"Every rebirth demands a price. Some pay in blood. Others, in memory."
The night was too quiet. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
I sat by the hospital window, watching the faint city lights flicker beyond the glass. The pendant hung from my neck, its cold weight pressing against my chest like a silent heartbeat. It hadn't glowed again since I woke up—but I could still feel it humming under my skin, like an ember that refused to die.
Somewhere beyond those lights, Elias was out there.
And the stranger's words echoed relentlessly in my mind.
"He's not what you think he is."
But then—what was he?
A savior? A liar? A ghost from a life I could no longer remember?
The door creaked open. I turned, half-expecting a nurse—but it wasn't.
It was him.
Elias Thorn stood in the doorway, dressed in his usual dark attire, the faint scent of rain clinging to his clothes. His hair was tousled, his eyes sharp, but for once—just once—they looked uncertain.
"You're awake," he said, his voice quieter than I'd ever heard it.
My chest tightened. "You left me there."
"I saved your life."
"Then why didn't you stay?"
He exhaled, stepping closer, each movement measured. "Because staying would've meant burning with you."
The air between us felt heavy, electric. He stopped beside the bed, his gaze sweeping over the bandage near my collarbone where the mark pulsed faintly beneath. His hand twitched, as if fighting the urge to touch it.
"That mark," he murmured, "it's changing you faster than I expected."
I swallowed hard. "Then tell me what it is. What's happening to me?"
Elias's jaw tightened. "You wouldn't believe me if I did."
"Try me."
He hesitated, then finally said, "You're not human anymore, Aiden. You haven't been for a long time."
The words hit me like ice water. "What are you talking about?"
He looked directly into my eyes. "You're what's left of her."
The room seemed to tilt. My heartbeat roared in my ears.
"She—Ariselle?"
He nodded once. "The soul inside you isn't just hers—it is her. The same power that tore the heavens apart is now inside your chest. And if the Conclave senses that, they won't stop until they drag you back to the underworld she created."
My throat went dry. "And you? Whose side are you on?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper that sent a shiver down my spine.
"I'm on the side that keeps you alive, no matter what I have to do."
I stared at him, searching for any sign of deceit—but what I found instead was something worse.
Devotion.
The kind that hurt to look at.
Outside, thunder rumbled again.
Inside, the pendant flared once—just enough to light the room in a faint, red glow that reflected in both our eyes.
Elias reached out, fingers grazing the edge of my wrist. "You can't stay here. They've already found your trace."
"Who?"
He didn't answer. His grip tightened. "Move."
Before I could ask more, the hallway erupted with alarms. Red lights flashed overhead. The smell of ozone and smoke filled the air.
And through the glass, I saw them—figures in black cloaks, moving like shadows, their hands glowing with the same crimson magic from my dreams.
Elias drew a dagger from beneath his coat, its blade shimmering with runes.
He looked at me once, sharply. "Run, Aiden."
But I couldn't move.
Not yet.
Because as the figures approached, something deep inside me stirred again—an ancient echo rising like a heartbeat from the depths of time.
And this time, it didn't ask for permission.
The sound of alarms blended with the thunder outside, a chaotic symphony that clawed at my nerves. Elias's hand gripped my arm tighter, dragging me from the bed just as the window exploded inward.
Glass shattered across the room.
Three cloaked figures emerged from the darkness beyond, their eyes glowing with a faint, unnatural light.
Elias reacted before I could think. His dagger sliced through the air, leaving a streak of blue light that split one attacker's spell in half. The resulting backlash threw sparks across the walls, scorching the hospital curtains.
"Stay behind me!" he shouted.
I stumbled backward, heart hammering, the pendant searing against my chest. I could feel the heat building under my skin again—wild, unpredictable, hungry.
The second attacker raised his hand, murmuring words that twisted the air into a crimson storm. Elias deflected the strike, but not completely; a flare of red energy grazed his shoulder, tearing through fabric and flesh.
He didn't flinch. He turned the pain into momentum, slashing the dagger in a wide arc. The third cloaked figure fell with a scream, dissolving into black smoke.
The smell of blood and ozone thickened in the air.
I looked down. My hands were glowing again.
The mark on my chest pulsed faster, brighter—each beat syncing with my pulse until I thought my heart might burst.
"Elias!" I gasped. "It's happening again!"
He turned toward me, face pale under the flashing red lights. "Aiden, listen to me—don't fight it this time. Let it flow through you."
"But—"
"Trust me!"
Something in his voice shattered my hesitation.
I closed my eyes.
The fire came.
It wasn't the gentle warmth of a candle—it was a living storm. Flames of blue and white spiraled from my skin, weaving through the air like sentient ribbons. The remaining enemy screamed as the fire wrapped around him, consuming the spell he tried to cast.
And then it was over.
Silence, broken only by the soft hiss of dying embers.
The hospital room was half-destroyed—walls cracked, glass melted, machines dead.
Elias stood in the center, chest rising and falling, eyes wide with something I couldn't name.
Fear.
Awe.
Maybe both.
He walked toward me slowly, his dagger still in hand. "You remember how to control it," he said softly.
I shook my head. "I didn't control anything. It just… moved."
He stopped close enough that our breaths mingled. "That's because your power doesn't need your permission."
Before I could reply, the distant echo of sirens grew louder. Police? No. The tone was different—colder, mechanical.
Elias turned toward the door. "They've sent Sentinels."
"Who are they?"
"Hunters of magic. Machines built to kill anything that doesn't bleed human."
I froze. "Then what do we do?"
He looked at me with a half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. "We burn brighter."
Elias extended his hand. Without thinking, I took it. The moment our fingers touched, the pendant between us flared to life again, sealing our joined hands in a circle of light.
The fire answered. The world tilted.
And the next thing I knew, the hospital dissolved into ash.
We stood in the middle of an abandoned overpass outside the city, wind howling through broken signs and rusted rails.
Elias released my hand, his breath fogging in the cold night air. "We don't have much time. They'll follow the trace."
I wanted to speak—to ask a thousand questions—but my throat was tight, my mind spinning from what I'd just done.
And then, from the shadows under the bridge, a voice spoke.
"Well, well. The prodigal soul returns."
We both turned.
A man stepped forward, his face half-hidden by the hood of a crimson cloak. His smile was sharp, his presence heavy, suffocating. The pendant around my neck trembled violently at his nearness.
Elias stiffened, his blade rising. "Lucen."
The man's eyes gleamed gold. "You remember me. Good."
"Stay back," Elias warned.
But Lucen's gaze was fixed on me. "Ariselle. Or should I say… Aiden Vale. Did you really think you could escape your oath?"
My knees weakened. The ground seemed to tilt again.
Elias moved to shield me, voice low and dangerous. "You touch him, and I'll cut your heart out myself."
Lucen only laughed, soft and cruel. "You already tried that once, Thorn. Didn't end well last time, did it?"
Elias's eyes darkened, and for a moment, I thought the air itself might ignite between them.
But before either could move, the pendant flared again, splitting the night with light.
The same word from before burned behind my eyelids.
"Awaken."
Lucen's grin widened as the ground beneath us cracked open, glowing red like molten veins.
"Welcome back to the war you started," he whispered.
And then the world collapsed into fire.