The house slept but the night didn't. Rain still drizzled outside like fingers, tapping the glass soft and relentlessly. Seraphina sat upright staring at the door as Eveline's snores drifted faintly from the next room steady and calm. Too calm for the storm brewing at Sera's chest.Her wrists still burned and every pulse whispered the same word. Come.She couldn't stay still. The moment she swung her feet to the floor, the mark on her wrists turned silver, lighting up the small space. She grabbed her cloak quietly and carefully. As the wooden boards creaked once, Eveline shifted but didn't wake up. Good, a good sign of relief calmed her mind.The door opened with a sigh as cool air rushed in, the scent of rain hit her like memory...earth, wet pine, and something older. Outside, Dusk village was so quiet. Houses crouched low and roofs dripping. The distant hills glowed faintly under the moon half hidden by clouds. She moved in barefoot through the empty pathways, her breath visible in the cold air. The rain touched her face like a warning or a welcome. This is madness, she told herself. This is need, something inside answered.The trees waited just beyond the stone fence. They looked exactly like what she saw in her dreams. Tall, thin, and bones wrapped in fog."Hello?" She whispered. No answer, only the rain. She stepped past the fence as the mark on her wrist glowed harder, brighter, like it recognized this place.The world tilted slightly as the air starts thickening and sounds dulling. She blinked, and the forest around her rippled real and unreal both at once. The gray was back. It rolled over her like smoke, swallowing the colors and sounds. Her breath caught and the ground was gone. You came back, the voice murmured. Her pulse jumped as she spun searching for the mist. "Who the hell are you?"No answer. Then there was a movement… a shape walking the the fog. Broad shoulders, tall frame, and dark hair catching the ghostlight.She couldn't see his face but something in her body reacted before her thought did. Her skin tightened and her heart stumbled. It wasn't fear, it was something worse. Familiarity."You shouldn't be here," he said quietly. His voice was deep, rough edged, and the same from the one in her dream. "I'm dreaming," she whispered, half to herself. "Are you?"He stepped closer as the gray shifted around him like it belonged to him. Her body stilled. "Why do you keep calling me that name?""Because it's yours."The way he said it soft and certain made her chest ache. "Who are you?""Someone who remembers what you are.""I don't…""You do." He reached toward her, not touching but the air between them sparked. The marks on her wrists flared white, glowing through the rain, the fog, and the dark.She gasped staggering back. "Stop…"The mark burned deeper. Pain flushed, but beneath it… pleaure and power brewed. The gray trembled like it couldn't hold them both. "You can't hide from this," he said. "Hide from what?""The blood that made you."The world flashed and the forest burned again with flames and thick fog. She heard screams, not from fear but from memory.Return to blood.She dropped to her knees as rain turned and the fog turned fire. And through the chaos, she saw his eyes for the first time… silver, something bright, and furious with something dark.The ground split open beneath her."Wake up, Seraphina."Her name echoed through the dream. It's was Eveline's voice. The gray shattered.
She opened her eyes but nothing around her moved. The gray bled into color again slow and uncertain until Sera realized that she was still outside.The rain drizzled from the sky and the air smelled like burned woods and wet leaves. She breathed fast and sharp. When she turned expecting the village lights behind her, she saw nothing.Only trees and endless whispering. Her cloak sticked her skin soaked with rain and her hair stuck to her cheeks. "Eveline?" Her voice came out rough and small.No one answered only the sigh of the forest. She blinked through the mist as the mark on her wrist glowed faintly like a ghost-light under her skin.It's pulsed with her heartbeat steady and alive.She wasn't dreaming, not this time. The ground was soft and muddy under her feet. She didn't know how far she had walked because the rain had washed her footprint away. The world looked the same in every direction. Gray trunks, dark leaves, and shadows that breathed. Something moved and she froze.A rustle just ahead and a flash of light between the trees. Her heart kicked, she wanted to run but her legs didn't move. And then quietly, she heard her name again."Seraphina…"It's was Eveline's voice soft and distant, echoing through the rain. Her chest tightened. "Eveline?" She called turning around the sound.But there was no one.The voice came again, thinner this time like it was breaking apart. "Wake up…""I am awake," she whispered. "I'm awake!"Her own voice echoed off the trees swallowed by the fog. And that was when she saw it burning through the mist like a light. Not from fire, not from the moon, it's was something else, something alive. It glinted between the trees calling her closer. She moved toward it step by step as her feet sank into the mud, cold water flowed between her toes. The light flared again. It felt familiar and yet dangerous.When she reached out her hand, the mark flared bright as pain shot up her arm like a thread was pulling her forward to something she couldn't see.And then… a whisper brushed her ear."You came back."It was the same voice from before, the one that wasn't hers, the one she heard in her dream. She turned in circles, heart racing. "Show yourself!"Wind danced through the trees wild and sudden as the branches swayed. The rain grew heavier drumming against her skin. Something watched her and she could feel it. It wasn't an animal, or human. Something older. The light faded.She turned around again, faster this time and tripped. Mud splashed her face, she fell hard, her hands sank into the mud. The light in her wrist glowed brighter that before. Her vision blurred and the forest shifted. I'm not supposed to be here.The wind roared louder, like it was angry. The gray rose again from the ground rounding her like a smoke. Somewhere inside it, she heard a low growl. Deep and male. It wasn't a threat but a warning. Then a shadow moved. She looked up, her breath caught. It's eyes was silver and sharp watching her from the dark.Her mark pulsed again matching the sound of his steps as he came closer. "Who are you?" She whispered.The figure didn't answer.Rain slid down his face, catching the faint glow of her mark. His gaze lingered in it, the lifted to her eyes steady and knowing. The gray swallowed them both. And the last thing she heard before everything went black was the river roaring somewhere near by, pulling her name in it."Seraphina…"