Chapter 3: A Flame in the Dark
The silence after Ashriel's warning was absolute.
Selene stared at him, still reeling from what she'd seen—what she'd felt. Her body tingled with the residual echo of something ancient pulsing under her skin. The mirror no longer reflected her world. And now… someone, or something, was coming for her.
> "What do they want?" she asked, her voice thin.
Ashriel turned toward the window. The night outside had thickened, as if shadows were congealing into something unnatural. Even the moonlight looked wrong—duller, cold and metallic.
> "They want what you carry inside," he said.
"Power. Memory. A bond that should have been erased."
"You are a flame. And they are creatures born of smoke."
She tried to swallow, but her throat had gone dry. "Why now? Why me?"
Ashriel's eyes flickered gold. "Because you're remembering. And because I stepped through. The moment our energies touched again, it shattered the seal."
Selene stepped back, mind racing. "Seal? Powers? Hunters? This is insane."
> "Yes," Ashriel said quietly. "It is. And yet it's also truth."
Selene's hands curled into fists. The fear was still there—but underneath it was something else. A strange sense of recognition. As if this wasn't the beginning of a nightmare but the middle of something she had forgotten she started.
> "How long?" she asked.
"How long have you been… waiting?"
Ashriel hesitated. His expression darkened—not from malice, but memory.
> "Lifetimes," he said. "I was sealed in the mirror centuries ago, cursed to watch from the Other Side. Every time you were reborn, I waited. Every time you forgot me, I remained. Until now."
She was shaking. But not from fear. From something she couldn't name.
The air suddenly shifted—colder. The candlelight bent sideways, pulled by an invisible force. Ashriel's eyes narrowed, hand reaching instinctively toward his side. A blade—long and dark—manifested from the shadows around him.
> "They've found us."
Before Selene could ask, the mirror behind them shattered again—but this time not from Ashriel's doing. The glass exploded outward, shards flying across the room like ice daggers. Selene dropped to the floor instinctively, heart pounding.
Three shapes emerged from the breach.
Not men. Not quite demons either. Shadows in motion, with elongated limbs and mouths that stretched too wide. Their eyes glowed dim violet, and their skin looked like burned leather stretched over bone.
Selene couldn't move.
One of them hissed, a sound like tearing silk. It pointed at her.
> "The Vessel has awakened."
Ashriel stepped in front of her, blade gleaming with runes that pulsed as if alive.
> "You will not touch her," he said.
"Not again."
The room exploded into motion.
Ashriel moved faster than Selene could follow—fluid and brutal. His blade cut arcs through the air, colliding with one creature and sending it into the wall with a sickening crunch. Another lunged for Selene—but before it could reach her, Ashriel turned, muttered a word in a language she didn't recognize, and a blast of black fire erupted from his palm.
The creature screamed as it burned, twisting into smoke and disappearing into the floorboards.
Selene's lungs finally unlocked. She scrambled back toward the wall, grabbing a heavy iron candleholder as if it could do anything.
The third creature lunged.
> "Selene!" Ashriel shouted.
She threw the candleholder. It hit the creature's shoulder with a loud crack—but it wasn't enough. The thing came at her, claws outstretched.
Then she screamed—but it wasn't a scream of fear.
It was something else. Deep and resonant.
Light—violet and white—burst from her chest, engulfing the creature in a sudden, blinding wave. The shadow shrieked as if the light were acid. Then, it too dissolved into smoke.
Silence fell again.
Ashriel turned toward her slowly. His expression had changed—not surprised, but… awed.
> "You remember more than you think," he said quietly.
Selene's whole body trembled. Her hands were still glowing. She could feel the energy buzzing in her veins, alive and awake. It was terrifying. And exhilarating.
> "What was that?" she gasped.
> "Your gift. Your soul's echo," Ashriel said. "It responded on instinct. That's the power they want to bury."
She looked around the room—broken glass, cracked walls, burned floorboards. It was like a battle had torn through her life.
Because it had.
> "This isn't over, is it?" she asked.
Ashriel shook his head. "No. They were scouts. The others will come. Stronger ones. Bound to the Covenant."
Selene slowly got to her feet. She wasn't ready. Not really. But something inside her—the part that had screamed light and banished a nightmare—was.
> "Then teach me," she said.
"Show me what I've forgotten."
Ashriel's eyes searched hers, and for a moment, something shifted between them. A softness, warm and dangerous.
> "There will be pain," he warned.
"Truths that will cut deeper than any blade."
> "I don't care," she said.
"I want to know who I am. And why you… feel like home."
Ashriel reached for her hand, and when his fingers closed around hers, a new wave of heat passed between them. This time, it didn't burn. It lit her from within.
> "Then let us begin," he said.