(~797 words — part 8)
The capital was different now.
Not visibly. Not to the nobles and merchants going about their day beneath sunlit bridges and clocktower bells. But Nyari could feel it—like a low vibration in her chest, a static hum under her skin.
She walked the rooftops that morning, tail flicking gently behind her, body quiet but coiled. Her senses were stretched like strings pulled taut.
Something was coming.
And it wasn't just watching her now.
It was moving.
🏙️ The First Sign
It started with a scream.
High. Short. Then silence.
Nyari was across three rooftops in a heartbeat, claws digging into brick, eyes glowing as she scanned the alley below.
A cloaked figure staggered backward, blood staining their sleeve.
Another figure stood in shadow.
Too thin. Too tall. Cloak too long.
Its hood fell back—revealing a face made of cracks, like broken porcelain with liquid void beneath.
Nyari didn't think.
She jumped.
⚔️ Ambush from the Roofs
She landed between them.
The cloaked figure—the victim—fell to the ground and scrambled back. Nyari stood protectively in front of them, tail raised, dagger forming in her hand with a burst of bright white.
The cracked-faced hunter tilted its head.
"Found you," it rasped.
Then two more leapt from the rooftops.
No sound. No heartbeat. Just impact.
Nyari twisted, dodged, backflipped between them in a blur of motion—faster than she'd ever moved.
She left streaks of light in the air—sigils pulsing with every sidestep.
One hunter lunged.
She dropped low, slid beneath it, and marked its ankle with a claw tap.
Pulse.
It exploded backward into a stack of crates.
But the other two were smarter—coordinated.
They moved together like wolves. Not mindless.
Trained.
She had a split second.
And a decision.
🧍 The Civilian
The injured girl behind her whimpered again. Blood on her arm. Shock in her eyes.
"I don't want to die—"
Nyari turned sharply. "You won't."
She threw her dagger into the air—it split mid-spin into three streaks of light, slicing between the hunters to stall their advance.
Then she picked up the girl—lightweight, smaller than her—and ran.
Not just fast.
Faster than the eye.
She dashed across rooftops, through laundry lines, past chimneys—leaving nothing but fading streaks of ribbon-like light behind her.
Only once the scent of void was gone did she stop.
She set the girl down gently.
"Stay out of sight," Nyari said. "Warn no one. They're hunting me. You were just in the way."
The girl stared up at her.
"Are you… one of them?"
Nyari blinked. "One of who?"
"The glowing ones," she whispered. "There are others now. I've seen them. Kids like you. Some don't know what's happening. Some are scared. Some… changed overnight."
Nyari's blood ran cold.
"Others?"
🏛️ Back to Seralyth
She barged into the palace chambers unannounced.
Guards flinched. One reached for a blade.
"Let her through," Seralyth's voice called. "She doesn't knock."
Nyari stopped in front of the princess—panting. Not from exhaustion. From urgency.
"They're here," she said.
Seralyth raised an eyebrow.
"The shadows?"
"Worse. They've evolved. They're targeting me—and they're tracking people like me. Other awakened."
The princess's calm broke.
"…Other fragments are activating."
Nyari nodded. "The girl I saved—she saw one change. From nothing. No control."
Silence stretched.
Then Seralyth stood and walked to her desk.
She unlocked a hidden drawer.
Inside: a map. Cities. Towns. All marked with small starlit glyphs.
"I've been tracking the signs," she said softly. "You were the first. But there are more. Seven so far. Two went missing last week. One's reported dead."
Nyari clenched her fists.
"Then I'll find them."
🐅 A New Mission
Seralyth looked at her, brow furrowed.
"You'll be hunted."
"I already am."
"You'll draw attention."
"I already have."
Seralyth let out a breath, then pulled out a thin silver amulet.
"Take this. It's a signal crystal. You press it, and my knights will know where you are. Use it only if you're about to die."
Nyari took it. Hung it around her neck.
"…So I guess I'm not hiding anymore."
The princess smiled sadly.
"No, Nyari. You're leading."
🌙 That Night
She sat alone on the palace balcony, looking over the glowing city below.
She should have felt overwhelmed. Scared. Maybe angry.
But instead, she felt…
Focused.
The world needed someone who wasn't afraid of what they were becoming. Someone who didn't run from shadows, or from the light inside them.
Someone fast enough to reach the others before the enemy did.
Her eyes narrowed.
Her claws flexed.
"Seven stars," she whispered.
"And I'll find them all."
To be continued in Chapter Ten: "Starfallen"
(Nyari leaves the capital to search for another awakened—only to find a girl already overtaken by the enemy, her divine power twisted. To save her, Nyari may have to do the unthinkable…)