The streets were quieter than usual. The chill in the air wasn't from the weather—it was something else. Something Vihaan couldn't quite name.
As he walked past a shop with dimmed display lights, he caught something in the glass. A figure—no, a woman. Elegant, poised, yet otherworldly.
His heart skipped a beat.
It was her. The same woman he saw in the pit.
Vihaan immediately spun around to check the street. Empty. But as he turned back to the glass, she stepped out of it. Not like someone exiting a store—but as if she was never bound by it to begin with. Like reality bent to her will.
She stood before him now. Hair cascading in silky black waves, catching moonlight like threads of midnight. Her eyes—deep crimson—glowed faintly, as if a flame was buried behind them. She was dressed in a robe of flowing white and gold, yet it seemed worn, tattered near the edges, like a once-divine banner scorched by betrayal. Her very presence was both graceful and commanding, like the hush before a storm.
She smirked. "What are you looking around for so intensely?"
Vihaan stumbled a step back. "Y-You... you're the same woman I saw there—in that pit. Who are you?"
She gave a soft chuckle, amused by his reaction. Then, with a mock bow, she spoke, her voice dripping with charm and power,
"I am Aurelia, once revered as the Goddess of Radiant Light. Feared now as the Fallen Star by those too frightened to understand me."
Vihaan blinked, still trying to piece her words together. "Why... why me? Why did you choose me?"
Her crimson eyes narrowed with a flicker of emotion. "Because you were desperate... as desperate for change as I was. When no one else looked your way, when they pushed you down, your heart still screamed for more. I heard it. It matched my own cry from that cursed prison."
He hesitated. "That pit... what were you doing there? Who put you—"
Aurelia cut him off, tilting her head, voice playful again. "Ah ah, not so fast, curious boy. I could tell you... but the moment is too fragile. This connection? It drains me. You're still too weak to handle me for long."
Her hand lifted slightly, and Vihaan felt warmth surge in his right hand. The mark lit up faintly beneath his skin.
"I need you to find something. A relic—my relic. It's near. I can feel it. Touch your mark. It will guide you."
Vihaan looked down at his hand, confusion thick in his voice. "And if I find it?"
She smiled, eyes softening just a touch. "Then I'll answer your questions. Every one of them. But for now... find the relic. Before they find you."
With that, she stepped backward into the air itself, dissolving into golden dust. The moment she vanished, the world felt a little colder.
Still dazed, Vihaan walked home in silence. His thoughts were a storm—visions of red eyes, of relics, of some goddess chained in a void.
As he crossed a narrow footpath near his colony, he noticed an old man hunched near an alley. Ragged clothes, long grey beard, a rusted tin cup in front of him.
"Spare some change?" the man croaked.
Vihaan almost passed him—until the man said without turning his head,
"The mark has found you, hasn't it?"
Vihaan froze. He spun around. "What... what did you say?"
The old man lifted his face, revealing yellowed teeth in a crooked grin.
"She calls to you. The fallen light… locked away by cowards in gold robes."
Vihaan took a step forward. "You know about the goddess?"
The man chuckled. "Not just me. Others are watching now. And not all are as merciful as her. You're walking a path that burned better men to ashes."
He leaned in, whispering through cracked lips,
"But beware... others are watching too. And they don't like what's waking up."
Just then, a car's headlights passed behind Vihaan, momentarily blinding him. He turned to look. When he turned back—the man was gone. Vanished. Only the rusted tin cup remained.
Then, like a breath brushing against his ear, a whisper lingered:
"Find the relic before they find you."
Vihaan rushed home. His mother had made dinner, and Liora kept asking why he looked like he'd seen a ghost. He forced himself to smile, to act normal. But his head was spinning.
Later in his room, he pulled out his laptop and searched for Goddess Aurelia. But most results were either dead links or vague myths. A few showed her as a 'false light', a 'traitor'. Others didn't mention her at all.
It was like someone erased her from history.
Frustrated, he remembered her words. He held up his hand and touched the mark.
A golden arrow shimmered into view in front of him. It pointed outside—hovering, unmoving.
He stepped to the balcony, letting the arrow guide his eyes.
It pointed straight at an ancient, decaying church.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew about it. No prayers were held there anymore. People said it was haunted. Cursed. A place where light refused to enter.
But as Vihaan stared at it from his balcony, he felt something pull him. Not with fear... but with a strange familiarity.
The wind whispered, and the arrow glowed.
His eyes locked onto the decaying church in the distance—its shadow unmoving, yet its presence pulsing like a heartbeat in his skull.Something within was calling him. Not with words, but with a pull deep in his chest… as if a part of him already belonged there.
Written by Ghost_Writer_2020
Copyright © 2025 GhostWriter
All rights reserved. This story is an original work of fiction by the author. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or adaptation without explicit permission is strictly prohibited.