SHADOWS OF SOULS (IMMORTAL WORLD)

whippers in the light chapter 6

The morning sun felt heavy on Selene’s skin, as if even the day carried shadows now. She sat at the edge of her bed, clutching the strip of leather the strange woman had forced into her hand. The runes burned faintly, shifting when she looked too long. She had not slept at all.

Her aunt’s voice called from below. “Selene! You’ll be late for class!”

Selene tucked the strip deep into her satchel and forced her feet to move. The demon’s red eyes still haunted her every blink.

---

At school, she tried to breathe, to act normal, to smile at the laughter in the halls. But her best friend Mira saw through her instantly.

“You’re pale,” Mira whispered as they slipped into their seats. “Don’t tell me you stayed up drawing again. What happened?”

Selene hesitated. She wanted to lie. She wanted to pretend. But Mira’s eyes were too kind, too sharp.

She leaned closer, her voice barely a breath. “Mira… do you ever feel like something’s watching you?”

Mira frowned. “What do you mean?”

Selene’s throat tightened. She almost stopped. But the memory of the demon’s claws scraping stone made her words spill. “I saw something. Twice now. Something no one else can see. Shadows that walk. And… someone saved me.”

Mira’s eyes widened. “Selene, that sounds—” She lowered her voice. “That sounds insane. Or dangerous. Maybe both.”

Before Selene could answer, their teacher swept in, dropping books onto the desk.

“Today,” the teacher said, “we will continue our study of the Old Histories — the fragments left behind from before the Great Burning.”

Groans filled the room. Old Histories was everyone’s least favorite subject. Everyone’s… except Selene.

The teacher scribbled a strange symbol on the board, a rune of looping lines. “Does anyone recall the meaning of this mark?”

Silence. Students shifted, uninterested.

Selene’s breath caught. Her hand tingled. She knew it. She shouldn’t know it, but she did.

Her lips moved before she could stop them. “It’s the sigil for binding restless souls. It means ‘crossing between the living and the dead.’”

The class turned, staring. Even the teacher blinked, stunned. “Correct… but how do you—”

Selene froze, heat rushing to her face. “I—I read it somewhere. In a book.”

Mira’s eyes narrowed at her.

The teacher, shaken, continued the lesson, but the whispers in the room didn’t stop. How did Selene know that? Why did her voice sound so certain?

Selene gripped her desk, wishing she could vanish.

---

At lunch, Mira cornered her. “Okay, enough. First demons, now ancient symbols? Selene, what’s happening to you? You know things you shouldn’t. And…” She lowered her voice, eyes darting. “You’re scaring me.”

Selene wanted to explain, but the words caught in her chest. How could she tell Mira that she saw the dead? That her hand burned with light? That something in the dark wanted her gone?

Before she could answer, a chill swept the courtyard.

Selene stiffened. Her breath clouded in the warm air.

No one else noticed. Students laughed, shouted, passed by. But Selene felt it. A presence. A shadow, just beyond sight. Watching. Waiting.

Her fingers brushed the satchel where the runes pulsed faintly.

She whispered, more to herself than to Mira, “It’s not stopping… it’s only beginning.”