Kael didn't sleep that night. The mysterious girl's voice echoed through his head—soft, eerie, too familiar for someone he had never met. Emira had tried to joke about it, calling her "your secret admirer," but Kael didn't laugh. He felt something dark behind that gaze, something that tugged at him in a way that water shouldn't.
By morning, the sky was overcast, heavy with unspoken tension. Kael walked home with the weight of unanswered questions crushing his thoughts. When he reached his apartment door, he sensed it immediately—someone was inside.
He stepped in slowly.
She stood in the middle of his living room, dripping water onto the floor like she had walked straight out of the river. Her long hair clung to her shoulders. Her pale eyes fixed on him with unsettling intensity.
"Kael," she said again, but this time her voice was soft… almost affectionate.
Kael's pulse spiked. "Who are you?"
She tilted her head. "You don't remember me."
"I've never met you."
"That's not true." Her expression twisted briefly—hurt, jealousy, anger all flashing in a single heartbeat. "You belong to water. You belong to us, Kael. To me."
Kael stepped back instinctively. Something about her felt too close, too familiar, yet impossible to place.
"My name is Lyria."
She stepped toward him, and the lights flickered. Drops of water floated upward around her, suspended in the air like tiny stars.
"I've watched you for years," she whispered. "Waiting for you to awaken. But now…" Her eyes hardened. "Fire touched you."
Kael froze.
"You let her touch you," Lyria hissed, voice cracking like ice. "The fire girl."
So that was it—Emira. She wasn't just jealous. She was furious.
Kael opened his mouth to speak, but the temperature in the room dropped sharply. Ice formed across the floor, creeping toward him.
"You were mine before she appeared," Lyria whispered. "And I won't let her take you."
The river outside roared suddenly, violent and uncontrolled. Kael's chest seized with panic. "Stop. Lyria, stop!"
But her expression softened again, switching back to cold affection. "I just want you to remember," she murmured. "You and I… we're the same."
Then she leaned close enough that her breath brushed his cheek.
"And I will not lose you."
At that exact moment, flames burst outside the window—Emira's fire.
And the apartment filled with steam.