Aria's mind reeled as the Shadow King's words echoed in the air like a curse etched in stone.
You have been chosen. Chosen to wield power beyond your wildest dreams. Chosen to be mine.
She took a shaky breath, heart pounding in her chest like a war drum. "I didn't ask to be chosen."
"No," the Shadow King said smoothly, stepping closer, his presence thick and consuming. "But the shadows have waited too long for you to awaken."
He raised a hand.
"Wait—" Aria started, but it was too late.
His fingertips barely brushed her forehead, and her world exploded.
A rush of raw, unfiltered energy surged through her veins like fire and ice all at once. Her knees buckled, and the world tilted. Visions stabbed into her mind—chaotic, vivid, too many at once.
Forests cloaked in eternal twilight. Storms of shadow twisting into serpents in the sky. Strange cities built of obsidian and bone. Wings of darkness spread across a blood-red moon.
Her scream never made it past her lips. The shadows drowned it.
She collapsed, caught by the Shadow King's cold grip. His voice slid into her ear like silk over steel.
"You see now, don't you?" he murmured. "You have the sight."
Aria's vision cleared slowly, the cavern blurring back into focus—but it wasn't the same.
No. It would never be the same again.
Everything was… alive. The shadows weren't just patches of absence anymore; they breathed, they watched. They moved of their own accord, curling around the stone pillars, whispering secrets she couldn't quite grasp.
Creatures that should not exist stirred in the corners of her vision—monstrous, elegant, unearthly.
Her pulse raced. She stumbled forward, wrenching herself from his hold. "What have you done to me?"
The King smiled, not with kindness, but with triumph. "I've revealed what was always there. You've simply been blind to it."
Aria's hands trembled. "This is… wrong. It feels like—"
"Power?" he finished. "Because it is."
She backed away, but there was no escape. The doorway she had entered through had vanished. Only endless stone walls and shadow remained. The air pressed against her lungs, and she tasted something metallic—like iron and magic.
"You've unlocked the first gate," the Shadow King continued, pacing around her now, like a predator circling prey. "The veil between worlds is thin for you. You'll see what others can't. Hear what's meant to be hidden. The power is already inside you, Aria. I've merely set it free."
She swallowed hard. "Why me?"
The King paused. "Because your blood remembers. Because even in your mother's womb, the shadows reached for you."
Aria stared at him, heart aching with questions. Her past had always been wrapped in silence and half-truths. Her mother never spoke of her father. Never explained the strange marks on Aria's skin that darkened during storms. And now—
She could see things that shouldn't exist.
The King's voice dipped lower. "You are more than human. More than light. You are the in-between. And I will make you into something even greater."
Her hands curled into fists. "And if I refuse?"
The torches around the room flickered, the flames hissing with fury.
"Refuse?" he echoed, almost amused. "You already carry my mark. Deny it, and it will consume you from the inside out."
Something stirred behind her—soft footsteps, deliberate. She turned.
Kael.
He emerged from the gloom like a shadow born to flesh. His violet eyes met hers, unreadable. "He's right. You're changing. You can't go back."
Aria glared at them both. "What do you want from me?
"To hunt," the Shadow King said simply. "Creatures of chaos have slipped through the cracks between realms. They corrupt the balance. You will find them. End them. And I will teach you to master the darkness they feed upon."
"You want me to become your weapon."
He smiled, slow and dark. "No, Aria. I want you to become my heir."
The words struck her like thunder.
Before she could respond, the room began to shift.
A pool of black mist unfurled at her feet, spreading across the stone like liquid night. Tendrils of shadow reached upward, wrapping gently around her ankles—not to bind, but to beckon.
A choice.
Kael stepped to her side. "Once you accept this gift, there is no turning back."
"And if I don't?"
"You'll still change. Just slower. More painfully."
Aria's throat tightened. Everything she'd known—her home, her life, her very identity—was crumbling beneath her feet. But somewhere deep within, something else stirred.
Not fear. Not dread.
Hunger.
For answers. For power. For the truth that had been denied her all her life.
She looked into Kael's eyes. "Then teach me to survive this."
Kael inclined his head. "Then step into the shadows."
She took a breath—and walked into the mist.
It was like falling through water without ever moving. Cold washed over her. Darkness wrapped around her like a second skin. But instead of fear, she felt… clarity.
The mist parted, and they stood in a vast hall unlike anything she'd ever seen. The floor shimmered with dark crystal. Floating orbs of pale violet light hovered above, casting an eerie glow. Etched into the walls were murals of warriors cloaked in shadow, their eyes burning bright.
"This is the first sanctum," Kael said. "Where your training begins."
Aria looked down at her hands. The shadows clung to them, forming elegant gloves of swirling mist.
She flexed her fingers.
They obeyed her.
"You are already changing," Kael said, watching her. "But the power will demand discipline. Without it, you'll lose yourself."
"I won't," Aria said fiercely.
Kael's expression softened just a fraction. "Then let's begin."
As they walked deeper into the sanctum, Aria felt it—her old self peeling away, layer by layer. She had crossed a threshold that could never be uncrossed.
Whatever lay ahead, she was no longer just a huntress.
She was shadow-kissed.
And her real hunt was about to begin. The hunt for who she really is and her powers.