CHAPTER 5: A Visit from the Darkness
968 Words
Rene didn’t sleep after the Blood Moon.
She sat at the edge of her bed with the ancient page in her hands, reading the same line over and over again:
The marked one shall awaken the flame that ends gods.
She didn’t understand it. Not yet. But it clung to her mind like smoke. No matter how she turned the page or blinked away the fatigue clouding her brain, the translation was always there. Living. Breathing.
The girl on the page was her.
And Kael…
He hadn’t denied the bond.
He’d defended it.
By morning, Mira was banging on her front door.
“You didn’t answer a single message all night,” she snapped the second Rene opened the door. “Are you okay? Did your skin melt off again? Is your mom back?”
Rene stiffened.
No one had heard from her mother since the wreck.
There was no trace of her, no accident report filed, and her car—according to the police—never left the driveway.
Just gone.
Like she’d never existed.
“I’m fine,” Rene lied.
“You look like you fought a dragon and lost.”
Rene didn’t respond. Mira stepped in, scanned her up and down.
“You smell like smoke.”
Rene bit her lip. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s never nothing with you anymore.”
Mira moved to the kitchen, talking as she dug through cabinets like she lived there—which, technically, she did sometimes. Rene had never told her to stop.
“I did some digging,” she said between cereal crunches. “That mark? The one that’s glowing? I think it’s part of something bigger. There’s this site called Dark Thread Archives. I found references to a ‘scar-brand’ that connects to ancient underworld rites.”
Rene froze.
Scar-brand.
That’s what the deleted forum post had said.
If you see the Scar-Brand, run.
Rene handed Mira the page Kael had given her.
She watched her friend’s eyes go wide. “Where the hell did you get this?”
Rene hesitated. Then lied again.
“I found it… outside. It blew into the yard.”
Mira didn’t look convinced.
“The language—it’s Drellic,” she said. “Some kind of dead script. I’ve only seen it in one place before. My sister’s crazy ex-boyfriend used to collect occult books. He had a whole shelf of stuff that looked like this.”
“Do you still have them?”
Mira grinned. “Already called in a favor. We can go tonight.”
They spent the day pretending it was normal—school, food, awkward small talk—but the mark kept burning beneath Rene’s jacket.
She could feel eyes on her.
Not students.
Something… older.
Watching.
Waiting.
That night, the bookstore was closed.
But Mira had the keys.
“Don’t ask,” she said, pushing open the back door. “I may have dated the owner’s nephew once. It ended badly. He doesn’t know I still have this key.”
“Do I want to know why?”
“Absolutely not.”
The inside of Eidolon Books was dust and shadows. It smelled like old ink and forgotten curses. Rows of ancient texts towered above them like tombstones.
Mira led Rene to a locked cabinet in the far corner.
“Here.” She crouched and popped the lock with a practiced flick.
Inside were books that radiated a coldness Rene could feel in her teeth.
Mira pulled one out—The Veil Between Flames—and opened to a marked page.
There it was again.
The mark.
Drawn in blood ink.
A caption beneath:
“Used to bind the soul to the Abyss-born. Unbreakable once awakened.”
Mira looked up. “Rene, this thing on your body… it’s not just some magical tattoo.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“I’ve seen him again.”
Mira blinked. “You saw the fire-eyed nightmare guy again?”
“He’s not a nightmare,” Rene said softly.
“Oh my God,” Mira muttered. “You like him now?”
“No!” Rene snapped, then hesitated. “Maybe. I don’t know. He saved me. He… fought something. Burned them to ash. They were coming for me.”
Mira looked like she wanted to scream. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You have a mark that connects you to a literal demon prince, your mom is missing, and now you’re suddenly defending the underworld’s sexiest serial killer?”
“He said I died for him,” Rene said quietly. “In another life.”
Mira froze.
“That’s insane.”
Rene didn’t argue.
Because it was.
They left the bookstore with three stolen books and more questions than answers.
Rene went home alone.
Her room felt colder than usual.
And the mirror that had vanished?
It was back.
Not where it belonged.
But propped against her closet, untouched, unbroken.
The moment she looked into it, the surface rippled.
She didn’t scream.
Didn’t run.
She walked toward it.
Kael’s reflection appeared.
Only his.
No background. No words.
Just his face.
And those burning amber eyes.
He didn’t say her name.
He just raised a hand and pressed it to the glass.
On instinct—
Rene pressed hers back.
The mark flared.
And for a moment—
She felt his heartbeat like it was her own.
She stumbled back.
The mirror went still.
And on her bed sat a new page—
From a different book.
She hadn’t seen it before.
But it was old, burnt at the edges, and smeared with black ash.
On it, only a sentence:
"The first flame awakens desire. The second, power. The third... blood."
Rene’s hands trembled.
Because she had a feeling...
The second flame was coming.
- Writer
