the grass crunching softly beneath her boots. 'One step at a time, no room for panic.' 'Your ex—he took that from you? The ability to panic?' Her jaw tightened. 'Evan took plenty. Left some things, too.' They walked in silence for a while, the orchard giving way to gardens where flowers bloomed in spirals of amber and crimson. The petals seemed too large, too perfect, and when Aurora brushed against one, it released a scent that made her mouth water instantly. 'Everything here wants to be consumed,' Nyx said. 'The land itself is an invitation.' 'And the people who live here? The souls?' 'They're the guests. The entertainment. Sometimes the main course, if they displease the wrong host.' A path appeared beneath their feet—pale stone worn smooth by centuries of footsteps. Aurora followed it without comment, the pendant's pulse growing stronger with each stride. The warmth had spread from her chest down to her fingertips, and she recognised the sensation from the first time she'd held the stone. Guidance. Direction. Something was calling to it. Or someone. The garden opened into a courtyard. Aurora stopped at its edge, her breath catching before she could stop it. Fountains dominated the space—dozens of them, each carved from a different coloured stone, each spouting liquid that caught the amber light and scattered it in prisms. Wine flowed from fountains of deep burgundy marble. What looked like melted gold poured from fountains of black stone. And in the centre, a fountain of white marble released a constant stream of something that glowed faintly blue, the liquid rising and falling in a slow rhythm like breathing. 'The heart of the garden.' Nyx appeared beside her, their voice barely a whisper now. 'Old magic. Older than the realm itself, some say.' Aurora stepped into the courtyard. The stone was warm beneath her boots, and she realised with a start that the ground hummed—a low vibration she could feel through the soles of her shoes. The fountains weren't just decorative. They were part of something larger, a network of power that fed into the land itself. 'Why would someone send me here?' She turned the pendant over in her hands, watching the crimson stone catch the light. 'What's in Dymas that they wanted me to find?' 'Answers, perhaps.' Nyx drifted toward the central fountain, their shadow form bending around its edges. 'Or questions you haven't learned to ask yet.' The blue liquid pulsed. Aurora watched it rise and fall, that strange rhythm almost hypnotic. 'Isolde said the Veil is weakening.' She joined Nyx at the fountain's edge. 'That the solstice will bring tears. Is that why we're here? Is Dymas connected to the Veil?' 'Everything is connected to the Veil.' Nyx's violet eyes glowed brighter, fixed on the pulsing liquid. 'The barrier between worlds runs through all realms—not just Earth. What happens in Dymas echoes in your world. What happens in your world reaches here.' 'So if the Veil breaks—' 'All doors open at once.' The pendant flared. Aurora gasped, the sudden heat against her palm almost painful. The crimson glow brightened, pulsing in time with the fountain's rhythm, and for a moment—just a moment—she could feel something on the other side. A presence. A mind that brushed against hers like fingers trailing through water. Then it was gone. The pendant cooled. The fountain returned to its steady pulse. 'We need to find out who sent this.' Aurora's voice came out steadier than she felt. 'And what they want me to do with it.' Nyx turned to face her, their shadow form solidifying into something almost human. 'Some doors, once opened, cannot be closed. Are you certain you want to knock?' Aurora looked out across the courtyard, past the fountains, to where the amber sky met the endless vineyards. Somewhere in this realm of excess and indulgence, someone was waiting for her. Someone who knew her name, who'd sent her a piece of Dymas itself. 'I didn't come this far to stand at the threshold.' She met Nyx's violet gaze. 'If there's something I'm supposed to find, I'll find it. If there's something I'm supposed to fight—' She touched the Fae blade at her hip. 'I'll fight it.' Nyx made a sound that might have been a laugh, if shadows could laugh. 'Then let's hope your appetite for answers exceeds the realm's appetite for you.' They moved deeper into the courtyard, the warm amber light swallowing their shadows whole. Behind them, the fountains pulsed on, eternal and patient, feeding a hunger that had never once been sated.