Prologue

Just like that, your day came to a standstill. The world around you blurred as you stared at your finger with high interest, at the piece of jewellery you had worn for as long as you could remember. The ring that had all but become a second layer of skin had stood the test of centuries, not just your lifetime.

“When the stone finally leaves and returns to its world, Y/N, you need to be ready. It never happened in my lifetime, but I believe in the power behind it and that’s why I’m preparing you. One day, the stone in this ring will fall. What happens next may test every part of you.”

You blinked slowly, trying to dislodge the lump forming in your throat. It had been there in the morning, the ruby bright as ever. Now all that remained was the silver band upon your finger, looking lost without the treasure it usually clasped within its claws.

Looking to the skies, you wondered why it had to happen today.

In another world, Namjoon was working diligently at inspecting the new arrivals for the month. The jewels weren’t all that special despite the rainbow they appeared in. He checked for flaws in their shape, size and overall quality, deciphering which ones would move to the human realm in the next shipment.

“Do you ever grow bored of inspecting gemstones, Namjoon?” Marian asked of her brother and he merely shook his head. “But all you do is study these things! For what? Humans on earth to wear without a care? Surely you could do better with your existence.”

Some days, Namjoon did grow tired of this life. Not of the gemstones. He yearned for a world more complex than this. Everyone here was a forager of some sort. A community that harvested the finest things that humans bought in abundance, not truly knowing where they came from. Sometimes, he wanted to be on the other end of the system, seeing the joy, the sheer desire in the faces of those who bought the gemstones he had sorted through. He wanted to see why people gifted rings and pendants. Here, nothing of the sort happened. You would gift your time or your skill to someone. Not a keepsake like humans did.

Namjoon wondered what love looked like outside of this world.

“Remember there is one stone you must be cautious of, Namjoon. If you see a gem the colour of blood, you mustn’t ever touch it yourself.”

A younger Namjoon frowned. “But why ever not, Father?”

“That stone is not of our world and doesn’t belong here.”

“Then how did it get here?”

His father sighed. “Legend says that the bloodstone will land in our world and seek out the heart of someone to take away.”

“Away where?”

“To a land unlike our own. So please, Joon, promise me you will never touch it.”

As Namjoon cleared his table of the gems he would send for distribution to the human world, he heard a clunk on the wooden surface. Turning to inspect the culprit to the sound, he stopped moving altogether, his arms falling limp at his sides.

There in the middle of his desk was a stone unlike any he had ever inspected before.

The desk light illuminated the stone’s colour around the room, casting the walls in red.

The bloodstone had finally arrived.