π« The School Exhibition
Every year, her school hosted a global cultural exchange β mostly dance, food stalls, and rehearsed greetings in foreign tongues.
Isha wasn't interested.
Until she passed the Japanese cultural booth.
Something tugged at her chest β not curiosity. Not excitement.
Recognition.
A middle-aged man in traditional robes stood beside the glass display, speaking softly to a group of students. His accent was gentle, his tone respectful. He gestured toward an ancient, black-handled dagger encased in velvet.
Isha couldn't look away.
It wasn't the gold inlay or the dragon motif.
It was the feeling β like her soul had gasped.
---
π£οΈ The Language That Wasn't Foreign
The man turned and greeted her in Japanese.
She understood every word.
> "It is called KokuyΕ no Shi.
The Dagger of Eternal Twilight.
It has been passed between priestesses for over eight centuries."
"I know," Isha replied β in fluent Japanese.
Then she froze.
So did he.
A long silence passed between them.
The man's eyes narrowed. "Have we met before, child?"
"No," she whispered.
But something in her bones said otherwise.
---
β οΈ Intervention
Riya appeared out of nowhere, hand tight on Isha's elbow.
"Come on, there's samosas in the next stall!" she said cheerily, dragging her away.
Behind them, the Japanese man watched β silently concerned.
---
π That Night
Isha didn't just dream.
She relived.
She was kneeling in a mountain temple, dressed in black and red ceremonial robes. In her hands β the dagger. Its edge was wet with blood.
Not enemy blood. Her own.
Around her, masked men bowed. A bell rang once. Then again. Then silence.
She looked up at a snow-covered shrine.
A voice echoed inside her skull:
> "She is reborn. She is forgotten. She is not yours to control."
Her eyes in the dream were glowing silver β the color of memory awakening.
---
𧬠The Aftermath
She woke up with a single phrase in her head β in Japanese:
> "I will never kneel again."
And when she looked in the mirror, her eye
s were silver, with streaks of violet.
Another seal had loosened.
The gods would soon feel it.