Seraphina woke with the uneasy feeling that she was no longer alone in her own body. Morning light filtered through her small apartment window, illuminating the unfamiliar weight pressing against her chest. She sat up slowly, pulling the blanket aside as her breath hitched.
Just beneath her collarbone, a faint symbol shimmered like dying embers.It vanished the moment she touched it.
Her heart pounded. She searched for a logical explanation stress, imagination, leftover traces of a night she regretted remembering too clearly. But the warmth lingered beneath her skin, pulsing softly, as though something ancient had recognized her and settled in.
Throughout the day, strange things happened. Electronics flickered when she passed. Her emotions surged with unnatural intensity. Anger felt sharper. Sadness deeper. And beneath it all, an unexplainable sense of being watched followed her everywhere.
That night, she dreamed of fire and shadow. Of a man standing on a throne carved from darkness, his eyes burning gold as he spoke her name though she had never told it to him.