Chapter 3: shadows over Eclipse
1897 Words
Umbran Order Agency — Command Floor
The air inside the Umbran Order’s command center pulsed with quiet urgency. Sleek obsidian walls shimmered with ancient glyphs, and crystal monitors blinked with supernatural activity across the city. The agency was a fusion of cutting-edge and arcane modern tech wrapped around old, sacred power.
At the heart of the room stood Darian, cloaked in charcoal armor etched with silver wards. His eyes deep brown and sharp as ever were locked on the pulsing red glyph on the central mirror.
“Eclipse,” he said under his breath. “The Circle’s making their move.”
On the mirror, demonic activity surged in real time: erratic movements, heat spikes, and infernal glyphs etched in the astral plane. This wasn’t just a flare. It was a hunting ground.
Darian turned swiftly.
“Deploy Kaelen, Riven, Bella, and Ciara. Tell them this is a kill-and-contain mission. Minimal exposure. No mistakes.”
His orders echoed as officers relayed them across scrying stones and enchanted comm lines.
Moments later, the strike team arrived.
Kaelen, 22 years old , towered slightly over the others, clad in midnight armor that flexed with his movements. His blond hair, tousled and damp from sparring, swept slightly over one brow, but didn’t hide the fierce ice-blue eyes beneath eyes that seemed too old for his years. There was a sharpness to him, not just in physique but in presence as if danger walked in with him.
Battle-ready as always, Kaelen was already adjusting the twin rune-marked blades strapped to his back. Along his forearm, a silver rune glowed softly pulsing like something half-asleep inside him was waking up.
Beside him, his best friend Riven, lithe and fast-talking, spun a throwing knife through his fingers with practiced ease.
“Demons at Eclipse?” Riven smirked. “Should’ve worn something less stabby.”
Bella and Ciara, Riven’s twin sisters, followed close behind. Bella, precise and stone-cold, checked her glaives. Ciara, quieter but more observant, studied the tactical map etched across a floating rune-tablet.
“Crowd’s dense,” Ciara said. “Multiple entry points. Infernal runes around the perimeter. Could be nesting.”
“Could be bait,” Bella added. “The Circle never hits randomly.”
Darian approached the team just as the portal shimmered to life behind them.
“Be precise. Be fast. Eliminate all threats,” he said, voice calm but urgent. “But stay sharp there may be a target.”
His gaze settled briefly deliberately on Kaelen.
“Trust your instincts. And if anything inside feels... wrong, report it before acting.”
Kaelen gave a tight nod, jaw clenched.
“Understood.”
As the team stepped toward the portal, Kaelen hesitated for half a breath a flicker of something brushing the edge of his mind. A flash of silver light. A sound like a memory.
Then it was gone.
With a burst of blue-white flame, the four vanished
stepping into the heart of something far more dangerous than they’d been told.
Elowen
Warm golden light bathed the small but neat apartment, casting shadows on family photos, worn books, and hanging herbs that Elowen’s mother insisted kept the air “clean.”
In her bedroom, Elowen stood in front of the mirror, pulling on a black off-shoulder top, sleek but not too flashy. Her long, dark hair flowed in soft waves down her back, and her deep brown eyes, always seeming to carry questions she didn’t know how to ask, caught her own gaze in the mirror. Around her neck, the amulet glinted faintly ancient, rune-inscribed, and impossible to remove. Her mother had told her never to take it off.
“Ready yet?” came Jaya’s voice from the hallway. “If we don’t leave soon, your mom’s going to guess we’re not going out for soup and salad.”
Elowen rolled her eyes with a smirk and opened the door. Jaya stood there in high boots and a cropped leather jacket, her curly hair tied in a wild, charming puff. She looked too confident for her own good.
“I still think this is a terrible idea,” Elowen whispered, grabbing her purse.
“Relax, it’s not like we’re summoning demons it’s just a club,” Jaya teased. “Besides, Eclipse opened a month ago and everyone’s been there except us.”
“Everyone’s also been talking about how crazy it gets. My mom will murder me if she finds out.”
“That’s why you told her it’s dinner with me and my grandmother, right?” Jaya winked.
Elowen exhaled a soft laugh, tension and excitement mixing like static in her chest. She glanced down at the amulet. It was humming again faintly, like it did when she had those dreams. The dream of fire. Of a woman’s voice telling her to never take it off.
“It’s just a necklace,” she told herself. “Nothing weird. Just your imagination.”
Jaya caught the look.she felt sorry for her best friend she could tell her heart was full of u answered questions
Jaya’s teasing faded into something more thoughtful.
“Maybe it’s just your anxiety or all those binge nights of supernatural drama. You’ve been obsessed with ‘Shadowblood’ lately.”
Elowen smiled, a little self-conscious. “Yeah… maybe.”
From the kitchen, her mother’s voice rang out:
“Girls! Don’t stay out too long Elowen, text me when you reach the restaurant!”
“Will do!” Elowen called, grabbing her coat.
As they stepped into the night, a chill breeze stirred the ends of her hair —and for the briefest moment, Elowen thought she saw a flicker of movement across the rooftop next door.
Just a shadow… probably.
Jaya elbowed her.
“Tonight you dance. And maybe make your move on Derek.”
Elowen groaned.
“Please, he doesn’t even know I exist.” besides he is a play boy "
“He winked at you, El. That’s like the universal code for ‘I’m noticing you.’”
The two disappeared into the descending night unaware that the club they were heading toward was already
under siege by creatures that didn’t belong in any world.
From the outside, Eclipse looked like any other trendy New York hotspot a long line of twenty-somethings queued outside under violet neon lights, pulsing to the beat of music already thumping within. But inside, the club was a world apart. The ceilings were cavernous, the walls paneled with shadowglass that reflected distorted glimpses of the crowd, and the dance floor shimmered beneath a chandelier of black crystal that rotated slowly, casting shifting starlight across every surface.
Elowen stepped through the entrance beside Jaya and Jaya’s boyfriend, Micah , and the instant they crossed the threshold, the thrum of bass hit her chest like a second heartbeat.
“Okay, this place is insane,” Jaya yelled over the music, eyes wide in delight. “Tell me you're not impressed.”
“I’m… definitely something,” Elowen muttered, clutching her purse a little too tightly.
Micah grinned.
“Relax, Elowen. One cider and you'll forget you're the daughter of a curfew queen.”
They maneuvered to the bar. The air smelled like cinnamon, heat, and something slightly metallic Elowen couldn’t place.
A few minutes later, Elowen held a bottle of hard cider, already half gone. Her cheeks were flushed not just from the alcohol, but the lights, the noise, and the fact that for once… she wasn’t home, wasn’t hiding. She let her body sway slightly to the music, her fingers tapping on the edge of the bar.
Across the room, her eyes caught a familiar profile Derek, laughing with his friends near the DJ booth. He looked relaxed in a fitted black shirt, his sharp jawline catching the moving lights, blond hair tousled in that annoyingly perfect way. As if he felt her eyes, he looked up and winked again.
Elowen turned fast, heart hammering.
“Nope. Nope nope nope.”
Jaya squealed beside her.
“You saw that, right? You saw that! I saw that. He’s into you. Go talk to him.”
“I’m going to the bathroom,” Elowen blurted.
“That’s code for chickening out,” Jaya called after her with a grin.
“That’s code for cider happened too fast,” Elowen replied over her shoulder.
She made her way through the crowd, ducking past laughing couples and slow dancers, the thump of the music growing more distant as she entered the hallway near the restrooms. The lighting shifted here — softer, more violet than red. Mirrors lined the corridor, and for a second, her reflection seemed to flicker. She paused.
“Okay… no more cider after this,” she whispered to herself.
She pushed open the bathroom door.
The lights inside flickered.
But There was no one else there.
After easying her self Elowen stepped out of the restroom, the sounds of the main club still muffled in the distance. The hallway back wasn’t quite as empty now or so she thought. For a second, she froze. The air had changed colder, sharper, like static crawling down her spine.
A shadow flickered at the far end of the corridor.
“Hello?” she called, voice trembling. “If this is one of those weird club pranks, I’m not" in the mood right now
Suddenly, the light overhead shattered with a hiss. A blur of darkness lunged from the ceiling a demon, its eyes glowing a sickly yellow, jaws unhinged wider than humanly possible.
Before she could scream
Steel sang.
A figure appeared mid-air from nowhere, seemingly materializing from the shadows themselves. A long-bladed weapon slashed downward, carving through the demon with frightening precision. The creature shrieked, its body collapsing into ash as its final scream echoed down the corridor.
Elowen’s breath caught in her throat.
The stranger turned tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in dark tactical gear that shimmered faintly with enchanted sigils. His skin was pale, his hair a mess of tousled ash-blond, and his eyes blue , deep, intense locked onto her like a thunderclap. A curved rune glowed faintly over his collarbone, half-hidden by his open jacket. It pulsed… and then faded.
He was supposed to be invisible.
But she saw him.
They stared at each other for a beat too long.
confusion flashing in his expression. “You can see me?”
“I… I don’t know,” Elowen whispered, taking a step back. “What was that thing?”
Kaelen’s grip on his blade tightened.
“You need to get out of here. It’s not safe.”
“No kidding.”
Behind him, more snarls echoed in the dark.
He stepped protectively in front of her.
“Go. Now.
But Elowen didn’t move. Not right away. There was something in her a pull. The amulet under her shirt suddenly felt heavy, like it was vibrating, answering something in the air.
Kaelen noticed her hesitation and the pendant glowing faintly through her top. His eyes narrowed, his expression shifting from urgency to suspicion. Or recognition.
Before either of them could speak again, two more demons lunged from the shadows.
Kaelen turned with inhuman speed, meeting them head-on. Elowen stumbled back against the wall, watching as his blade shimmered with runes and fire. She should’ve run but she couldn’t look away.
She felt a pull dragging her to him.
But how and why?
- Writer
