A A R Y A

AGE: Seventeen

The world is burning again.

Not with fire – with light.

Blinding, golden, furious light that splits the sky open like it’s made of paper. Wind howls through stone corridors, ancient and unyielding, carrying the smell of dust and something metallic.

Footsteps echo. Someone is running.

I am running.

My heartbeat slams against my ribs, so loud it drowns the roar of collapsing walls. The ground trembles beneath my feet, stone groaning under the weight of something awakening – something older than language, older than gods.

“Keep going!” a voice shouts behind me.

His voice.

Deep. Commanding. Frantic in a way I’ve never heard before.

I turn – just for a second.

He is there, emerging through a storm of light and debris, black coat snapping behind him like a shadow refusing to die. His eyes find mine instantly, sharp and furious and terrified all at once.

“Don’t stop, Aarya!”

My name in his voice feels like gravity.

The corridor narrows. A crack splits the ground. The ceiling shudders. The light grows brighter, too bright, and my vision blurs.

Something ancient is waking.

Something we were never meant to touch.

I stumble, catching myself against a stone pillar – warm stone, pulsing faintly under my fingertips. Like a heartbeat.

His footsteps are closer now.

“Listen to me,” he says, breath ragged. “When this breaks, you won’t remember. You won’t remember any of it. Not me. Not this place. Not the truth.”

I shake my head. “I’m not leaving you.”

A muscle in his jaw ticks – anger, fear, resignation – emotions he usually hides from the world without effort.

“Aarya,” he whispers, stepping closer, light flickering across his face. “You have to forget. It’s the only way you don’t die.”

The ground convulses.

A crack of pure light tears through the air between us. My hand reaches out on instinct – his does too – fingers brushing for a heartbeat.

Warmth.

Recognition.

A promise I don’t remember making.

Then –

The world explodes.

A sound like the earth itself screaming. Air ripped from my lungs. Light swallows everything. His voice calling my name as the ground disappears beneath me.

And then –

Darkness.

A soft, suffocating darkness that pulls everything from me.

My memories.

My fear.

Him.

Everything goes silent.

Except one thing –

a whisper I don’t understand yet.

“If the world ever comes for you again, it will have to go through me first.”

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Author's Note: Thank you for stepping into this world with me.
Stay close. The next chapter hits harder. <3