POV: Aria
Someone was breathing behind me.
I spun around so fast my hood fell back. My hand shot toward the emergency exit button hidden in my sleeve.
Dominic Ashford stood ten feet away.
Alone. Hands raised. No weapon drawn.
My heart tried to punch through my chest.
"Don't run," he said quietly. His voice sounded wrong—rough and tired, like he hadn't slept in days. "I'm not here to arrest you."
"Then why are you here?" My finger hovered over the stop button. One press and the warehouse doors would burst open. I'd have three seconds to run before his speed caught me.
Maybe.
Dominic Ashford was S-rank. The War Commander. The fastest Spirit Warrior in New Cascadia. If he wanted me caught, I was already caught.
But he wasn't moving. Just standing there with his hands up like I was the scary one.
"Because I need to know if you're really okay," he said.
I almost laughed. Almost. "You destroyed my life and now you want to know if I'm okay?"
"Aria—"
"Don't." My voice came out sharp as broken glass. "Don't say my name like you care. You called me useless. You said I was inadequate. You smiled at my sister while they stripped my license away."
Something flickered across his face. Pain, maybe. Or guilt.
"I know," he whispered. "I know what I did."
"Then leave." I turned back to my computer, hands shaking. "Go arrest someone else. I'm busy."
I wasn't busy. The Basement was already setup and running. But I needed him gone before I did something stupid.
Like cry. Or scream. Or ask him why.
"Your games are dangerous," Dominic said behind me. Not getting closer. Just talking. "The Spirit Council wants them shut down. They're scared of what you're making."
"Good. They should be scared."
"Three A-rank Warriors had crashes last week. One tried to claw his own eyes out after playing The Flesh Garden." " He signed the release. " I kept my back to him. Safer that way. "Everyone knows my games aren't easy."
"They're not games, Aria. They're guns."
Now I did spin around. "And what are you? What's the difference between my scary games and your kill missions? At least my players choose to be scared. The people you hunt don't get a choice."
Dominic flinched like I'd slapped him.
We stared at each other. The building felt too small suddenly. Too quiet.
"You're right," he said finally. "I am a weapon. I've killed more people than I can count. Done things that would make your scary games look gentle." He took one slow step forward. "But I've never killed anyone who didn't deserve it. And I've never hurt someone I was trying to protect."
"Protect?" The word felt bitter. "Is that what you call betrayal now?"
"Yes." Another step. His silver eyes locked onto mine. "Because sometimes the cruelest thing you can do is the kindest thing in disguise."
My brain stuttered. "That doesn't make sense." "It will." He stopped five feet away. Close enough that I could see the dark bags under his eyes. The way his hands shook slightly before he clenched them into fists. "When you remember everything. When you understand what you really are."
Ice ran down my back. "What are you talking about?"
"Your games." He pointed at my terminal. "They're not just good, Aria. They're impossible. You make fear so pure, so concentrated, that it breaks measurement tools. You build experiences that reach into people's minds and pull out nightmares they didn't know they had." His voice dropped lower. "No one in this world can do that. No one except—"
"Except what?" I asked.
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked away.
"Tell me!"
"I can't." Pain crossed his face again. Deeper this time. "There's a deal. If I tell you straight, it kills us both."
"What contract? What are you—"
My phone burst with alerts. All at once. Dozens of texts flooding in.
I grabbed it with shaking hands. Read the first message from Lyric.
ARIA GET OUT NOW. Celeste knows who you are. She's coming for you. She's bringing Council Guards. MOVE!
The second message made my blood freeze.
Marcus is dead. Found in his room an hour ago. Aria, his face was gone. Just... gone. Like something peeled it off. Get somewhere safe. Please.
The third message was from an unknown number.
Hello, sister. Did you really think I wouldn't figure out your little secret? I'm so proud of you for waking. Finally. But now it's time to come home. I'm at the building on Fifth Street. The one you're standing in right now. Surprise.
My head snapped up.
Dominic was already moving. He grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the exit just as the warehouse doors burst inward.
Celeste walked through the smoke. But she looked wrong. Her skin rippled like water. Her smile stretched too wide.
"There you are," she said sweetly. "I've been looking everywhere for my big sister."
Behind her, twenty Council Guards filed in. Weapons drawn. Spirit energy buzzing.
"Aria Chen," one guard declared. "You're under arrest for illegal emotion harvesting, unauthorized Spirit activity, and suspected murder of Marcus Vale."
"She didn't kill Marcus," Dominic said. His voice went cold. Commander cold. "I was there. I saw—"
"We know you were there, Commander Ashford." Celeste's smile got sharper. "That's why you're under arrest too. For treason. For breaking your Spirit Contract. For protecting the Nightmare King's vessel instead of killing it like you swore to do."
The guards turned their guns on Dominic.
He didn't move. Didn't fight. Just looked at me with those silver eyes.
"Run," he whispered. "Please, Aria. Run."
"Both of you are coming with us," the lead guard said. "Now."
Celeste laughed. The sound echoed wrong, like multiple voices blended together.
"Oh, this is perfect," she giggled. "Do you know how long I've waited for this moment? Seventeen years, Aria. Seventeen years of playing your loving sister. Of pretending to care. Of slowly draining your power while you slept." Her face started changing. Melting. "And now I finally get to finish what I started."
The thing wearing Celeste's face lunged forward.
Dominic shoved me aside. His body moved between us just as Celeste's hand—now tipped with black claws—slashed toward my throat.
The claws went through Dominic's chest instead.
Blood sprayed. Hot and red and too much.
Dominic gasped. Coughed. Looked down at the claws buried in his heart.
"No!" I screamed.
He fell.
And as he hit the ground, something inside me cracked. Something that had been locked away my entire life.
Power rushed through me. Raw. Ancient. Furious.
The warehouse lights burst. Shadows spilled from the walls like living things. Every terminal, every screen, every electrical device in a five-block radius lit up with the same image:
A throne made of fears. And a crown made of fear.
And sitting on that seat was me—except not me. Something older. Something that remembered being a god.
Celeste's fake smile finally disappeared.
"Oh no," she whispered, backing away. "No, no, no. You weren't supposed to awaken yet. I wasn't ready—"
"Neither was I," I heard myself say. Except my voice sounded thick now. Echoing. "But you killed my friend. You hurt the one person who was trying to save me. And now, dear sister—" I smiled, and it felt wrong on my face. Too big. Too sharp. " — now you get to play my newest game. It's called 'What Happens When Gods Remember They're Angry.'"
The shadows lunged.
Celeste screamed.
And Dominic, bleeding out on the warehouse floor, reached for me with a shaking hand.
"Aria," he choked out. "Don't... don't let it... consume you..."
Then his eyes closed.
His hand fell.
And the Nightmare King, locked away for twenty-three years, finally opene
d its eyes inside my mind and whispered: Hello, Aria. We have so much work to do.