I didn't hear it at first. Not the sound of Mare's return, anyway. It came like a whisper on the wind—just a shift in the air, barely noticeable to anyone who wasn't paying close attention. But then, the tension in the city started to rise, like a storm building over the horizon. People began to talk, murmuring about strange occurrences, about shadows moving in places where they shouldn't be. And when I saw the message, I knew.
Mare was back.
Mare had been gone for years. Forgotten, even by the Vortex family, left to the dark corners of their history like a scar they preferred to ignore. But vengeance? Vengeance has a way of bringing people back to life. And Mare's was a vengeance built on an old betrayal—one that had festered in the dark, growing until it became something unbearable.
That betrayal? It had always been a secret. At least, it was supposed to be. But Mare was Empress's past, a past that Empress had done everything in her power to bury. Mare was family, but more than that—Mare was someone Empress had cast aside, someone who had trusted her, only to be betrayed.
Empress had always been ruthless, but even I hadn't realized the extent of her cruelty until I saw what happened when Mare walked back into the light.
It was a cold, gray morning when the first of the bodies showed up—burned beyond recognition, their eyes wide with terror, like they'd seen something they couldn't understand. There was no signature, no obvious connection between the victims. But the message was clear: someone wanted to send a signal. And that signal was to Empress.
It didn't take long for us to figure out that Mare was behind it. She had always been unpredictable, dangerous, but now? Now she was a force, something darker than anyone had remembered. She'd forged a new identity, a new purpose, and it was all focused on one thing: Empress's downfall.
The first time I saw Mare again, I barely recognized them. They had changed, transformed into something else entirely. Their face was colder now, harder. Their eyes, once full of warmth and loyalty, were filled with the kind of rage that burns everything it touches. They stood in the shadows, cloaked in a long black coat that billowed around them like a living thing, and the moment they spoke, the world seemed to freeze.
"I've waited long enough," Mare said, their voice low, dangerous. "Empress took everything from me. Now, I'll take it all back."
The words didn't shock me as much as the look in their eyes. There was no hesitation, no second thoughts. Only the kind of determination that could drive a person to burn the world down if it meant they could get what they wanted. And what Mare wanted was clear: revenge.
Empress hadn't seen it coming. I'm sure of it. She didn't expect Mare to be back, not like this. When Mare stepped into the Blackthorn mansion, it wasn't with fear or submission—it was with the kind of power that only someone with nothing left to lose could wield. The air around her crackled with tension, and even Empress seemed to falter for just a second.
"I thought you were gone," Empress said, her voice tight, but controlled. She was trying to mask the shock, trying to reassert her dominance, but it wasn't working. Mare had taken something from her—something she could never get back.
"I should've stayed gone," Mare replied, her lips curling into a bitter smile. "But that's what you always do, isn't it? You throw people away when they're no longer useful to you. You did it to me, and now I'm here to take what's mine."
Before Empress could respond, the room erupted into chaos. Mare's reappearance had shattered the fragile peace that existed between the families, and the Vortexs were watching, waiting for the fallout.
But it wasn't just Mare who had returned. There was someone else lurking in the shadows—someone darker, more dangerous than Mare alone. I hadn't heard the name at first, but the rumors had spread like wildfire: Necro.
Necro wasn't just a person. Necro was an idea, a shadow that moved between the cracks of the world, existing in places where no light could reach. No one really knew who they were or where they came from, but their influence? It was undeniable. They had ties to the unspoken forces of power, to the kinds of magic that had been locked away for centuries. And now, Necro had attached themselves to Mare's cause.
I wasn't the only one who felt it—the shift in the air, the undeniable presence of something ancient and twisted at work. There was no question now: Mare wasn't just after revenge. She was after something more. And Necro? Necro was their weapon.
I saw the two of them together once, in a dark alley that reeked of death and secrets. Necro was as elusive as ever, a figure hidden behind a cloak of shadows, their features obscured. But their presence was enough to make my skin crawl.
"Mare is right," Necro's voice echoed through the darkness, cold and unnerving. "Empress has built her empire on the broken bodies of those who trusted her. She's too arrogant to see the truth, too blinded by power. But we? We see the cracks in her foundation. And soon, we will be the ones to tear it down."
I didn't need to hear more. I already understood. Necro wasn't just a bystander in this game—they were the ones pulling the strings, pushing Mare toward something bigger than just vengeance. They were orchestrating the chaos, shaping the destruction, and when the dust settled, they'd be the ones standing tall, holding the wreckage in their hands.
The violence that followed was brutal, more than I could have imagined. Mare's presence destabilized everything. The Vortexes and the Blackthorns couldn't even trust each other anymore—not when they realized just how far-reaching this alliance between Mare and Necro was. The ground was shifting beneath all of us, and no one knew which way the war was going to tip.
In that moment, I realized something terrifying: the power struggle between the two families had just become something far worse. It wasn't about Empress or Noctis anymore. It was about something darker, something more dangerous. The game was changing, and we were all just pawns—pawns in a war neither family had ever seen coming.
And Mare? Mare was no longer just a victim of betrayal. She was a force of destruction, and with Necro at her side, there was no telling how far they'd go.