Elena stirred her coffee slowly, the steam rising to kiss her face as she sat by her tiny kitchen window. The city beyond her apartment was waking up, but inside her head, the night hadn't ended.
Aiden.
His voice.
The kiss.
Everything about last night felt too surreal—too vivid to be just a drunken blur. Yet no matter how much she tried to shake it off, the sound of him calling her name kept echoing like a spell cast over her thoughts.
She blinked and shook her head, standing abruptly. "Get it together," she whispered.
Her small room smelled of vanilla lotion and cinnamon from her morning routine. She slipped into a casual outfit—black jeans, an oversized sweater—and leaned close to her mirror. Her eyeliner wing trembled slightly, betraying her unease.
"GRWM with a dash of confusion," she muttered, brushing her hair and tying it back.
But nothing, not her perfectly brewed coffee or her favorite playlist, could drown out the flicker of the unknown from last night.
As she stepped into the university halls, the world seemed too loud, too bright. She moved through her lectures like a ghost—nodding, pretending to listen, scribbling notes she wouldn't remember. Her mind was trapped in the dark velvet corners of the club, where a stranger with knowing eyes had spoken her name like it was more than just a word.
And every time she closed her eyes, she saw that moment: his face inches from hers, the accidental kiss that felt like fate had slipped.
Something about him didn't just feel familiar.
It felt *ancient*.
By late afternoon, her hands itched to draw again. But when she opened her sketchpad, it was already there—a face she didn't remember sketching.
Aiden.
And below his eyes, a symbol.
One she'd never seen, yet somehow... had always known.
"Elena."
The voice was sharp but not unkind.
She blinked, her hand still frozen over the sketchpad. Her professor—Dr. Marek—was standing right beside her desk, eyes narrowed behind circular glasses, his hands behind his back in his usual thoughtful stance.
"You seem… somewhere far from here," he said, glancing down at her open pad.
Elena's stomach twisted as she followed his gaze. The sketch of Aiden stared back at them, eyes haunting and intense, the strange symbol beneath still fresh in dark pencil strokes.
Dr. Marek's brow furrowed. "That's… quite the drawing."
Embarrassed, she moved to close the pad, but his hand gently stopped her. "Wait."
His eyes were now focused. Studying. Not the kind of studying a lecturer gave a student's art, but something deeper.
"This mark," he said quietly, pointing at the symbol below Aiden's eye. "Where did you see it?"
Elena swallowed. "I—I'm not sure. I just… drew it."
He tilted his head slightly. "Do you believe in memory through blood?"
She frowned. "Excuse me?"
"Never mind." His expression returned to normal, the moment fading, but not completely. "Stay back after class, Elena. I want to talk to you."
He walked away, but the tension lingered like smoke.
Elena looked back at the symbol. It pulsed in her mind now, as if it had meaning—like it had been waiting for her.
Her heart beat faster.
Something about all this was bigger than her.
And maybe… older than her life itself.
*After Class — Dr. Marek's Office*
The hallway outside the lecture hall was empty. Elena walked slowly, her sketchpad hugged to her chest. Her mind raced with questions. Who was Aiden? Why was that symbol so familiar? And why did her professor recognize it?
Dr. Marek's office was dim, lined with shelves of old books, scrolls, and relics she'd never noticed before. Ancient, strange, and otherworldly.
He gestured for her to sit.
"Elena," he began, his tone softer now, "what I'm about to tell you might sound unbelievable. But you must listen."
She nodded, unsure if she was ready.
"That symbol you drew… it's not just a symbol. It's ancient. From a forgotten dialect known only to a few bloodlines." He opened an old leather-bound book and turned it toward her. There it was—the same mark—etched in faded ink beside a name: *Ael'tar.*
"That's the mark of a Watcher."
"A what?" Elena blinked.
"A Watcher," he repeated. "Beings from another realm. Guardians—or sometimes hunters—of chosen bloodlines. And the fact that you drew it means he's found you."
She sat back in her chair. "Are you saying… that guy from the club... Aiden…?"
"Is not just a guy from the club." Dr. Marek's gaze was sharp. "He's bound to your fate, Elena. And this isn't the first time your bloodline has been touched by their realm."
"What do you mean?" she whispered.
"Your mother knew him once too."
Elena froze.
The room suddenly felt colder. The mark on the page seemed to glow faintly under the dim light.
Elena's breath caught in her throat.
"My mother… knew him?" she repeated, her voice shaky.
Dr. Marek leaned back, folding his hands. "Not Aiden, exactly. But a Watcher, yes. Many years ago. She was once chosen, as you now are. But she walked away from that world, buried her past… and swore to keep you out of it."
Elena's mind was spinning. Her mother had always been guarded about her past, always wary of certain conversations—especially about dreams, symbols, or anything remotely supernatural.
"I don't understand," she said. "Why me? Why now?"
"Because the seal is breaking," Dr. Marek said gravely. "Something is returning, and they need you."
"They?" she asked.
But he didn't answer. Instead, he stood and pulled a long, narrow box from a locked cabinet. He opened it gently, revealing a pendant—ancient, delicate, and glowing with a faint blue light. Her fingertips tingled just looking at it.
"This was your mother's," he said. "She asked me to protect it if anything happened to her. And now, it's yours."
Elena hesitated. Her fingers hovered over it, then closed around the pendant. The moment she touched it, a wave of warmth rushed through her chest. Her vision blurred, and an image flashed in her mind—Aiden standing in a dark place, looking directly at her.
"Elena," he had whispered.
She gasped and dropped the pendant, shaking.
"You see now," Dr. Marek said quietly. "He's reaching for you. But you must decide: follow your heart… or follow your destiny."
Just then, her phone buzzed on the desk.
Aiden: *"You remember now, don't you?"*
She stared at the screen.
The night he called her name was only the beginning.