Chapter Eight: Eyes That Remember
729 Words
Dax
The first time I saw her fight, my blood froze.
It was during the training yard ambush. Five corrupted rogues came charging out of the trees, no warning, no mercy. Chaos erupted, but she didn’t flinch. She moved like lightning—fluid, fast, lethal. No hesitation. No panic. Her blade struck like memory, not instinct.
It was the sweep that did it.
That perfect undercut, pivoting left, reverse grip twist.
I’d seen it before. Years ago.
Selene had done that. Only once. During the Bloodmoon Trials. I was a nobody then—rankless, invisible. She had taken down a warrior twice her size with that move.
Only she knew it. Only she ever used it.
And now, Aira had.
I didn't say anything at the time. I couldn't. But something inside me snapped awake and refused to go back to sleep.
---
After that, I watched her.
Not because I didn’t trust her.
Because I was trying to remember something I shouldn’t have forgotten.
She didn’t walk like a lost girl. She moved like she owned the ground. When others hesitated, she stepped forward. She touched the walls near the old barracks like she knew the cracks in the stone.
Once, I caught her standing outside the Council Hall staring at the wolfstone archway. Just… watching it. The same way Selene used to.
I started pulling out my old journals. Sketches. Combat logs. Things I thought I’d buried.
And with every page, I found her again.
Not Aira.
Selene.
---
She started speaking like her too.
Short sentences. Direct. Calm under pressure. Voice sharp enough to command but not scream.
The worst part?
She looked like her. Not exactly, but the shape of her jaw, the way her mouth tightened when she was angry, the tilt of her head when she calculated danger.
I knew it was impossible.
But my gut didn’t care.
Some things you feel in your bones.
---
I went to the crypt.
To her name.
Selene Nightshade.
I stood there for a long time. Tracing the edge of the tombstone. There were fresh bootprints in the ash.
Her size.
Again.
I didn’t want to believe it.
But I couldn’t deny it anymore.
---
The dreams came back.
Not nightmares.
Memories.
Selene bleeding in the hall. Selene screaming as they dragged her to the ritual. Selene looking at me when I didn’t move to stop it.
She hadn’t begged.
She’d just looked… disappointed.
That was worse.
---
Then came the moment I knew.
We were back from the border mission. She’d fought like hell. Bloodied, calm, silent. Kael had questioned her in the war room.
She never broke.
Later that night, I saw her alone near the watchtower.
The moon lit her hair. She didn’t turn when I approached.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said.
She didn’t move. “Do you?”
“You’re watching them. Rhea. Elias. Lucille.”
“And what does that make me?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
She turned to face me. Her eyes caught the moonlight—sharp, familiar.
“Then ask what you really want to ask.”
I stepped closer.
“Are you her?”
She didn’t blink.
“Would it matter if I was?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because it already did.
---
Then came the confrontation.
The one that made it real.
She came to me. Not Kael. Not the council. Me.
Her voice shook, but her spine was iron.
“I saw your name,” she said.
I didn’t lie.
“I was ordered to guard the door,” I told her. “I didn’t know what they were doing inside. When I heard your scream—I tried. But it was too late.”
She stared at me like she could see through skin.
“And after?”
“They told me if I spoke, I’d be next. I was nothing then. I had no rank. No voice. I blamed myself every day since.”
She said nothing.
Just silence.
I whispered, “Selene.”
Her name cracked like thunder between us.
She didn’t deny it.
She just walked away.
And I let her.
Because I didn’t know if she’d come back.
---
Now I watch everything. The council. Kael. The shadows.
And I wait.
Because she’s back.
And nothing in Silvercrest will ever be the same again.
- Writer
