A detective solving magical crimes.

Detective Elias Grayson stepped carefully over the Glowing rune inscribed on the wooden floor. The air in the dimly lit apartment smelled of burned sage and old parchment. Another magical crime scene, another long night.

"Cause of death?" he asked the forensic mage, Lydia Moore, who stood over the lifeless body of a young woman. Her eyes flickered with an eerie blue glow as she examined the residual magic.

"Soul extraction," Lydia murmured. "Painful, precise, and illegal. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing."

Elias exhaled sharply, pulling out his notepad. The victim, Celeste Moreau, had been a enchantress who specialized in protective charms. A small collection of her work lay scattered around the room—wards that had been dismantled with a finesse that sent a chill down Elias’s spine.

"No signs of forced entry," he noted. "Means she knew the killer. Or they were powerful enough to bypass her defenses."

Lydia nodded, waving a hand over Celeste’s body. A spectral shimmer rose like mist, revealing the remnants of a struggle. Flickers of past movements danced in the air—Celeste reaching for something, a shadowy figure closing in, a brief flash of silver. Then nothing.

"A ritual blade," Lydia mused. "This wasn’t just murder. It was a harvesting."

Elias clenched his jaw. Soul harvesting was a rare and forbidden practice, punishable by a lifetime imprisonment in the Arcane Vault. Yet, this was the third case in a month. Someone was collecting souls—and for a purpose Elias had yet to uncover.

The next morning, Elias found himself at The Gilded Grimoire, an underground magic market where spells were currency and ethics were optional. His informant, a rogue alchemist named Fen, was waiting in a backroom, stirring a bubbling potion that smelled like sulfur and regret.

"You look like you’ve seen a ghost," Fen smirked. "Or maybe just another body drained of its soul?"

Elias narrowed his eyes. "You know something. Talk."

Fen chuckled but leaned in. "Word is, someone’s gathering essence for a resurrection ritual. Big one. Old magic. Dangerous."

Elias felt a chill creep up his spine. Resurrection magic wasn’t just illegal—it was unstable. The dead were never meant to return whole.

"Who’s behind it?" he pressed.

"If I knew, I wouldn’t be talking to you." Fen tossed a small vial across the table. Inside, a wisp of blue energy swirled—a fragment of stolen soul essence. "Found that in a black-market deal last night. Thought you might be interested."

Elias pocketed the vial and left without another word. If someone was playing with resurrection magic, it meant they needed a lot more souls. And the killings wouldn’t stop until they had enough.

That evening, Elias pored over his notes in his cluttered office. Every lead pointed to the same grim conclusion—someone was trying to bring back someone powerful. But who? And why now?

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Lydia entered, her expression grave.

"Another body," she said. "This time, they left a message."

She handed him a piece of parchment. On it, written in blood, were three words:

The Veil Thins

Elias felt a sharp pang of recognition. Those words were tied to an ancient prophecy, one that spoke of a being powerful enough to break the barrier between the living and the dead. If someone was attempting to bring that entity back…

The city was in danger.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Elias revisited Celeste’s shop. Hidden beneath the floorboards, he found an old, tattered journal. Inside were sketches of the ritual blade Lydia had described and frantic notes about a secret sect known as The Hollow Circle.

They weren’t just collecting souls.

They were trying to resurrect The Forgotten King—a mage so powerful that his name had been erased from history itself.

Elias bolted to the nearest portal station, heart pounding. If The Hollow Circle completed their ritual, the city would be consumed in darkness.

As he stepped through the shimmering gateway, he whispered a silent prayer.

It was time to stop a resurrection.