“The orb?”
Aurora’s hands shook like a damn earthquake as she fumbled at her pouch. Everyone thought she still had that broken half.
Everyone assumed it was the same harmless cursed fragment they had been babysitting like idiots. But when Aurora’s trembling fingers closed over the sphere...her entire spine jolted. She dragged it out like she just pulled death from her throat.
It wasn’t half.
It wasn’t cracked.
It was full.
Whole. Sealed. Perfect. Cursed beyond reason.
There was a faint glimmering line, a faint seam in the middle...like two halves brutally stitched into one. Something in that single thin line triggered something inside Aurora’s chest like a trauma memory she didn’t consent to replay.
Aurora choked, stumbled back, horrified, and then screamed...so loud her vocal ch
