"What the hell is this?" Stephan muttered, barely above a whisper. "What the hell is this aura?"
He leaned back slowly in his chair, scanning the open office floor. Heads bobbed over keyboards, so pretending to work, others barely trying.
Anna Mary? No. The only aura leaking off her was her beauty, her perfu, her presence. All fire and no death.
Gerald? Please. The only thing he leaked was diocrity.
Then it hit him.
Whoever was leaking that Soul Energy... was doing it deliberately. They knew what he was. A Player just like them.This wasn’t a slip. It was a ssage.
But what kind of ssage?
His eyes swept to Eva. She looked focused, hunched over her monitor, typing with purpose. Too natural.
Then he glanced at Yennefer.
Her sharp, grey, catlike eyes were already on him, locked in. Unwavering and challenging.
A silent duel in a sea of mundanity.
He narrowed his gaze and shut his eyes, reaching out with his senses. The Soul Energy coiled in the air like smoke... thickest near her.
When he opened his eyes again, she was still staring.
It’s her.
She was a Player, a Vessel, chosen of a Death-God, just like him. But how? Had she died too? Was she reborn like he was?
She smiled but not with kindness or with cruelty but just knowingly.
Then she turned back to her desktop, as if nothing had happened.
Thoughts slamd into Stephan like a wave.
Did she have a System too? Was her Death-God like Lucidas... or worse?And more importantly, was she a threat or a potential ally?
He almost laughed at that last thought.
"Tsk...." he whispered with a grin. "Who am I kidding? This is a competition. We’re all enemies."
His first rival wasn’t out there in so far-off dungeon. She was sitting right there. One desk over.
Closer than he could’ve imagined.
"I wonder what level she’s at..."
He intended to find out.
From that mont on, ti seed to slow around Stephan. Everything else, keyboards clacking, phones ringing, voices murmuring, faded into the background. His focus narrowed to one thing.
Yennefer.
He wanted to talk to her. To ask about the Tournant, the Systems, the Death-Gods. Anything.
But not here. Not yet.
He finished his design, double-checked the details, and sent it to his supervisor via email.
A few minutes later, his phone vibrated.
[Unknown: hello god]
His eyes didn’t widen. But sohow, he knew exactly who it was.He looked up but Yennefer didn’t return his glance, she just kept typing, calm and composed.
He smirked, then typed:
[Stephan: What do you want?]
The reply ca almost instantly:
[Yennefer: What, I can’t say hello to a fellow Death-God? Did I surprise you?]
[Stephan: Fucking yeah, you did.]
A pause.
He watched herand she was clearly writing sothing. Her fingers hovered, then moved, then stopped. To Stephan, it felt like she was composing an entire novel.
Finally, her next ssage appeared.
[Yennefer: et after work.]
He looked her way again. This ti, she was staring right back at him. Her smile was unreadable,calm, confident and maybe a little playful. Then she turned back to her screen, as if nothing had happened.
But Stephan knew better. The ga had just begun.
His phone chid again. Stephan snatched it up instinctively, hoping for another ssage from Yennefer.
[Supervisor: Nice design 🔥]
He let out a breath and dropped the phone onto his desk with a loud thud that echoed across the office. Heads turned, everyone except Yennefer.
Stephan t a few curious stares. The mont their eyes locked with his, most turned away. So of the girls blushed.
His life had changed undeniably. For the better, maybe. But new problems had begun to stir... and they had a na now.
Yennefer.
The rest of the day dragged. Every tick of the clock stretched a little longer than usual. Official closing ti was 5 p.m., but most employees stayed behind until six, either to impress or procrastinate.
In his old life, Stephan would’ve been the first to leave, probably already halfway ho by now. But today he sat calmly, waiting.
Waiting for her.
Yennefer.
She hadn’t moved. Hadn’t even glanced in his direction. She was playing it cool. Too cool.
"So... Stephan," a voice broke through his thoughts. "What do you think about the park?"
It was Eva, standing shyly near his desk. But he barely heard her.
"Stephan," she called again, this ti gently nudging his shoulder.
"Huh?" He tilted his head up slowly, eting her eyes.
She dropped her gaze instantly, cheeks flushing. "I was just asking what you thought about the park... but..."
The words trailed off. She was fumbling, and not just for conversation. She was grasping for his attention.
At that mont, Anna Mary passed by. She shot Eva a glare, cold and sharp before gliding out through the door like a queen disapproving of a servant.
Eva shrank back slightly, trying to keep her composure.
Then Yennefer stood.
Her face was unreadable but not empty. Calculated. She picked up her phone and walked out without looking back.
Stephan didn’t move. He was watching without watching, like a man who doesn’t look directly at the sun but still feels its presence.
His phone buzzed again.
[Yennefer: et on the rooftop]
He stood and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"See you tomorrow, Eve," he said casually as he passed by Eva’s desk.
"Ugh... It’s Eva," she mumbled, half-laughing, half-blushing.
He had called her that deliberately.
Cool guys did that. Right?
"I’ll grab my things and....." she turned to catch up, but he was already gone.
Eva sighed, the disappointnt subtle but real. Her fingers tightened on her desk, eyes lingering on the door.
The rooftop was quiet.
A soft evening breeze whispered through the still air, carrying with it the scent of distant traffic and faint exhaust. Concrete tiles spread across the rooftop, and the safety railing ran around the periter like a fence between worlds. The city stretched out below them, towers of glass and steel glowing in the fading dusk.
Yennefer stood at the far end, her back turned, gazing over the edge. Her long coat swayed gently in the wind, and her silver hair shimred faintly under the orange sky.
Stephan stepped forward. One hand was in his pocket. He didn’t have his blade, but that didn’t an he wasn’t ready.
He was approaching a potential enemy.
"Welco, Stephan King," Yennefer said without turning. She bowed low in mockery, her voice dripping with theatrical grace.
Stephan stopped a few feet away, planting his feet firmly. His face was calm, but his eyes were sharp.
"How did you know?" he asked, voice level.
Yennefer straightened and spun to face him. "Seriously? Co on, man. You wake up suddenly tall, built, glowing like a god.....and you think no one’s gonna notice?"
She flung her hands in the air, grinning.
"The glow?" Stephan repeated. "Cut the bullshit."
Her smile only widened. "Alright, fine. It was your Soul Energy. That’s what gave you away."
"My Soul Energy?"
"Yeah," she said, tilting her head. "I sensed it the second you walked into the building. You’re leaking it like a broken faucet."
That stopped him. He hadn’t even known.
"You an I’m... leaking?"
"Mm-hmm. Can’t you suppress it?" she asked, folding her arms. "Because if you can’t, that makes you easy to track. Easy to kill, too."
There was a pause. The wind blew across the rooftop again, this ti colder.
"You’re a player," Stephan said flatly.
"I am," she said proudly.
"That ans you died too."
She nodded, casually. "Fell off a balcony."
He raised an eyebrow. "You an jumped."
She started pacing, amused. "Interpret it however you want. Doesn’t change what I am now."
Her steps slowed, and she turned toward him again.
"But I didn’t call you up here to chat about our tragic deaths."
Stephan’s eyes narrowed. "I’m listening."
Yennefer gave him a look of approval. "Good. Because here’s the truth, Stephan: You, , and others we haven’t even t yet....we’re at war. A war of gods. And right now, none of us are strong enough to fight alone."
She stepped closer, her voice lowering.
"So I’m offering you a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"You work under ," she said. "I’ll protect you. Guide you. Until the ti cos when only one of us is left standing."
Stephan stared at her, then chuckled softly.
"Did you just call weak?"
"I an... you’re a level 2 initiate, aren’t you?" she said with a shrug, as if it were obvious.
Stephan didn’t respond.
"Thought so," she continued, tapping her temple. "My eyes let scan levels, Soul Energy signatures, combat rank, the whole package." Her eyes briefly flashed green. "I’m already level 5."
She delivered it like a bombshell, waiting for his reaction.
But Stephan just smiled. No fear. The man who once kept his head down now stood in front of her with quiet confidence, as if her rank ant nothing.
And maybe to him... it didn’t.
"What if I refuse?" Stephan asked, voice calm, gaze unwavering.
Yennefer’s smile twisted into sothing darker, predatory.
"Then you beco my enemy," she said softly. "Just another obstacle in my path."
Stephan’s lips curved upward into a smile of his own, cold, and dangerous.
"Then I refuse."
The air shifted.
Yennefer’s expression hardened in an instant. The playful glint vanished from her eyes, replaced by sothing deadly serious. A silence stretched between them, heavy and electric.
"Then this is the end of you, Stephan King," she said, voice like ice.
The wind howled between them as the rooftop seed to fall silent, the world briefly holding its breath.
But Stephan didn’t flinch.
He just stared back, as if daring her to try.
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