The forest was gray, not night or morning, just gray like the world was holding its light. Seraphina ran barefoot through the fog, hair clinging to her face, and lungs burning. The ground pulsed under her soles as if the earth was breathing.Every breath she made scraped her throat, tasting of ash and smoke. Don't look back. The voice wasn't hers, it was everywhere… soft, deep, and threaded through the wind. It felt like a man's voice, yet older and heavier and carrying a strange ache she couldn't understand.Her hands glowed faintly as light flickered beneath her skin like fireflies trapped in a glass.She pressed them against her chest trying to smother it. The harder she tried the brighter it grew.The trees whispered, branches leaned, and something else followed. "Seraphina…"Her name rolled the air like a curse. The fog moved as if it was alive, shapes flickered inside… wolves, maybe or shadows wearing the shape of wolves.Their eyes gleamed red, silver, and violet colors that shouldn't exist.I know you.Her chest seized. "Who are you?" She shouted, but her voice came out broken, and thin like the wind tore it apart before it reached the trees. No one answered. Just the sound of claws dragging through wet soils.Her body jerked forward with memory. Blood, screaming, and the scent of burning leaves. She saw flashes she didn't understand. A woman's hand reaching through the smoke. A ring of crimson light around the moon, a man standing over fire, and whispering words that tasted like fire. Her throat closed as she stumbled forward, hands shaking. Wake up.It was her voice this time,panicked and small. But she couldn't.The dream felt real, the ground hurt, and the trees whispered her name like a curse and beneath it all, something darker hummed. A pull and a bond.She turned in a slow circle as the fog thickened until she couldn't tell if the sky still existed."Return to blood," a whisper breathed in her ear. She turned around but found nothing, just the gray light. But then eyes appeared right in front of her. Silver, sharp, and familiar. She couldn't move or breathe. Her body knew before her mind did… that's gaze belonged to danger. And yet her pulse quickened. Don't look away."I'm not afraid of you," she said, though her voice trembled. A pause, then the fog shivered around her, the voice low, and rough, answered from everywhere at once. "You should be."And then something brushed her wrist. She felt the heat, and the pain. She looked down and saw marks bloom her skin, bright as molten silver, and symbols she didn't recognize, yet they pulsed like a heartbeat. And when she screamed, the forest screamed with her. Frames smoked up between the trees as it bled through the fog and the ground cracked open beneath her feet. She fell backward, catching on her hands that burned like they belonged to someone else. And then…. Darkness.
The fall didn't end in pain,it ended in stillness. A gasp rippled out of her throat as she sat up sweating and shaking, tangled in sheets that clung to her skin like tattoos. Her heart slammed against her ribs begging for air.For a moment, she didn't know where she was. The smell of damp wood, candle wax, and the faint hum of rain against the roof.Dusk fall village. Her room. Not the forest, not the gray. Her breath came in sharp bursts each one louder than it should've been. She pressed her palms to her chest as it still glowed faintly as the light died slowly like amber under ash.The door bursts open."Seraphina!" Eveline's voice cut through the dark, the elder's shawl hung off one shoulder, and her silver hair wild from sheep. She crossed the room fast, faster than her age could allow and cupped Seraphina's face. "Another dream?"Seraphina nodded as words tangled behind her teeth. "Breathe, child. It's alright."But it wasn't.She could still smell the smoke, still feel the heat, and the words return to the blood whispered at the edge of her mind like a song. Eveline robbed her thumb across Seraphina's cheek. "You're safe. Just a nightmare."A nightmare? She wanted to believe that, but the ache in her wrists was real.She looked down.Under the flicker of candlelight, faint lines glowed beneath her skin. No scars, not burns, just symbols curling thin and alive. Eveline followed her stare, her hand froze. And for a heartbeat, her eyes that were usually soft went hard. " What is that?" Seraphina whispered. Eveline forced a smile. "A trick of the light.""No, look…""Enough." Eveline caught her hands turning them up. The light dimmed as if Eveline's touch smothered it. "It's nothing, Sera. Your mind's still half in the dream. Sleep will fix it."But the old woman's pulse fluttered fast under her finger and Seraphina felt it. "You don't believe that."Eveline's jaw tightened. "Dreams have powers when you feed them fear. Stop feeding it."The words sounded rehearsed, too smooth and quick. Seraphina pulled her hands back. "You're lying to me again."Eveline signed, it sounded heavy. "I'm protecting you.""From what?""From yourself."The silence that followed cracked the air. Outside, the thunder rolled over the hills. A dog barked once in the distance, then stopped as if the night swallowed it. Seraphina looked at her wrists again, the mark still pulsed once… faint, like a second heartbeat. She pressed her thumbs to them, but the rhythm only grew stronger. "I can feel it,"she whispered. "It's like it's alive."Eveline turned away busying herself with the kettle, voice low. "Old blood remembers strange things during the blood moon season. That's all."Blood Moon.The word struck something deep and she didn't know why. She only knew that the forest, the voice, and the fire… they weren't done with her. She swung her legs off the bed. "I need to go outside.""You'll do no such thing.""I need to see the trees.""They're the ones you should be afraid of."Eveline's tone turned sharp now, no longer gentle. The elder rarely raised her voice, but tonight it carried weight like a spell itself. Seraphina froze halfway to the door. "How did you know what I saw?"Eveline didn't answer."Sleep," Eveline said softly. "Forget the gray."But when Seraphina lay back, the mark on her wrist pulsed once more, hotter this time, just as a wolf howled somewhere far beyond the village walls. It didn't sound like a warning, it sounded like a call.