Chapter 6: The Girl with Golden Eyes
Eastgate University buzzed with the usual morning chaos. Students spilled through the courtyard in half-zipped hoodies and mismatched sneakers, energy drinks in hand. Conversations swirled—exams, hookups, late-night parties.
But everything paused the moment she walked in.
Rhea Vale.
Golden-eyed. Smooth stride. Effortlessly magnetic. Her presence didn't scream for attention—it demanded it in silence.
Rayven, sitting near the back of his early history class, barely noticed until the professor cleared his throat.
"We have a transfer student joining us today. Rhea Vale. Everyone, be polite."
Rhea scanned the room, expression unreadable. Her gaze lingered on Rayven for just half a second—long enough to register his flicker of recognition.
He didn't know her. But somehow, she felt familiar.
She took the empty seat right beside him.
Rayven tensed slightly. The relic under his sleeve stirred—just a twinge in the gauntlet's circuitry, like it was responding to a pressure he couldn't see.
Rhea turned her head just enough to speak, voice soft. "You carry something… old."
Rayven looked at her sideways. "You always open conversations like that?"
She smiled faintly. "Only when it matters."
After class, Rayven followed her out into the open plaza, curiosity buzzing like static in his chest.
He caught up beside her. "Okay. Who are you really?"
She didn't break stride. "Someone who's seen what you're becoming."
"That supposed to scare me?"
"No. It should warn you."
Rayven stopped walking. "Look, I don't know what you want, but ever since I found this—" he tapped his chest, "—people have been appearing out of nowhere acting like they know me. What's your game?"
Rhea finally stopped, turning to face him fully.
Up close, her eyes weren't just gold—they shimmered, as if reflecting light from another world.
"I'm not your enemy, Rayven. Not unless you make me one."
The relic pulsed under his skin again. It didn't flare. It didn't warn. It simply… acknowledged her.
She turned away, walking off toward the library.
Rayven stared after her, thoughts spinning.
She knows something. And she's not normal.
Later that evening, Rayven returned to the cathedral. Selene was already waiting in the sanctum, poring over old texts and scrawled city maps.
"She's here," he said without preamble.
Selene looked up. "The girl?"
"She's not just a girl. I think she's something like you."
Selene's eyes narrowed. "She's not one of us."
"She knew about the relic. And she talked like she knew what's coming."
Selene stood, pulling a thin metal shard from the table. "Then it's time you learned what's buried."
They descended into the vault again, deeper this time. Past the relic chamber, through a door Rayven hadn't seen before—opened only by a sigil she drew in the air.
Beyond it was a chamber of holographic glass. At its center, a floating globe rotated slowly. It wasn't Earth—but a mirror of New Bastion, the city they lived in.
Except this version was layered, showing what lay beneath the streets.
Tunnels. Ruins. Forgotten infrastructure. Symbols.
"The Old City," Selene said. "Buried by the founders. Erased from all maps. But it still breathes."
Rayven stepped closer. "Why hide it?"
"Because that's where the city's true heart is. The Vault Core. And your bloodline was designed to interface with it."
Rayven ran his fingers over the glass. It glowed at his touch, and a faint pulse of energy swept through the map.
Suddenly, his vision blurred.
He saw shadows moving in those underground layers—giants made of broken metal, beasts with crystal eyes, machines that still whispered names in languages lost to time.
Then—darkness.
A throne of ash.
Chains.
A scream.
Rayven fell back, gasping.
Selene knelt beside him. "You saw it."
"Something's down there. Something alive."
She nodded grimly. "That's where you'll eventually go. But not alone. And not unprepared."
Rayven leaned against the wall. "Great. And I assume Golden-Eyes is somehow involved?"
Selene's voice was low. "She's a Watcher."
Rayven froze. "You sure?"
"I felt her energy. Clean. Focused. She's scouting you."
"For who?"
"That," Selene said, "is the question that will decide if she kills you—or joins you."
Meanwhile, in the university's hidden archives, Rhea opened a concealed door behind a shelf of outdated law books. Inside was a narrow room lit by a single blue flame hovering in the air.
She placed a crystal stone on the pedestal.
"Subject has bonded with his first relic," she whispered. "Cognitive merging has begun. Emotional instability increasing. He's unpredictable, but aligned… so far."
The flame pulsed.
A distorted voice echoed from the crystal.
"Continue observation. If he drifts from the path, execute. If he proves worthy… awaken the pact."
Rhea's eyes flickered with something close to regret.
She whispered, "He doesn't even know what he is."
The flame dimmed. The room fell silent.
And far beneath the city—where the map had shown only ruins—a pulse echoed.
As if something had just stirred.