The shadows takes over again.
1296 Words
Anara.
I hit the ground hard.
Cold marble. The sting of blood. The echo of my own scream swallowed by the silence.
The magic ripped through my spine one last time before it vanished — leaving nothing but heat, pain… and emptiness.
I blinked up at a ceiling i knew.
White. Cracked. Familiar.
My old room.
The one I left behind when Lucien tore my life apart.
The one Evelyn had kept untouched.
I sat up slowly. Everything ached. My pulse was scattered. And the space in my chest where Lucien’s presence used to hum—
Gone.
Sealed. Like it never existed.
I dragged myself to my feet, legs unsteady, heart louder than my thoughts.
Every step felt like a memory I wasn't ready to feel.
“Evelyn?”
my voice trembled, but I pushed forward.
I followed the silence through the narrow hallway, heart racing, every shadow looking darker than the last. Then I saw the hand — pale and still — lying just beyond the doorway.
“No—”
“Evelyn!”
I dropped to my knees beside her , who lay slumped against the wall, her breaths shallow and uneven. Her skin was clammy, her lips tinged with blue, and blood stained the edges of her robes.
I cupped her cheek gently, whispering, begging.
“Hey, it’s me. It’s Anara. I’m here. You’re safe now, please—open your eyes.”
Evelyn stirred, just barely. Her eyelids fluttered.
“You… shouldn’t have come,” she rasped, voice dry as dust.
I blinked back the tears burning my vision.
“You’re all I have left. Of course I came.”
Evelyn's hand twitched, trying to grip mine.
“They wanted… the girl in the shadows.”
“They followed the blood.”
I froze.
The vision. The feeding. Lucien’s warning.
Too late.
A knock hit the front door.
Once.
Twice.
Then silence.
I turned toward it, heart hammering.
They found me.
But not him… someone else.
The knock didn’t come again.
But that somehow made it worse.
I lifted Evelyn up slowly, she pressed a trembling hand to her chest.
“They’ve been watching the wards,” she rasped.
“Your magic lit them up like fire.”
I backed toward the front window, pushing the curtain aside just enough to peek through.
Nothing.
No one.
Just wind brushing the overgrown grass.
“Who is it?” I asked. “What’s coming?”
Evelyn didn’t answer. Her eyes locked on the grimoire still clutched in my hands.
“why are you.. Why are you with that… Its *coughs* cursed”
“It doesn't matter, we need to get you somewhere safe”
The shadows shifted before I even realized I wasn’t alone.
They stepped through the ruins of Evelyn’s wards like they’d never existed — three cloaked figures, faceless, humming with ancient magic. The air around them pulsed with power.
“It's nice finally meeting you witch”
My breath caught.
Another voice—sharp, cold—answered.
“You unsealed Lucien. That blood wasn't just magic. It was a key. And now the lock is broken.”
“He was never meant to rise again,” the third growled.
“And now… before the bond completes, before your shadow becomes his crown—we'll kill you.”
My eyes widened. Did they just say they wanted to kill me?
“You can’t—”
But one was already reaching for her, for Evelyn, I stepped in front of her but she threw me against the wall without even touching me. I hit my head and it hurt.
I'm weak, how was I meant to save Evelyn now? Now I wished Lucien could feel me..
No, that'll prove everything he has ever said about me to be true. I can't let anything happen to Evelyn.
“get her”one of the ladies said and another approached me
“stop. Let her go and leave while I'm Still being nice”
“Is that supposed to be a threat?”she said still moving towards me, she forcefully grabbed my hand And that was when it happened.
The room pulsed. My chest burned.
The shadows around me — the ones that always felt like they were alive, I could feel them, spreading… Taking over
“You don't know who you're touching,”I whispered. Fingers glowing with cold fire, she startled. She should be afraid.
“I am Nyxborn. Morwyn. Ashveil. My blood wrote the curse that made your kind. What makes you think I won't end you?”my voice roared, echoing.
She left my hand and stumbled backwards.
I could hear the room pulse with my fury. The shadows rose, not as a shield—but as a weapon.
They moved with purpose.
Not wild. Not chaotic.
Hungry.
Vines of living darkness crept across the cracked floor, then struck with violent grace—wrapping around the women’s throats like coiling serpents. One gasped, another screamed, the third tried to chant a spell—but none could finish a breath.
The shadows gripped tighter.
Like they were savoring the fear.
Their fingers clawed at the invisible coils, nails breaking, magic sparking uselessly around them.
Anara stood still—watching.
“I told you,” she said, voice dark and calm.
“Don’t touch me”
The shadows tightened. One dropped to her knees choking on air that wouldn't come.
Another's eyes rolled back.
And still, the third tried to speak. But the shadows slid into her mouth, silencing her completely.
“Anara,” Evelyn called softly.
I turned, breath ragged, shadows still pulsing around me like a living storm.
Evelyn had pulled herself to sit upright, but her eyes... her eyes said everything.
Not hatred.
Not disgust.
But fear.
Not of me—but of what I might become. I was scared too.
“Anara…”
“What have you done?”
My jaw clenched. The bodies on the floor were still. I hadn’t meant to go that far. I hadn’t even known I could.
“I didn’t—”
“They were going to kill me and you too.”
Evelyn’s voice shook, but her hand reached out anyway.
“I know. But you can’t lose yourself to it. Not like this.”
I looked down at my hands. They were stained. Not just with blood—but with something colder. The kind of power that made you wonder if you were still human.
“I couldn't stop,”I whispered.
Evelyn nodded, painfully.
“I know. But power like that… It doesn't just protect. It consumes. It changes”
“Where have you been anara? You just disappeared and I was so worried i— I sent a search party looking for you. Your school called and—”
“it's… it's a long story.” she understood I wasn't ready to talk about it and I was glad.
But still. I couldn't help my fingers from trembling.
“Do you think I'm a monster?”
“No no, you're not a monster.”
Pause.
“but your powers… If you don't learn to control it. They'll be the one pulling the strings.
Her thumb brushed against my knuckles.
“you're still you. But hold on tight to that before the shadows try to take it from you”
I let out a shaky breath, the storm inside me finally beginning to calm.
Then it hit me.
A pull.
Deep in my chest.
Hot, electric.
My pulse faltered. My eyes widened.
Lucien.
Not just a feeling — a presence.
His anger.
His pain.
His panic.
He’d felt it.
The kill. The surge.
Me.
It's not possible.
My lips parted in a silent gasp.
No... no, not now.
He was coming.
- Writer
