Moonlight spilled across a high-arched window, touching the edges of worn tomes, a writing desk with curling parchment, and the curved frame of a bed she hadn't yet dared to sleep in today.
She was sitting in front of the writing desk, holding the empty scroll in her hand. The words she read on the scroll gave rise to more questions than she already had.
[You are not the first]
Then, who was the first person?
Astrid also didn't say anything when she asked yesterday.
But her words rang in Sera's ears, 'Yeah, there was... Once. A long time ago.'
And the strange feeling she was going through was not helping either.
This Duskmoor Academy was filled with more secrets and mysteries than she ever thought.
One wrong move and nobody knows how you died.
And this house, The House Umbra, had a strange gravity that pulled her.
Everything inside the house felt very older than it looked, like the room she was staying in looked like it had existed a long time before she arrived, like it was just waiting for her.
Sera turned toward the mirror.
Her reflection stared back at her.
She looked the same... yet different.
She had the same auburn hair, pale skin, sharp eyes—but something else flickered in her gaze.
It was neither light nor shadow.
But something Ancient.
Something that was on the brink of awakening.
Sera looked away.
There was a soft knock at the door.
"Enter, the door is open," she called.
The door creaked open, revealing Astrid holding a silver tray.
"I figured you hadn't eaten," Astrid said, stepping inside. "The kitchens won't send food this late, but I keep things stored for you."
On the tray were a wedge of aged cheese, dark bread, and slices of blood-orange fruit. Beside it, a small crystal vial of something glowing faintly blue.
Sera raised a brow. She pointed at the vial. "Is that for eating… or incinerating demons?"
Astrid laughed. "It's just a moon milk. Something that calms the nerves and eases dreams."
Oh...
Sera accepted the tray and set it on the desk.
Sera noticed that Astrid didn't leave. And she was looking at her the way a falcon watches the wind, with so much intensity and deliberation.
"What is it?"
Astrid didn't answer Sera but looked at her awkwardly.
"It's okay, you can ask?" Sera said, taking a bite of her food.
"You've felt it, haven't you?" Astrid asked finally.
"The shift?" Sera said, not needing clarification.
Astrid nodded. "Yes. You know you have a seal in your body. When it cracked during the Trials, it wasn't just a magical hiccup. That kind of power only manifests in two cases—ancestral awakening… or intervention."
Sera went still. "What kind of intervention?"
Astrid lowered her voice. "The kind that shouldn't be possible unless someone or something wanted you and your power to awaken."
Sera looked down at her hands. They were trembling slightly, betraying her facade of calm emotions.
"I just wanted to pass the Trials and blend in. I don't want to be a loner here as well. I want to stay quiet and finish my studies. Out of light, out of trouble," she murmured. "What should I do to blend in, to be a non-existent figure around all??"
Astrid leaned forward. "You were never meant to be quiet, Sera. Whatever you are or whatever House Umbra is, it chose you."
Sera swallowed the lump in her throat.
Astrid glanced at the mirror, her expression tightening. "Be careful tonight, Sera. This room… it has history. There are safety wards in place, but the House Umbra is different; it holds something very powerful, and the walls in this house have memories."
"Alright, it's getting late, I'll take my leave now. Take care of yourself and be safe." Astri,d with that cryptic warning, she turned and left.
As if she had seen a ghost...
And Sera was stunned.
She locked the door behind her, more out of habit than belief.
And she moved back to clear the food tray of the table and dumped the waste in the dustbin beside the mirror. And coincidentally, she looked at the mirror again, compelled.
Her reflection was staring back at her.
And it smiled.
Sera stumbled backward with a gasp.
The smile on the reflection's face disappeared.
And her own face mirrored her horror now, but she swore and swore, that smile she saw hadn't been hers.
She rushed to the desk, where sat an untouched veil of moon milk. She snatched the moon milk and downed it in one gulp, its sweetness burning like starlight down her throat. She waited for the calmness to return.
And it came... slowly, like a fog.
She moved and collapsed into bed, pulling the covers over herself, holding it in her death grip, eyes on the ceiling.
The moon outside moved slightly. And the time passed, but she didn't sleep.
When she fell asleep at last, she dreamt.
She was standing in a long corridor with no end.
And the walls around her pulsed like veins, the stones on the wall were breathing with magic.
And she could hear the voices whispering from the cracks.
She is the Daughter of the dusk...
She has finally returned...
Abyss remembers you…
Sera turned around to see where the voice was coming.
And a door appeared behind her. It was arched at the top, iron-bound, and thrumming with energy.
There were symbols covered on it: a sealed eye with jagged lines radiating outward.
Her hands moved on their own, and she touched it.
The symbol.
An Unbearable pain exploded in her mind. The memories that weren't hers flooded her senses, Images formed in her head of the battles fought in silver storms, the recitation of chants in forgotten tongues, a name screamed into darkness—
Umbriel.
The name scorched her tongue even in thought.
The door cracked slightly.
She stumbled back in fright.
She looked up to see what it was...
And something within the crack breathed.
Just as she was about to approach the door again—
She woke up.
Morning light spilled over her face. Her heart thundered against her ribs like it was trying to escape.
What she felt that night had been a dream.
Just a dream.
Except… she felt different.
Sera felt as if her fingertips tingled with residual power she sensed in her dream.
She remembered the night's incident and slowly turned toward the mirror, cautiously.
In there, she saw reflection, this time it was just that—her own reflection.
But she saw on her wrist, just below her palm, a faint sigil had appeared.
A spiral pattern within a circle.
It was the symbol, the same as the one on the door in her dream.
This symbol wasn't a scar.
But to be exact, it looked like it was a mark. And she could sense it was glowing faintly silver beneath her skin.
Something within had been awakened in the dream.
She rose, heart still racing. There was no more time to pretend she was just another student.
As she thought, House Umbra wasn't just a holding place for outcasts.
It was something else...
Something more mysterious..
It was a gate.
And someone—or something—wanted her to open it.