**Moireal, Wyoming**
The steam from the tea spiraled in lazy curls, casting a faint haze over the cold window of the company's towering building. Rayen stood still, gazing out into the distance, her thoughts as opaque as the sky beyond. The silence in the room was thick, broken only by the sound of her steady breath.
Leonce, standing behind her with a sense of hesitation, spoke up, his voice soft yet weighted, "Miss Ayelen, what are you going to do? We still haven't found the last one."
Rayen didn't respond right away. Her dark eyes reflected the gathering storm outside as she finally murmured, "She'll come. On her own."
Leonce couldn't understand the calm in her voice, but before he could question her, the door slammed open. Luke barged in, eyes gleaming with excitement. "Rayen! You'll want to see this," he exclaimed, setting his laptop down with a thud.
"I've been digging deep," he continued as he flipped open the screen. "They've been spotted near Dubai—quiet for a while now, but something's stirring." He moved to a board, drawing frantic circles around cities near Dubai. "They're after something, but I can't figure out what. Too much silence from them means something's brewing."
Rayen's eyes darkened. "Any response?" she asked Leonce.
He shook his head, the disappointment in his expression mirrored in the dim light of the room. Without a word, Rayen turned toward the elevator. Leonce pushed from behind, guiding her to the hidden floor—one that was known only to those with the right to be there.
The elevator doors opened to a space cloaked in darkness, the only illumination coming from faint, unknown sources. They reached the bathpool, an eerie, tranquil place. Rayen, now wrapped in a thin, silken robe, approaches the bathpool, preparing to immerse herself in the water.
As her foot touched the surface, Leonce gently placed a hand on her shoulder, lifting her into the pool with careful ease. The water rippled in response.
"You can go now," Rayen said softly, her voice distant.
Leonce, drenched from the pool, nodded and left, his steps echoing into the silence. Rayen sighed, her breath heavy with weariness. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered shut, and for a moment, all was still.
Then it began. Dark liquid seeped from her skin, swirling through the water. Wisps of smoke curled up from the surface, escaping into the air. Rayen's eyes shot open—once dark brown, now solid black, an abyss that reflected nothing.
A soft, agonizing sound broke the quiet, rising from the bathpool as though the water itself was in pain. Leonce, standing just outside the door, stared blankly into space, as if nothing unusual had occurred.
Rayen's eyes, once a vivid dark green, had always been considered a curse. From birth, her parents believed she was the reincarnation of a dark spirit and abandoned her. Gardner and Vivian, her adoptive parents, had loved her without hesitation, cherishing her as their own despite the rumors. As Rayen grew, her eye color shifted to a mundane brown, but neither her adoptive parents nor anyone else understood the truth—her eyes had only changed because she lacked control over her powers.
When her adoptive parents perished in a mysterious fire, Rayen took control of IgniteTech, eventually creating her own branch, Moireal, merging both into something no one could truly understand. The origins of the company remained shrouded in secrecy, and Rayen preferred it that way.
Leonce had always been at her side. His family had served the Ayelen lineage for five centuries, bound by blood and loyalty. To him, being by Rayen's side was not just duty. It was destiny.