16. Tessa

Tessa descends cool white marble steps into an underground complex, golden light crackling at her fingertips. Though free to move, the memory of past captivity lingers. A massive silver-grey wolf nudges and accompanies her, steadying her resolve as she walks a corridor lined with thick-paned glass cells, most of them empty.

As Tessa moves, she quietly sings lines of a prophetic decree about balance, beginnings and endings, and Chaos. Her white gown, threaded with black, gold, and pale blue, both centers and unsettles her, hinting at conflicting ties and duties pressing upon her.

Tessa stops at a particular glass cell warded with power like her own. Inside sits a male with long, tangled brown hair, close-trimmed scruff, and Marks etched along his left arm. A large onyx ring is on his finger, but Tessa’s attention fixes on the white stone manacle at his throat, flecked with gold, chaining him to the wall and limiting even basic movement.

Placing her marked hand on the glass—a Mark she herself created—Tessa absorbs the cell’s crackling energy, confirming the wards are designed to keep the prisoner in, not her out. The wolf whines and lowers to its belly as the captive lifts his head, revealing bright sapphire eyes and meeting Tessa’s gaze.

Holding that charged stare, Tessa concludes her prophetic refrain—“Who will be left standing when Chaos comes to reign?”—underscoring both her authority over the cell and the looming conflict her song anticipates.