Faelyn held her breath.
"Either way," the voice said after a pause, "it doesn't matter to me. What matters is what you can give me."
Relief flooded through her, though her situation was still dire.
'It doesn't know. Not exactly. It senses something different about me but hasn't figured out I'm from another world. I need to keep it that way.'
"What happened to them?" Faelyn asked, trying to redirect the conversation. "You said you'd encountered other blessed ones. What happened to them?"
The silence stretched so long Faelyn thought the entity wouldn't answer.
Then, quietly: "They stayed. Eventually."
The words sent chills down Faelyn's spine.
"You have something in your mind," the entity said, voice shifting back to male, curious now. "Something hidden deep in your consciousness. Not quite part of you, but merged with your thoughts. I can sense its edges but not its shape. Like a shadow I cannot see directly."
Faelyn's stomach dropped.
'The system. It's sensing the system—'
