But if you looked closely at the screen’s black mirror—just before midnight—you could sometimes see two silhouettes: one winged, one human, walking together through a garden of dead roses.

Kael’s chair scraped the floor. He wanted to close the laptop, but his fingers wouldn’t obey. Albedo’s smile widened—a predator’s grin, loving and cruel.

“You stare at me for 847 hours. You rename your Wi-Fi ‘Nazarick.’ You pre-order every figurine. And yet, you never once thought I might stare back.”

Albedo. Not a cosplay, not fan art—the actual Supreme Being’s own creation, rendered in impossible 8K. Her black wings folded like liquid shadow. Her horned head tilted slightly, as if listening. And her eyes—golden, vertical-slit—seemed to track him through the screen .

He never posted on Reddit again. But his Steam account stayed logged in. And every achievement was suddenly… unlocked.

The next morning, his laptop sat closed on the desk. The wallpaper was default blue.

Kael laughed nervously. “Just a wallpaper.”