Selene walked slowly through a wide, open field that stretched out before her like a green sea. The grass was tall and soft, brushing against her bare legs as she moved. Broken stones lay scattered across the ground, half-covered by vines and wildflowers. The sky above her was bright blue, painted with soft clouds that drifted lazily.
Each step she took felt lighter than the one before. The sunlight wrapped around her like a blanket, warm and gentle. Whenever the golden rays touched her skin, she felt something strange—but good. Her heart beat more calmly. Her hands stopped shaking. Her knees no longer felt weak. The strange fear inside her chest, the one that had stayed with her since she woke up, began to slowly fade away.
She paused beside a broken stone wall that had once marked the edge of a home or a garden. Ivy curled along the cracks. She leaned her back against it and held her hands in front of her face, watching how the sunlight made her pale skin glow. There was a soft shimmer across her fingers, almost like the surface of a pearl. It felt like magic, but gentle—never sharp or wild.
She tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. Her eyes closed. She breathed in deeply. The warmth sank into her chest, and she felt it settle deep inside her, like a flame that did not burn but healed. It filled her arms, her shoulders, and her heart. Her mind grew clearer. Her breath slowed. It was like something inside her was waking up more and more, like a flower slowly blooming toward the light.
"The sun… it gives me strength," she whispered to herself.
She sat down on the soft grass and pulled her knees close to her chest. The field was quiet except for the sound of wind rustling through the leaves and grass. Her silver hair moved gently around her face. It felt nice. For once, the silence did not feel cold or scary. It felt peaceful, like the earth itself was resting with her.
As she sat there in the sunlight, her memories began to rise again. At first they were faint, like shadows on water. But the more she let herself feel the sun, the clearer the memories became.
She remembered her home.
It had been a grand castle, made from black stone. The towers rose high into the sky, and red banners waved from the windows. The halls were long and cold, always dark even during the day. Servants walked quickly and never looked her in the eye. There were rules and silence, and everyone seemed afraid of something all the time.
She remembered the paintings in the castle halls. Her mother had been in many of them, always wearing red or silver, her eyes sharp and her mouth tight. In every painting, her face was cold. Selene had never seen her mother smile.
Selene had never known her mother at all. She had died when Selene was born. That was what the servants said. But even though her mother was gone, her words had remained like heavy shadows on the walls.
"She is a mistake," the servants once whispered she had said.
"No true daughter of Castielle would praise the sun."
Even as a baby, Selene had been different. The castle maids feared her. They said she was cursed. She would cry all through the night and turn pale when they tried to give her blood. She never drank it, not even once. Her skin grew cold, and her tiny body trembled.
But during the day, when sunlight slipped through the curtains, she would stop crying. She would smile. She would reach for the light and giggle. Her cheeks turned pink. Her body warmed. The more sunlight she touched, the more peaceful she became.
The others in the castle thought it was wrong. Vampires were not supposed to love the sun. The sun was death to them. But for Selene, the sun was life.
Only her father had ever accepted that.
She remembered him taking her to the highest tower of the castle. There, just for a few minutes each day, the sunlight touched the cold stone floor. He would carry her there and let her sit in the light. She remembered laughing, spinning slowly in the golden warmth. Her father never smiled much, but in those moments, she remembered seeing his eyes soften.
"She is not a mistake," he once said. "She is rare. She is touched by something greater."
But the rest of the Castielle bloodline did not agree. They kept her hidden. She was not allowed to attend the blood feasts. She could not walk the halls without guards. She was locked away in a garden behind silver bars, where the sun could reach her—but no one else could.
The garden had been her whole world.
She remembered sitting on a white stone bench, watching birds fly overhead. The sky had always seemed so far away. She would hum songs to herself and press her hands into the warm earth. The grass there was soft, and the flowers always turned toward her. Still, it was a lonely place.
Her brothers were the only ones who ever visited her. They brought her books filled with stories of distant lands and skies full of stars. They told her about the world beyond the garden, beyond the castle. They said she would see it someday. She believed them. She had dreamed of it every night.
But the day never came.
Her body began to change. She did not grow weak in sunlight anymore. Instead, the sun filled her with power. She did not faint. She did not grow sick. And even though she never tasted blood, she stayed alive. She grew stronger each day.
Selene opened her hand again and watched a flicker of golden light dance across her palm. It was small, like the flame of a candle. But it did not burn her. It was warm and kind, like a friend who had been waiting for her all this time. She remembered how that same light had destroyed the gray monsters when they tried to hurt her.
She looked out across the endless green field. The horizon was wide, and the wind brushed gently against her face.
She was still scared. The world was strange and empty. Her family was gone. She did not know what had happened, or how long she had slept. But she was not helpless anymore.
The sun was with her.
It would guide her.
It would protect her.