The neon lights of arcane heights flickered like a distant star in the night sky as I navigated the labyrinthine streets. My senses assaulted by the scents of the city at night. Its magic pulsing through my veins. This urban jungle was what I call home. Its grey walls enveloping me and keeping me safe as my feet steps echoed against the cobblestone pavement.

My destination loomed ahead, clad in neon lights and its black stone contrasting the grey of the surrounding concrete. The sanctum, a haven for those whose powers made them unfit for normal life in the city. A place where the line between salvation and damnation blurred with each passing moment. But tonight the sanctum held a secret darker than any incantation, secrets that threatened to unravel the fragile peace between the mortals and those who come from the other plains.

As i crossed the threshold, the air cracked with tension, the magic that permeated the building. It tingled my nerves with its ominous pull. Nurse Thompson greeted me, a short, handsome young man. His expression betraying the weight of the burden he carried.

“Detective Malone,” He greeted me with a whispered tone in the dimly lit foyer. “You’re just in time”

I nodded in acknowledgement, my gaze sweeping over the shadows that danced along the walls. As if they were spectres from the other worlds, judging me. “What’s the situation?”

“It’s miss Everly,” Nurse Thompson replied, his voice barely above a hush. “She returned from her family visit today, but something’s changed.”

My heart quickened, my instincts feeling the gloom that was coming my way. Miss Everly, one of the most powerful practitioners of the arcane- her powers whereas vast as the problems she carried on her back. Her soul is both a beacon of light and a dark sea that would drown any mortal. If she fully succumbed to her demons, then no one was safe.

I found her in the garden; her form illuminated by the faint glow of the moonlight and the monochrome yellow of the sodium lamps. Her presence alone exuded an aura of sorrow, resignation and power. Miss’s eyes were pools that held the weight of a thousand lifetimes and a thousand broken hearts.

“Miss Everly,” I began, my voice an indistinct murmur, “What happened to your family? “

She turned to me, her expression haunted by unknown horrors, yet her face was serene. “They fear me, Detective,” she whispered. Her voice called to me as whispers in the wind. It lures me in with dark temptation. “They fear me what I am capable of, what I could become.”

“My brow furrowed with concern as I beheld the torment etched upon her delicate features. “What do you mean, Miss Everly?”

Tears shimmered in her eyes as she spoke, her voice trembling with the weight of her confession. “They think I am a danger to them, to myself. But in here, in the Sanctum, I finally feel safe. Here I don’t have to…to murder anyone”

A chill swept through my body, as if the wind itself unlined the words she spoke. The gravity of despair pulled my heart to the grey concrete. In this city, those words were power, those words were danger.

“Miss Everly, why am I here?” I spoke with gravitas filling my voice. Turning my collar against the damp, icy wind.

“I want you to find who is making me kill, Detective.” She spoke with surprising clarity while her tears rolled down her cheek.

Suppose this is a unique situation for a widow whose husband has been killed. And now I vowed to dig into the mysteries of this city. Me a lone sinner, trying to figure out powers beyond my comprehension. This city, my home, it will swallow me one day with its secrets. But here I am, one of the few detectives in this town that dares to look out for those whose hope has been taken.