It's always the same.
The air tastes like ozone and old blood. There are wings, thousands of them, beating against a sky that's screaming with thunder. I'm standing in the center of it all, my skin encased in silver that feels as light as silk but as hard as diamond.
I don't feel like me. I feel bigger. Older. Like I could reach up and snap the moon in half if it looked at me wrong.
I raise a sword made of frozen lightning, and the world goes silent. I'm not just a girl; I'm a force of nature. A legend.
Then, there's a flash of white. A blade forged from the roots of the world pierces the air, and suddenly, the storm is gone. I'm falling into a void where names are forgotten and kingdoms turn to dust.
And then, the worst part happens. I wake up
The milk wand screamed like a dying dragon.
I stared at the espresso machine like it had personally betrayed me.
Steam hissed into the air while the line of customers stretched halfway to the door. The Daily Bean was packed, which meant one thing.
Someone was about to complain.
Right on cue.
"I said oat milk," a woman snapped from the counter.
I slowly finished pouring the foam before looking up.
The woman wore giant sunglasses even though we were indoors, and her expression suggested the world had wronged her personally.
"It is oat milk," I said flatly.
She lifted the cup and sniffed it like a suspicious detective.
"It tastes like cow milk. I'm lactose intolerant. I could get sick."
Of course she could.
Before I could respond, another voice jumped in from the line behind her.
"Excuse me! Mine is supposed to be almond milk, and I'm pretty sure it's soy."
Great.
Two of them.
I closed my eyes for a second and counted silently.
One.
Two.
Three.
Ben, my coworker at the register, leaned over and whispered, "Lyra… please don't start anything."
I leaned forward on the counter instead.
"I personally poured your drink," I told the sunglasses woman. "I watched the oat milk leave the carton. I even double-checked the label. If that's cow milk, then cows have apparently learned how to lie."
A few people in line snorted.
Then I turned to the second woman.
"And yours is almond milk. If it's soy, congratulations, you've just discovered a groundbreaking conspiracy in the beverage industry."
Ben made a strangled sound behind me.
The first woman gasped dramatically.
"This is unbelievable! I should report you!"
I shrugged.
"You're welcome to."
Then I leaned just a little closer.
"If you're hoping for a lawsuit payout, try slipping on a banana peel outside. If you want coffee, drink the one I gave you. And if you want to keep yelling at me while I have twenty people waiting in line…"
I paused.
"…maybe find a different hobby."
For a moment, the entire café went silent.
Both women stared at me like I had personally offended their ancestors.
Then they grabbed their drinks and stormed out.
Ben slowly removed his hands from his face.
"That's going to be two one-star reviews."
I grabbed a towel and started wiping the counter.
"They were wrong. I was right."
"That's not how Yelp works."
"Justice doesn't care about Yelp reviews, Ben."
By the time my shift ended, my back felt like it had been replaced with rusted hinges.
I clocked out and stepped into the evening air.
The city felt heavy tonight.
Hot.
Humid.
Like a storm was building somewhere far away but hadn't decided to show up yet.
I walked past glowing storefronts and crowded sidewalks, heading toward the quieter part of the city where my apartment building waited.
For the past few weeks, I'd had this weird feeling while walking home.
Like something was watching me.
Not a person.
Something bigger.
Older.
Tonight the feeling was worse.
As I passed a narrow alleyway, something caught my eye.
There was an old stone arch built into the wall of a pharmacy.
I'd walked past it hundreds of times.
But tonight…
It looked different.
For a split second, the dull gray stone shimmered.
Like crystal.
A faint blue light flickered inside the archway.
I blinked.
The image vanished.
I rubbed my eyes.
"Fantastic," I muttered. "Now I'm hallucinating."
That's what sixty hours a week of caffeine exposure does to a person.
"Get it together, Lyra."
I kept walking.
Home was a tiny third-floor apartment that smelled like toasted bread and laundry detergent.
I pushed the door open.
"I'm back!"
A small human missile slammed into my stomach.
"Lyra!"
"Mina, oof—give me a warning next time."
My little sister hugged me like I'd been gone for years instead of eight hours.
Her pigtails were crooked and she had that same gap-toothed grin she'd had since she was eight.
"Hey, gremlin," I said, ruffling her hair.
"Don't call me that!"
From the kitchen table, my mom looked up from a cup of tea.
"You're late," she said gently.
Her voice was soft, but I could hear the tiredness underneath.
"I know. The Coffee Wars were intense today."
I pulled a small pastry out of my bag and set it in front of her.
She frowned.
"You should eat that yourself."
"You need the sugar more than I do."
She sighed but took a bite anyway.
Dinner was simple.
Rice.
Soup.
Cheap food that somehow had to feed three people.
I watched my mom and Mina while we ate.
They were my whole world.
Everything I did, the long shifts, the endless coffee orders, the constant exhaustion, was for them.
So Mina could stay in school.
So Mom could afford her medicine.
It wasn't glamorous.
But it was enough.
At least… it used to be.
Later that night, I stepped onto the metal fire escape outside my bedroom window.
The city stretched out in every direction.
But the sky looked wrong.
Instead of sunset colors, the clouds were deep purple.
Bruised.
Electric.
Wind brushed against my skin.
Then it grew stronger.
A low rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.
I frowned.
"Was there a storm forecast?"
The thunder vibrated strangely in my chest.
Like the sound wasn't coming from the sky.
Like it was coming from inside me.
A drop of rain fell.
I held out my hand to catch it.
CRACK.
Lightning exploded somewhere in the distance.
A transformer burst three blocks away, plunging the street into darkness.
And in the sudden blackness,
Something impossible happened.
Blue electricity flickered across my fingers.
Tiny sparks danced between them like living things.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The air smelled like ozone.
Then a voice echoed inside my head.
It sounded like me.
But deeper.
Older.
Colder.
"The storm has found you… My Queen."
The sparks vanished.
I stared at my trembling hand.
"What… was that?"
" I've actually gone insane huh.... I need to get some sleep before I start moving mad"....
Across the street, on the rooftop of a luxury apartment building, a man lowered his binoculars.
He spoke quietly into a communicator.
"Confirmed."
A pause.
"The Queen has awakened."
His voice turned grim.
"Tell the Order to wake up."