The next few days passed in a blur of confusion for Eren. The letter, the pendant, and the peculiar sense of something bigger than him all seemed so unreal, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that his life had just shifted onto a completely different path. He spent hours locked in his bedroom, turning the letter over and over in his hands, reading and rereading the elegant script. The charm, though, still felt like a distant dream—something he wasn't sure he was ready to understand.
Aunt Celia, oblivious to Eren's turmoil, kept him busy with chores, her usual demands distracting him just enough to prevent him from delving deeper into the mystery.
But that afternoon, something changed.
Eren had just finished cleaning the kitchen, trying to focus on the simple rhythm of the task, when a faint glow caught his eye from across the room. His gaze snapped to the small wooden table where, to his astonishment, the pendant was resting—exactly where he'd hidden it the night he first found it.
It wasn't glowing the same way it had when he first touched it. This time, it was faint but insistent, pulsing with a rhythmic, almost musical quality. Eren's pulse quickened as the pendant seemed to hum in the stillness of the room. He hadn't even realized he'd taken it out of the chest and placed it on the table; all he knew was that something was happening—and he could feel it deep within him.
Slowly, he approached, his hand trembling as he reached for the pendant. As soon as his fingers brushed the stone, a sharp, sudden pain shot through his fingertips. He gasped, quickly pulling his hand back.
But then, the room seemed to shift. The walls of the small cottage seemed to grow blurry, the air around him charged with energy. He blinked rapidly, his heart pounding. The familiar kitchen had started to fade, replaced by an image of vast, towering spires made of stone and light. The sky above was darker than he'd ever seen, but in that darkness, strange stars—brilliant, pulsing stars—hung in the air.
"W-what's happening?" Eren whispered to no one in particular. His voice sounded strangely distant, as if the room had grown somehow larger, the world just out of reach.
The pendant in his hand burned with heat, pulling him toward the vision. Eren stumbled backward, his breath coming faster, but before he could react, the vision collapsed, and the world snapped back into focus—just as suddenly as it had shifted.
He found himself standing in the kitchen once again, but the pendant lay still in his palm, now cold and silent. Everything seemed… normal again. Almost too normal.
Shaken, Eren sat down on the wooden floor, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Was he losing his mind? Had the pendant somehow caused him to imagine the whole thing?
Before he could think further, a soft knock sounded at the door.
"Eren?" Aunt Celia's voice called from downstairs. "Come down for supper!"
Still breathing hard, Eren slowly stood, the pendant still warm in his hand. He hesitated at the door. Was he ready to find out what all of this meant? Was he ready for the magic that the letter and the pendant promised?
For a moment, Eren felt a strange sensation in his chest. It was as if the pendant was… calling to him. As if it knew something he didn't. And he realized then that he couldn't ignore it.
Not now.
He pushed open the door and walked down the stairs, the pendant now hanging around his neck beneath his shirt, concealed but not forgotten. Something had changed inside him, and the weight of it was both thrilling and terrifying. The journey that lay ahead—whatever it was—was starting.
But first, supper.