Serika's POV
I run so fast my legs burn. The guard's horn still echoes behind me. Feet stomp. People scream. Someone shouts that I am the girl on the poster. My heart punches my ribs again and again.
I race down a narrow alley, jump over a broken crate, and slam into a wall of laundry lines. Sheets whip my face. I tear through them and rush forward. I do not look back. Looking back means slowing down. Slowing down means capture.
Kai's face flashes in my mind. Pale. Weak. Dying.
I cannot get caught. I cannot.
A sharp wind cuts across my cheek. Something magical brushes my shoulder. I dive to the side. A blast of energy crashes into the wall where I stood. Dust explodes everywhere.
They used magic. They are taking this chase seriously. That scares me most of all.
I slide under a fallen door and dash into the open street. The slums stretch before me. The place I know too well. Homes made of scraps. Smoke that never clears. People walking with heads low so guards will not notice them.
A woman sees me and gasps. She pulls her child away from the street and hides him behind her. Not to protect him from danger. To protect him from being seen with me.
I keep running.
An old man tries to cross the road in front of me. I almost collide into him. He clutches his cane, shaking. I whisper sorry without stopping. There is no time. The guards are close. I hear their boots hit the dirt.
I dart behind a food stall and press myself against the wall. I hold my breath as three guards run past. Their armor clinks. Their voices grow louder and angry.
"She turned left."
"That girl is fast."
"Emperor wants her. Do not lose her."
I wait for them to vanish around the corner, then step out. My legs tremble. My palms sting. I scrape them when I fell earlier, but I do not feel pain as much as fear.
The Unmarked District is awake now. People open their doors and peek outside. When they see me, they turn away fast. Some even close their doors in my face. No one wants trouble. No one helps a girl being hunted.
I walk quickly, keeping my hood low. I try to look small. Invisible. Forgettable.
But inside, my heart is a storm. It shakes everything.
A sudden shout pulls me out of my thoughts.
"Down, old man. Stay down."
I freeze.
A few steps ahead, two guards stand over an old man. The same man I almost ran into earlier. He lies on the ground, arms raised over his head. One guard kicks him in the ribs. The man coughs, trying not to scream.
"Please... I was only walking," he says weakly.
The guards laugh.
"Unmarked should crawl. Not walk."
My hands clench. Anger hits me like fire. I want to run at them. I want to shout. I want to burn something. I want to protect him. But I cannot. If they see me, it is over.
I swallow hard and press myself into a shadowed doorway.
The guards kick him again. The man curls in pain. His cane falls aside.
Something hot sparks inside my arm. That golden light. It flickers again. Brighter this time. It feels angry. Like it wants to protect someone. Like it wants to break free.
No. Not here. Not now.
I force the light back down with my breath. I close my eyes and try to think of Kai. That calms me. A little.
The guards get bored and walk away. The old man struggles to stand. He wipes blood from his mouth.
I step out to help him, but he flinches away, terrified. "Please," he whispers. "I do not want more trouble."
His fear hurts worse than a slap.
"I'm not trouble," I say softly.
But maybe I am. Maybe the whole district sees me as danger now.
I move on. My legs feel heavier, like the world placed its weight on my back.
Everything around me reminds me of loss. A crying child holding a piece of bread. A woman begging for water. A man coughing the same sick cough Kai has.
Everywhere I look is pain. Pain I cannot fix.
The world was cruel to Unmarked people long before today. We are treated like shadows. Like nothing. Like our lives are worth less than dust.
And even though I have lived here my whole life, today it hurts deeper.
Because Kai is dying from the same sickness that took my parents.
A memory slams into me.
My mother lying on the floor. Sweating. Shaking. Breathing too fast. My father holding her, begging her to stay awake. Me holding Kai, who cried nonstop. Then my father falling beside her. His breath fading. His skin turning gray.
I remember screaming for help. Guards passed our door and did nothing. Healers walked by and said we were too poor. Too unimportant.
They said Unmarked blood was weak. Not worth saving.
Kai tugged my sleeve and whispered, "Seri, save them." But they died before the sun rose.
The memory crushes my chest. I shake it off and keep walking.
I reach the edge of the district where the road splits. One path leads home. The other leads toward the noble area. I stop there, unsure which direction to take.
I still have no medicine. No gold. No hope.
Unless I do something impossible.
My breath hitches. My hands shake. My stomach twists.
I think of Kai coughing blood. I think of the healer laughing at me. I think of guards hurting the old man for fun. Of posters with my face. Of the faint golden glow waking under my skin.
I cannot be invisible anymore. Not if I want to save Kai.
A loud crash explodes behind me. The ground trembles. People scream and run. Dust fills the air. A roof caves in on a nearby house. Broken wood and smoke rise like a monster waking.
I spin around and gasp.
A glowing crack splits the air above the collapsed house. Not a normal crack. A tear in the world. Light leaks from it. Golden and wild, the same color I saw under my skin. It flickers like it is alive.
Everyone screams and flees.
But I stare at it, frozen.
The glowing tear shrinks fast. Then it closes with a sharp snap.
Silence follows.
My heart races. What was that? Did it come from me? Did my power cause it?
No. It cannot be. I did not touch anything. I did not use magic on purpose.
But fear crawls up my spine anyway.
If this strange power keeps waking, I might be more dangerous than I thought. Dangerous to others. Dangerous to Kai. Dangerous to myself.
I stand still for a long moment. My breath shakes. My hands tremble.
Then something inside me hardens. A small voice whispers.
Choose.
I look toward the noble road.
The place where gold exists.
The place where danger grows.
The place where people like me die if we make one wrong move.
If I do nothing, Kai dies.
If I take the risk, maybe he lives.
I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
"I will not lose him," I whisper.
I step toward the noble district.
My heart beats so loud it feels like thunder.
Every step feels like walking toward my own grave.
But I keep moving.
Because Kai is waiting.
And then the final twist hits me like a punch.
I hear a voice in my head again. Not mine. Not human. Deep. Ancient.
"Your blood is changing faster. Use it. Take what you need. Claim your fate."
My feet stop. My breath breaks.
The voice grows sharper.
"Steal from them. Steal from the nobles. Their gold is soaked in dragon blood. Take it. Take what they owe."
Dragon blood.
My heart freezes.
The voice is not just waking.
It is pushing me.
Guiding me.
Using me.
I grab my head and gasp. My vision blurs.
"No. Stop. Leave me alone."
But the voice laughs softly.
"You are not invisible anymore, Serika. You were born for more than this slum."
My knees almost buckle.
I swallow hard. I breathe fast. I fight the fear.
Then I lift my head.
I know what I have to do.
Even if it kills me.
Even if the nobles catch me and tear me apart.
I will rob a noble house tonight.