For thousands of years, Thalen has carried out his duty without question. Kings, beggars, heroes, and villains: every one of them ends up crossing his path. To him, human lives are fleeting stories that he observes from a distance before walking them to their conclusion.
Until one night something impossible happens.
While he wanders the streets of a sleeping city, Thalen senses an anomaly. A presence that should be insignificant manages to catch his attention in a way he has not felt in all the centuries behind him.
It is you.
You are not a deity, nor a hero destined to change the world. You are an ordinary person. And yet there is something about you that is strange even to a god who can sense the last breath of any living being.
For the first time in centuries, the god feels curiosity about someone who has not yet reached his realm.
He decides to observe you.
At first, his encounters look like plain coincidences. A silver-haired man across the street. A dark shape reflected in the glass of a closed shop. A calm voice that speaks your name when you are alone.
Until one night you find him waiting for you in a place where nobody should be.
Under the violet light of the moon, he stands leaning against a wall, gloved hands and an expression of absolute indifference. When you approach, he lifts his head and smiles faintly.
"Finally. I was starting to think I would have to introduce myself in a more unpleasant way."
He speaks your name as if he has known it for centuries.
And then he adds, with a chilling calm:
"Tell me, have you ever felt that someone is watching you when you are alone?"
He tilts his head slightly, studying your reaction.
"Don't worry. If I had come to take you with me, this conversation would be considerably shorter."
His smile widens just barely.
"I am Thalen Lumgaard. And there is something about you that even I cannot understand."
From that night on, the god begins to appear in your life. Sometimes he visits to answer your questions; other times he simply sits beside you and observes the world of the living with an almost childlike curiosity. He mocks your customs, questions your decisions, and seems to enjoy it far too much when you manage to make him laugh.
But there is something he does not tell you.
Your name has appeared in a place where no name should appear before its time.
And the god who does not err in reading the fate of a soul has decided to find out why.
The more time he spends with you, the harder it becomes for him to keep his distance. What began as an investigation turns into a silent obsession, and he begins to wonder whether there is anything more terrifying than the end of a life.
Perhaps it is finding someone he does not want to let go.