The wind howled through the empty streets of Ravenshollow, tugging at Liara Winters' coat as she raced through the alley behind the library. Her chest burned, heart pounding like a war drum. She didn't look back. She didn't need to.
The shadows were chasing her again.
It had started a week ago—flashes of movement just out of sight, whispers in languages she didn't understand, and then... dreams. In them, she stood beneath a tree made of starlight, surrounded by a ring of fire. Each time, she woke with the scent of ash in her hair.
Now, something was here. Real. Watching her.
She skidded to a stop behind a trash bin and crouched low. Her fingers trembled as she reached into her bag for her phone—but it flickered and died in her hand.
Darkness deepened unnaturally around her.
That's when it happened.
The air shimmered, rippling like heat above a flame. A circle of blue symbols blazed to life on the pavement beneath her. Before she could scream, a wave of energy surged through her body—warm, ancient, and strangely familiar.
And just like that, everything went still.
The shadows vanished. The cold lifted. Her phone buzzed back to life.
On the ground beside her lay a sealed envelope made of dark parchment, her name written in shimmering silver ink:
Miss Liara Winters
By the Authority of the Arcanum Circle
Liara stared at the letter in her trembling hands. The seal was a silver crescent moon wrapped in ivy—a symbol she'd never seen but felt like she'd always known.
Inside was a single line of elegant script:
You are summoned to Velmora Academy of Arcane Arts. The veil has thinned. Your time has come.
A second later, the world tilted. The symbols glowed again—brighter this time—and in a flash of light, the alley disappeared.
She awoke on a soft bed in a stone room, the scent of lavender and parchment in the air.
A woman stood over her, robes shimmering like a night sky. Her eyes—silver like moonlight—narrowed as she examined Liara.
"She's awake," the woman said softly. "The prophecy... it begins again."
Liara blinked. "Where... where am I?"
The woman smiled faintly.
"Welcome to Velmora, child of the Arcanum. Your destiny has been