Episode 3: Something Inside Me Is Waking Up
For the first time in weeks, I didn't feel tired when I woke up.
I felt… different.
As if something had shifted in the night. As if I were standing at the edge of a cliff I couldn't see, but I knew was there.
The ring Kael gave me was still on my bedside table. I hadn't dared to wear it yet.
But I had dreamed of the temple again.
And this time—I was inside it.
School was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even Elise noticed. "You okay? You've been off since yesterday."
I hesitated. "Do you… believe in past lives?"
She blinked. "Like reincarnation? I mean, maybe? Why?"
I shook my head. "Forget it."
I couldn't tell her. Not yet. Not about Kael. Not about the visions. Not about the strange pull in my chest that seemed to grow every hour.
I felt like I was unraveling—and being rewritten at the same time.
When I saw Kael in the hallway, he didn't smile. He just nodded, like he already knew what I'd dreamed.
"Come with me," he said softly. "Just for a moment."
I followed him without questioning.
He led me to the old tree again, but something was different this time.
The wind was colder. The air felt tense, like it was watching us.
"Something's wrong," Kael said quietly.
I looked at him. "Wrong how?"
"I felt it this morning. You felt it too, didn't you?"
I nodded slowly.
"I think your soul is starting to wake up," he continued. "But so is the danger that follows it."
He placed his hand gently over mine.
"Try something," he said. "Close your eyes."
I obeyed.
"Now think of light. Not sunlight. Not fire. Your light. The one inside you."
At first, it felt stupid. I was just standing there, eyes closed, pretending to feel something magical.
But then—
A warmth.
Deep in my chest. Small at first, then rising like a wave.
My fingers tingled. My skin buzzed. I felt… alive in a way I never had before.
I opened my eyes.
And my palm was glowing.
Soft. Gold. Gentle as dawn.
I gasped, pulling my hand back. The glow faded instantly.
"What—what was that?!"
Kael smiled, but it was a sad smile. "That's the magic that was once yours. The magic they feared."
Before I could say anything else, we heard something. A branch breaking.
Kael tensed instantly. "We're not alone."
He stepped in front of me protectively, scanning the woods. His hand moved subtly toward something inside his coat.
"Who's there?" he called.
No answer.
Just the wind.
But I felt it.
A presence. Cold. Watching. Familiar in the worst way.
Something that didn't belong here.
Kael narrowed his eyes. "We need to go."
Back at home, I couldn't stop shaking.
I stared at my hand, willing the glow to return.
Nothing.
Just skin. Just fingers. Just me.
But I knew better now. There was something ancient sleeping inside me. And Kael… he was the only one who understood.
But he wasn't the only one watching.
That presence in the woods—it had felt wrong. Like the shadow of something I had once known.
Something that had hurt me before.
That night, I put on the ring.
I don't know why.
Maybe I was done pretending nothing was happening. Maybe I was tired of feeling afraid of something I didn't understand.
Or maybe, deep down, I knew it was time.
As soon as the ring slid onto my finger, I felt it again.
Not pain. Not power.
A memory.
Kael kneeling before me. A promise made beneath a moonless sky. A kiss that tasted like goodbye.
"If not in this life…"
"…then in the next."
The past was calling me.
And this time—I wasn't going to run from it.
[To Be Continued…]