Cold wind slithered through the cracked hospital window as midnight settled over the ward. Machines hummed softly around Amelia, but inside her, something ancient thrummed louder—an echo she didn't yet understand.
She had died once.She had returned.But destiny… destiny had not forgotten her.
Amelia sat upright on the thin mattress, knees drawn to her chest. Waking up in a dying girl's body came with a constant disorientation—memories that weren't hers, a heartbeat that sometimes faltered for no reason, and a strange force that coiled inside her ribcage like a sleeping serpent.
This body is cursed.She knew it.She could feel it.
But tonight, the curse felt… awake.
A sharp chill crawled up her spine.
She wasn't alone.
Her room was dark, but in the corner—where the shadows pooled unnaturally thick—a shape stood. Tall. Still. Watching.
Amelia's breath caught.
His presence didn't feel human.
A soft vibration, almost like static, spread across the walls. The overhead light flickered once, twice—
Then he stepped forward.
A man with raven-black hair, silver eyes that glowed faintly in the dark, and an aura so oppressive the air trembled around him. His clothes were black, almost ceremonial, with faint silver embroidery—sigils she didn't recognize, but her soul reacted to them with instinctive fear.
Amelia's throat tightened.
"Who… are you?"
His voice was a low, velvety danger."My name isn't something mortals should speak lightly."
Her pulse spiked.Dangerous.Everything in her screamed it.
But then something stranger happened—his eyes widened, only for a fraction of a second.
"You," he whispered, stepping closer as if unable to help it. "How are you alive?"
Amelia pressed back into the headboard, heart racing. "Who are you calling 'alive'? Do I look like a ghost?"
His gaze sharpened. He didn't answer her question. Instead, he reached out a hand as if to touch her—and the moment his fingertips came within inches of her skin, the air between them snapped like a whip.
A burst of energy exploded outward.
Amelia flinched.He staggered back.
Shock crossed his expression.
"…You're rejecting me," he murmured, more to himself.
"What are you talking about?" Amelia demanded, trying to sound brave even though her voice trembled.
He straightened, suddenly cold and unreadable again. "You shouldn't exist. Not with that soul. Not in that body."
Her jaw clenched. "Meaning?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he tilted his head slightly—as if listening to something only he could hear. A second later, he cursed under his breath and turned away.
"They found you faster than I expected."
"Who—?"
The door burst open.
But not from the hallway.
From the wall behind her, exploding outward like it was paper.
A creature slithered through the debris—eight limbs, pale skin stretched too thin over bone, and eyes that glowed sickly green. Its long tongue flickered out, tasting the air.
Amelia froze, blood turning to ice.
"What—what is that?!"
The man stepped in front of her, voice dropping into a lethal register."A debt collector."
The creature hissed."Give… usss… the girl…"
Amelia's heart pounded violently. She didn't understand—but the creature's eyes fixed on her with a hunger that could only mean death.
"No," the man answered simply.
Then, with a single motion so fast her eyes barely processed it, he unsheathed a silver-black blade from thin air. The weapon hummed with energy—alive, ancient.
The creature lunged.A blur of motion.A slicing sound like the air being torn apart.
Silence.
The creature's head hit the floor first. Its body followed.
Amelia stared, trembling uncontrollably. She had witnessed death—again. Supernatural death. Violent death. And yet the man looked bored, irritated even.
He turned to her.
"More will come. Your mother's sins are not easily erased."
"My… mother?" Amelia whispered. "What does she have to do with this?"
He stepped closer until he stood a breath away, his silver eyes burning into her soul.
"You were born with a stolen destiny, Amelia Gao. And the forces your mother betrayed want it back."
Her heart skipped.
He leaned even closer, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"From now on… whether you want it or not… you belong to my world."
Before she could speak, he vanished—like he had never existed.
Leaving behind a dead creature, a ruined wall—
And Amelia, trembling in a hospital bed, now certain of one thing:
Her second chance at life wasn't a blessing.It was a war.