CHAPTER- 1
1855 Words
Freyah.
I hadn’t slept properly in days. Restless and uneasy, I finally rose to my feet and faced the glow of the enormous TV screen. For a moment, I closed my eyes, just a breath, just a pause, and when I opened them, I was no longer there.
I was standing beside the bed of my soulmate, Gillian, though the world knew him by another name: Archie.
I looked at him, searching for any sign of change, any flicker of life. My fingers brushed against his forehead, it was still cold, lifeless, exactly as it had been the first day I brought him into this room.
I turned away and lay down on the other bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling as minutes slipped by in silence. Then, without warning, something strange stirred inside me. A tremor. A pull.
I shut my eyes. The sensation deepened, weightless, unreal, as though my body had begun to float.
I wanted to open my eyes, to see, to understand… but fear gripped me. If I moved, if I even breathed too hard, the moment might dissolve.
So I stayed still, eyes closed, surrendering to whatever force had taken hold of me.
Until… my eyes slowly fluttered open.
Shapes blurred before me, shifting into something solid, a house. No… not just a house. A mansion, vast and gleaming, too grand to belong to any ordinary life.
In the middle of its spacious living room stood a woman, her back to me. The air around her felt strangely familiar, almost electric. I couldn’t see her face, but something inside me urged me forward.
I reached out, placed a trembling hand on her shoulder, and turned her around.
My breath caught. My eyes widened.
It was me.
“Who are you?” I demanded, my voice barely steady. “I don’t remember ever having a twin.”
The woman smiled faintly, calm, knowing. “I’m Freyah,” she said. “You, when you were fourteen...but you forgot a lot of things.” Her tone carried both warmth and sorrow. “Come with me. It’s time you understood what’s been haunting your mind all these years… how you became immortal, while those you call your parents remain mortal. I’ll show you what really happened to you back in high school.”
Before I could speak, she took my hand and led me toward a door bathed in pale, trembling light.
“I’m not going in there,” I said, my voice firm but uncertain.
She tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips. “So, you don’t want to know why you became immortal?”
Her words struck me like a cold wind. My brow furrowed. Was she telling the truth?
“If you refuse to come with me now,” she continued, already walking away, “it’ll be years before you see me again.”
The word immortal is very familiar to me...
“Wait!” I called out. She stopped, though she kept her back to me.
“Speak quickly,” she said, her tone sharp and unyielding. “My time in the mortal world is running out.”
I clenched my fists. “If that’s true, then why do you keep calling me immortal when I’m clearly here, living among mortals?”
She let out a quiet, humorless laugh. “You’re right. This world belongs only to mortals.” Her voice softened, but only slightly. “You’re different, fortunate, perhaps. You exist in two realms. But as I said, my time is short. I only appear when there’s something you’ve forgotten… something buried deep, like what truly happened back in high school.”
Her gaze flicked over her shoulder, eyes gleaming faintly. “So make the most of this moment, while I’m still here.”
“Fine! But you have to bring me back here afterward. You do know it’s my birthday today,” I said, trying to sound casual, though deep down, I knew there was nothing to celebrate.
“I haven’t forgotten,” she replied, her voice calm, almost detached. “It’s my birthday too.”
That made me pause for a moment. “Alright then, let’s make this quick. I need to be back before six.”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she walked ahead, her movements smooth, deliberate. I followed close behind. The moment the door opened, she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.
The door shut with a heavy thud, and suddenly, the air shifted. From the empty wall before us, a massive screen emerged, glowing with an eerie light. She raised her hand and began scrolling through it effortlessly, her fingers gliding across the surface as if she’d done this countless times. I could only watch, uneasy, my heartbeat quickening.
An image of a school flickered to life upon the screen. It was surrounded by towering trees, their shadows stretching like silent sentinels.
“Look closely and understand why you became immortal.”
I did not answer. My eyes remained fixed upon the vast screen.
Seconds passed.
Slowly, an image formed, none other than myself.
I wore a school uniform, a nameplate pinned neatly upon my chest, and a backpack resting on my shoulders. I walked down a corridor toward a classroom when suddenly, a man appeared before me.
Handsome. Well-built. His long golden hair shimmered like sunlight, and he wore a cape…
Wait…
My attention snapped away from the screen.
I turned toward the mirror and stared at my reflection, studying my hair.
“Was that really me? Why is my hair black if I am truly that girl?” I whispered to myself.
I faced the screen once more.
The man approached the girl, the maiden… or rather, me, for I was that same fourteen-year-old.
I stepped back instinctively, but he swiftly caught my arm and pulled me toward him. The force sent my face crashing against his chest.
I froze, as if under a spell, unable to move.
“It is you, Freyah… at last, I have found you.”
“Y-You know me…?” I stammered.
“Yes. I have searched for you for a long time. You are the one I have chosen. Now that you are here, you must obey my words if you wish to keep your family safe.”
“W-What do you want me to do… and who are you, sir?”
“I am Vampire King Magnush, of the Golden Blood, third generation.”
He explained everything to me.
Then, he gripped both my shoulders firmly.
“W-What are you going to do to me, ugh…”
My question was cut short as I felt his fangs pierce my neck.
At once, my strength began to fade.
Moments later, a strange heat coursed through my body. In the blink of an eye, my hair changed, golden red... and my eyes turned crimson.
But only for a moment.
My eyes returned to normal, yet my hair remained golden red.
I looked around.
The man stood with his back to me, facing outside, as though lost in deep thought.
“Ahm… Vampire King Magnush… what is my mission? Why did you turn me into one of you?”
“Listen carefully, for I will not repeat myself.
First, you must not have a boyfriend.
Second, when you reach the age of eighteen, the sign of your immortality will reveal itself.
Third, on your very birthday, you shall meet your soulmate. He is the only man you are destined to marry. Only then will your full power awaken… a power unlike any other.
But beware, it may vanish if another man marks you.”
“W-Wait… I have a question.”
“Be quick.”
“How will I recognize this soulmate of mine?”
“You will feel his presence.”
“And when will this great power you speak of appear?”
“When the golden stone reveals itself in the necklace you wear.”
“My necklace? But… I don’t have one.”
“You do. It rests upon your neck. Only three colors should appear within its pendant, white, blue, and gold.”
“And if another color appears?”
“Then it means you have done something wrong. And if a black stone appears… there is only one meaning, you have consumed what is forbidden.”
“What is forbidden, sir?”
“Human blood is strictly prohibited.”
“But… you said I am a vampire. Do vampires not drink human blood?”
“No. We are not like those vampires. Our lineage is the Golden Blood. We are protectors of the innocent in the mortal world.”
“So… there are other kinds of vampires?”
“Yes. They are the ones who kill humans for their own pleasure. The lowest kind, power-hungry and consumed by darkness.”
“I see… Ahm… one last question. May I know the name of my soulmate?”
“No. You cannot know who he is. You will recognize him when the golden color appears in your pendant.”
“Alright… thank you, sir.”
“If you have no more questions, I shall take my leave. Farewell.”
“W-Wait...”
But in the blink of an eye, I was alone in the corridor.
For several seconds, I looked around, but he was gone.
In the days that followed, even when I dyed my hair black… the golden red color always found its way back.
I made my way toward my classroom.
The moment I stepped inside, every pair of eyes turned toward me.
“Ms. Freyah,” my teacher snapped, her eyes narrowing, “That hair color is not allowed in this school!”
I froze. How could I explain that I hadn’t dyed it, that it had changed on its own?
"I’m sorry, ma’am," I mumbled, forcing a nervous smile. “I’ll, uh… dye it black again when I get home later.”
Soft laughter rippled through the room as I hurried to my seat, cheeks burning. I sat down, eyes lowered, pretending not to hear them, even as my hand brushed against the strange pendant resting warm against my chest.
But before I could even finish listening to my teacher, a soft white glow pulsed from the pendant around my neck.
My breath hitched. The light grew brighter, blinding… until instinct forced me to squeeze my eyes shut.
When I opened them again, the world had changed. I was no longer in the classroom. I was standing beside Archie’s bed.
The air felt heavy, alive, with something unseen. A chill raced down my spine as a single thought struck me like lightning: Archie’s in danger.
My fingers tightened around the pendant, its warmth thrumming against my palm. I closed my eyes again, focusing… willing the power to respond.
When I opened them, my heart leaped. Four massive wolves surrounded Archie’s bed, their eyes glowing an eerie, electric blue. For a heartbeat, fear gripped my chest, until realization dawned.
They weren’t here to harm him.
They were here to protect him.
And somehow… they were with me.
- Writer
