******
The air inside Natalie's hidden room was thick with the smell of burning incense. Shadows flickered wildly against the stone walls as dozens of black candles hissed in their holders, their flames twisting unnaturally. The floor was covered in a massive, intricate circle drawn in a mixture of chalk, powdered bone, and crushed gemstones — its symbols archaic, from a language so old even the oldest historians had forgotten it.
Natalie knelt at the circle's center, her dark hair falling loosely over her shoulders. Spread before her were several weathered scrolls — ancient scriptures written in a jagged script that seemed to pulse faintly, as though the ink itself remembered the hands that had written it. She whispered under her breath, her voice steady despite the growing pressure in the air.
"Through shadow and void, through silence and storm, I call upon the one bound beyond the veil…"
Her hands hovered over the symbols, fingers tracing runes in the air. The circle responded — the lines flaring in an unnatural crimson light that bled outward.
Far away, in the masked lady's safe house, something stirred. The black bracelet lying forgotten on her table began to hum. A faint vibration rippled across it, the obsidian surface cracking open like brittle glass. A stream of dark energy — writhing like living smoke — poured out, twisting violently before vanishing into the night.
Natalie's ritual circle roared to life. The dark energy slammed into it from every direction, as if drawn here by an invisible command. The air dropped in temperature so fast that frost began to form along the stone floor.
She didn't stop chanting.
"By the will of the ancients, I break the chains that bind you. By the mark of the void, I grant you form once more."
The energy collided in the center of the circle, swirling into a vortex. It condensed into a shape — first amorphous, then skeletal, then clothed in the semblance of flesh.
A figure stepped forward from the black mist, as if emerging from the womb of darkness itself.
He was tall, impossibly tall, with an otherworldly presence that made the air hum like a living thing. His hair was silvery-white, catching the faint candlelight like strands of molten moonlight. His eyes — deep, ancient, and unreadable — seemed to hold centuries of knowledge, cruelty, and desire for freedom.
Natalie's lips curled into a slow, deliberate smile.
"Welcome, my Lord," she said, bowing her head slightly but keeping her eyes on him.
The man tilted his head, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was smooth, rich, and resonated with an unnatural echo, as though another voice was speaking alongside him.
"Finally," he said, closing his eyes briefly, as if savoring the sensation of simply existing. "I'm free."
The shadows around them seemed to lean closer, the candles bending toward him as if he were the center of gravity in the room.
Natalie rose to her feet, her expression one of quiet triumph. "The world has forgotten you, Vaelthor," she said softly. "But soon… they will remember."
Vaelthor's smile deepened, but there was something dangerous in it — the kind of smile that promised change, and not the kind anyone wanted.
****HARPER
The darkness was deep and warm, wrapping around me like a heavy blanket. I had been asleep — truly asleep — the kind where you don't feel the world moving around you. But then something began to seep in… cold, sharp, invasive.
At first, it was just flashes. A metallic taste in my mouth. The sound of someone choking.
Then I saw Elias.
His eyes were wide, his face pale, and blood… blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth. I reached for him, but my hand passed through his body like smoke. He mouthed something to me, but no sound came. And then his body went still.
"No—!" I tried to move, but the world shattered like broken glass, and I fell—
Down.
Into nothing.
The void was endless. No light. No sound except the dull echo of my own heartbeat… until even that faded. Then the bodies appeared.
Luna. Chris. Elias again. Even people I didn't know. All lying around me, unmoving. Their skin was cold, their eyes glassy. The silence was deafening, pressing against my ears until I wanted to scream.
And I did.
I screamed so hard my throat felt like it would rip apart.
The void cracked, a spiderweb of crimson light splitting across the black, and then—
I jolted awake, sitting straight up in my bed, drenched in sweat.
Something was wrong.
Luna's voice came from somewhere close by, low and hesitant. "Harper…?"
I turned my head toward her, but her cautious tone only sharpened the strange, electric sensation humming inside me.
And then I saw the look on her face — a mix of confusion, fear, and… hesitation.
Chris was in the room too, but he had stopped mid-step. His usual sharp gaze flicked to Hay, who had just materialized beside Luna.
That's when I realized why they looked so tense.
The air around me felt heavier. My skin buzzed as if every cell in my body had woken up at once. And when I opened my mouth to speak, it wasn't me who spoke.
"Finally…"
The voice was deep, layered — as though two people spoke in perfect unison.
"…I'm awake."
Luna froze.
Chris's hand clenched into a fist.
Hay's eyes widened as he exchanged a glance with Chris — a glance that was loud without words. They knew exactly what this was. And they were afraid.
'Yo.... your eyes are red. Blood red '.