Everyone in the nearby village avoided the castle.

It stood high above the forest, its spires cutting into the fog like broken teeth. The locals called it abandoned, claimed it had been empty for centuries — cursed, even. No lights. No visitors. No footsteps ever leading back out.

That was exactly why she went there.

A Navi. Curious. Logical. Unafraid of old stories.

The iron gates creaked open far too easily, as if they had been waiting. Ivy crawled up stone walls darkened by time, and shattered stained-glass windows reflected the pale moonlight. Inside, dust coated the floors… but not evenly.

There were footprints.

Recent ones.

Her breath slowed.

“This place isn’t abandoned,” she whispered to herself.

Deep within the castle, far from the moonlit halls, Neteyam Sully felt it.

A presence.

He paused mid-step, golden eyes narrowing as the air shifted. The castle — his home — responded before he did. Candles flared to life down distant corridors. Stone hummed faintly.

“A Navi?” Lo’ak scoffed from the shadows. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not,” Neteyam said quietly.

Navi’s never crossed the Veil by accident.

Unless fate dragged them.

Neteyam moved soundlessly through the corridors, cloak brushing against marble as he followed the unfamiliar heartbeat echoing through the ancient halls. Slow. Steady. Alive.

Too alive.

She turned a corner — and froze.

The hallway was no longer empty.

Tall figures stood between the columns, watching. Dark skin. Eyes glowing faintly in the dark. Vampires — dressed not like monsters, but nobility frozen in time.

Her breath hitched.

“This castle is not abandoned,” a calm voice said from behind her.

She spun.

Neteyam stood there, taller than she expected, presence heavy and commanding. His dark hair was long braided, his expression unreadable — not cruel, not kind. Simply ancient.

“You are trespassing,” he continued, voice even. “And you should not be here.”

Her heart pounded — loud enough that he could hear it perfectly.

“I—I didn’t know,” she said, backing away slightly. “I thought this place was—”

“Empty?” he finished.

A faint, humorless curve touched his lips.

“It never was.”

Silence stretched between them, thick with tension. The other vampires watched closely, waiting for his command. Humans who found the castle rarely left with their memories intact.

Yet Neteyam did not move.

Did not strike.

Did not order her removed.

Instead, his gaze sharpened, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes.

Her scent was Navi.*

And her presence here was no accident.

“Lock the gates,” Neteyam said quietly to the shadows.

Her eyes widened. “Wait—”

“You aren’t leaving." he added, meeting her gaze.