Everything
POV: Serina
The healing potion slipped from my fingers and shattered on the floor.
I stood frozen in the doorway of our tiny shack, staring at my little brother. Finn lay on his thin mattress, his small body shaking. But that wasn't what made my heart stop.
His veins were black.
Not just dark—black, like someone had drawn lines of ink under his skin. They crawled up his arms like twisted tree branches, pulsing with a sick, crystal-like shimmer.
"Finn!" I dropped to my knees beside him, grabbing his hand. It was ice cold. "Finn, can you hear me?"
His eyes fluttered open. They used to be bright brown, always full of mischief. Now they looked dull and tired. "Rina? You're back."
"I got the potion," I said quickly, reaching for the broken glass. My hands were shaking. "I'll get another one. I just need to—"
"It won't work."
The voice came from behind me. I spun around to find Mira standing in the doorway. She was the closest thing we had to a real healer in the slums—a middle-aged woman with kind eyes and healing hands. But right now, those eyes looked sad. Too sad.
"What do you mean it won't work?" I demanded. "He just needs medicine. He just needs—"
"Serina." Mira walked over and knelt beside me. She placed her hand on Finn's forehead, and her face went pale. "How long has he been like this?"
"Three days. Maybe four." I swallowed hard. "It started with a fever. Then he got weak. This morning the black lines appeared, and they keep spreading."
Mira closed her eyes. When she opened them again, I saw something that terrified me more than anything.
Fear.
"This isn't sickness," she whispered. "It's a curse."
The word hit me like a punch to the stomach. "A curse? That's impossible. Finn is just a kid. He's nobody. Why would anyone curse him?"
"I don't know." Mira's hands glowed with soft green light as she examined him. The light flickered and died against the black veins. "But this is death magic. Very old, very powerful. It's eating him from the inside."
"Then heal him!" My voice cracked. "You're a healer. You can fix this!"
"I can't." Mira's voice was gentle but firm. "Curse magic is illegal. It comes from the Golden Citadel—the magisters who rule over us. Only they have the power to create curses like this, and only they can break them."
I felt my world tilting. "Then we go to them. We ask them to—"
"They won't help us." Mira's expression turned bitter. "We're from the slums, Serina. We're nothing to them. Less than nothing."
"How long?" The question came out as a whisper. "How long does he have?"
Mira looked at Finn, then back at me. "Three days. Maybe less."
The room spun. Three days. My little brother—the only family I had left—had three days to live.
"There has to be something," I said desperately. "Some kind of medicine, some kind of magic—"
"No healer in the slums can touch this. Not even in the Gray Districts." Mira stood up slowly. "Curse magic is too dangerous. If the Citadel finds out someone tried to break one of their curses, they'll execute them. I'm sorry, Serina. I truly am."
She left, and I sat there in the darkness with my dying brother.
Finn's hand squeezed mine weakly. "Don't be sad, Rina. It's okay."
"It's not okay!" Tears burned my eyes. "You're not allowed to die. Do you hear me? You're only ten years old. You're supposed to grow up and be strong and—"
"Tell me a story," he interrupted softly. "Like mom used to."
Mom. I hadn't thought about her in years. She died when I was twelve, leaving me to raise Finn alone. I'd spent the last nine years stealing food, dodging guards, and doing whatever it took to keep us alive.
And now I was going to lose him anyway.
"What story do you want?" I asked, wiping my eyes.
"The dragon one."
Despite everything, I almost smiled. Finn loved that story. Mom told it to us on cold nights when we had no food and no heat. She said it was about hope.
"Once upon a time," I began, my voice shaky, "there was a great shrine in the Forbidden Ashlands. Inside the shrine lived ancient magic—dragon magic—so powerful it could grant any wish."
"But it was dangerous," Finn whispered, continuing the story. "Because dragons are scary."
"Very scary," I agreed. "That's why no one goes there anymore. The shrine is protected by deadly magic, and everyone who tries to enter dies."
Finn's eyes were already closing. "But if someone was brave enough... they could save anyone, right? Even someone with a curse?"
My heart stopped.
The Dragon's Shrine.
It was just a fairy tale. A story to entertain children. But what if it wasn't? What if there was even a tiny chance that the magic there was real?
Three days. Finn had three days.
I had nothing to lose.
I stayed with Finn until he fell asleep. His breathing was getting shallower, the black veins spreading further up his neck. I had to move fast.
In the corner of our shack, I grabbed my old canvas bag and started packing. A waterskin. A small knife. A piece of bread wrapped in cloth. I didn't have much, but the Ashlands were three days' journey on foot. If I ran, maybe I could make it in two.
I knelt beside Finn one more time. He looked so small, so fragile. I brushed his hair back from his forehead, careful not to touch the black veins.
"I'm going to save you," I whispered. "I promise."
I stood up, threw the bag over my shoulder, and walked to the door. The slums were dark and quiet. Most people were already asleep. Good. I didn't want anyone trying to stop me.
As I stepped outside, something made me look back one last time.
Finn's eyes were open. He was staring at me with an expression that looked too knowing for a ten-year-old boy.
"Be careful, Rina," he said softly. "The dragon is real. And he's been waiting for you."
Ice flooded my veins. "What did you say?"
But Finn's eyes had already closed again, and his breathing returned to that shallow, rattling rhythm.
Waiting for me?
How could Finn know that? He was delirious from the curse. He had to be.
But as I turned and ran into the dark streets, his words echoed in my mind.
He's been waiting for you.
I pushed the thought away and focused on one thing: reaching the Dragon's Shrine before my brother's time ran out.
I didn't know that the curse wasn't random.
I didn't know that someone had been watching me my whole life.
And I definitely didn't know that walking into that shrine would change everything—not just for me, but for the entire world.
The hunt had already begun.
And I was running straight into the trap.