Leo stepped out. He held the locket up, the silver catching the moonlight. “Peter,” Leo said, loud and clear.The man’s head snapped up. His eyes were solid white.The man’s face twisted. It wasn’t his own face anymore. It was a mask of pain and hate. “That name,” the demon hissed through the man’s mouth. “She said that name when she left me!”“It’s over, Peter,” Chloe said, stepping out next to Leo. Her voice was calm but strong. “Grace is gone. The pain is old. You’re holding onto a ghost.”“She betrayed me!” the creature screamed. It took a step toward them, the man’s hands curling into claws.“And you became the betrayal,” Leo said. He didn’t move back. “You’re doing to others what was done to you. Doesn’t that feel hollow? Doesn’t that feel empty?”The creature stopped. For a second, the white eyes seemed to flicker. The man’s own confused, scared brown eyes showed through. Then the white flooded back. “It’s all I have! The rage is warm. The love was cold.”“It’s a lie,” Chloe sa

The creature Darwin released did not attack with claws or teeth. It attacked with want.It found its home in a man named Robert, a loan manager at a big bank. Robert already thought about money all day. He liked nice suits. He dreamed of a bigger house. The purple smoke, filled with those tiny red eyes, drifted into his office air vent. He breathed it in with a sigh about his low bonus.The change was slow. Greed is a quiet demon.By the next day, Robert wasn’t just thinking about money. He was hungry for it. It felt like a physical ache. He looked at his clients and didn’t see people. He saw wallets. He saw dollar signs where their eyes should be.He approved a bad loan for a sweet old lady, knowing she would lose her home. It made the hunger ease for a second. Then it came back, worse.That night, he walked home through the city’s old financial district. He passed a young couple counting their change for a coffee. Their small coins jingled. The sound was like a dinner bell to the th

The car ride back to Leo’s apartment was a quiet one. That fiery feeling from staring down Darwin and the whole board had fizzled out. Now they were just tired. A deep-down, bone-aching kind of tired that made everything feel heavy.Walking into his apartment was a relief. It was like stepping into a quiet cave after being in a hurricane. They both just stopped inside the door for a second, breathing in the stillness.Leo toed off his shoes. They landed with two soft thumps by the door. He yanked at the knot of his tie, finally pulling the silk loose and dragging it over his head. He looked at the thing, all expensive and sleek, and just tossed it onto a chair. It felt like a costume. One he was glad to be out of.Chloe padded into the kitchen in her socks. The click of the kettle, the shuffle of mugs—they were normal sounds. Good sounds. For a little while, they just… existed. Leo sank into the couch, scrolling through news on his phone. The “greed attack” was already being explained

The woods up north were dense. The path Liana led them on wasn’t a path at all. Just animal trails and gaps between trees. They had to duck under branches. Chloe’s jacket got snagged on a thorny vine.No one talked. The only sounds were their breathing and the crunch of leaves under their feet.Finally, Liana stopped. They were in a small clearing where a giant oak tree had fallen long ago. Its rotting trunk was a home for mushrooms and bugs. She pointed to a spot near its massive roots. The ground was just a slight dip, covered in moss.“Here,” she said. Her voice was empty. “I dug it deep.”Leo and Chloe had brought shovels from the cabin shed. They started digging. The dirt was dark and full of fat, wriggling worms. The work was hard. Sweat stuck Leo’s shirt to his back in minutes. His shoulders burned.After what felt like forever, his shovel hit something solid. Not a rock. A dull, hollow thump.They cleared the dirt with their hands, frantic now. It was a coffin. But not a nice

The guest room in Leo’s apartment was small. Just a bed, a dresser, a lamp. To Iden, it was a palace of mysteries.Leo showed him the light switch. Iden flipped it three times, watching the lamp obediently light up and die. “A obedient sun,” he nodded, satisfied.Then he saw the bed. He walked around it, poked the thick comforter, then sat on the edge. He bounced, slightly. His eyebrows shot up.“It is a cloud,” he declared. “You sleep on a captured cloud.” He laid back, arms straight at his sides, staring at the ceiling. “It is too soft. Where is the straw? The firm support for the spine?”“You get used to it,” Leo said from the doorway. “Get some sleep.”“Sleep,” Iden repeated, as if it were a complex spell. He was still lying stiff as a board when Leo shut the door.---Morning came. Leo was in the kitchen, boiling water. He heard the guest room door open. Iden emerged, looking rumpled and deeply confused. He was still wearing his ancient tunic and trousers.“The cloud… it tried to