Ashes of Eternity

WHISPERS OF THE PAST

Seraphina couldn’t sleep.

The dorm was quiet—too quiet. Even Liora, who usually mumbled in her sleep, had gone completely still. The soft breathing from the bed across hers reminded Seraphina that, somehow, everyone else was able to rest.

But she couldn’t. Not after the vision she had. That cry from the child... it kept looping in her head like a broken record.

So she slipped on her hoodie, tied her hair up in a lazy bun, and quietly walked out.

The campus looked different at night. It was colder, sure, but there was also this weird calmness that felt a little too still, like the whole place was... watching.

She walked across the courtyard, arms wrapped around herself. The wind carried the smell of rain and moss. She was thinking of heading back when she saw someone sitting by the old stone fountain.

It was a girl. Or a woman? She looked young, but also... not.

Her long, silvery hair shimmered under the moonlight, and her cloak shifted colors with every move—like shadows dancing across silk. She sat there like she’d been waiting.

“Seraphina Nightvale,” the woman said without looking up.

Sera blinked. “Uh... do I know you?”

Now she looked up. Her eyes were strange—like galaxies. Deep and glowing. “Not yet. But I know you.”

Seraphina took a step back. “Okay. That’s not creepy at all.”

The woman chuckled. “Relax. I’m not gonna hex you. My name’s Nyx Valmont. People say I’m a seer or oracle or whatever... but honestly, I just know stuff.”

“You just... know stuff?”

Nyx shrugged. “Visions, dreams, fate. The usual.”

There was something about her that didn’t feel threatening—just unsettling. Like she knew secrets you hadn’t told anyone.

Seraphina sat on the edge of the fountain but kept a little distance. “So... why me?”

“Because you’re changing,” Nyx said. “And you don’t even realize it.”

Seraphina frowned. “Is this about the vision I had earlier?”

Nyx turned to her, brushing a finger lightly over her temple—and suddenly, Seraphina’s heart dropped.

Images flashed through her head—flames, war, a battlefield soaked in blood, a throne she’d never seen but somehow recognized. And that child... crying out, alone.

She gasped, stumbling back from the fountain.

“What... what was that?!”

Nyx stood up slowly. “A memory. Or maybe a warning. It depends on how you look at it.”

“Why are you showing me this?”

“Because it’s part of you, Sera,” Nyx said gently. “You’re more than you think. You just haven’t remembered yet.”

Seraphina’s mouth was dry. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

Nyx gave a small smile. “Live. Breathe. Learn. And when the time comes... choose.”

Then, just like that, she turned—her figure breaking apart like mist in the moonlight.

“Wait—what the hell does that mean?!”

But she was gone.

---

Seraphina made her way back to the dorm room in a daze. Liora was still sleeping, now drooling on her pillow with one foot hanging off the bed.

Sera lay down quietly, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts spiraling.

Who was she, really?

And why did it feel like the world already knew?