The Invitation

We all received the same invitation. Most of us just haven't opened it yet.

It comes for kings and beggars, saints and sinners, soldiers and dreamers. It comes dressed in silence, wrapped in inevitability, carrying your name.

When the mysterious black envelope arrives-silent, sealed, and devoid of a sender-it lands on the desk of Eli Vance, a young philosopher who built his career on the theory of mortality, never its reality. Inside is a single card with just two words: "You're Invited."

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