Chapter Four: The Curse Beneath My Skin
1433 Words
I’d always thought silence meant peace.But that night, it only reminded me of how loud the fire inside me had become.
After the wolves chased us through the woods,
Kael led me to an old chapel buried in the forest’s throat. Time had cracked its stones and swallowed half the structure in moss, but something about it still stood strong—watchful.
He said it was a sanctuary once, back when people like me were feared enough to need places like this.
Now, it was just a ruin. A grave, he’d said.
Fitting.
Because everything I’d known about myself had just been buried.
The moment I stepped inside, something shifted in the air.
The moonlight filtered through the jagged holes in the stained-glass windows, casting streaks of purple and gold across the cracked floor. A chill brushed my spine, but it wasn’t the cold that made me shiver.
It was familiarity.
Like I’d stood here before.
Like the stone recognized me.
Kael moved through the space without speaking, checking the shadows, the doors, the edges of broken pews. He walked like a soldier—controlled, alert, dangerous.
I stood in the center, my breath fogging in the chill.
The mark on my shoulder—crescent moon wrapped in thorny lines—still glowed faintly beneath my jacket.
It wasn’t going away.
Kael finally turned toward me. “Take a seat. You need to rest.”
I didn’t move. “You said this was a grave.”
He nodded, leaning against a fallen beam. “This place belonged to an old sect. Guardians of prophecy. They hid people like you—Carriers—when things got bad. When Seraphina rose, they were wiped out.”
“Killed?”
“Hunted. Burned. The few who survived vanished. Some say they swore never to serve another Flameborn.”
I swallowed. “So why bring me here?”
He met my eyes. “Because even if it’s haunted… this place remembers what it was. It won’t hurt you.”
His voice was quiet, not soft. Kael didn’t do soft. But there was something in it—like the echo of regret.
I sank down onto a cold stone bench, folding my hands over the pendant around my neck. I hadn’t meant to put it on, but it was there, resting against my skin like it had always belonged.
The chain pulsed faintly—alive.
“I used to think it was just a gift,” I said. “My aunt gave it to me after the first dream. She didn’t explain. Just clasped it around my neck and said, ‘Hold onto this, Jewel. No matter what happens.’”
Kael approached, slower now. His eyes settled on the pendant.
“It’s not just a gift. It’s a binding relic. One of the last ones linked to the Del-ray line. It reacts to your blood. Your power. It’s not just protecting you. It’s waiting for something.”
“For what?”
His jaw tightened. “The final awakening.”
The words hit like ice in my chest.
“Final?”
Kael crouched in front of me, elbows on his knees. “You’ve only scratched the surface of what you are. The mark means your blood has responded. The dreams, the fire, the strength—it’s all the beginning.”
“And the end?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked down at my hands. They were clean, but I could still feel the heat from earlier. The way fire had erupted from my skin without warning. The way I’d felt powerful… and terrified.
“I could’ve killed him,” I whispered. “That vampire—the one who grabbed me. I didn’t even think. I just... reacted.”
“You did what you had to,” Kael said.
“I burned him alive.”
“You saved yourself.”
I shook my head. “What if it happens again? What if I can’t stop it next time? What if I hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it?”
Kael’s voice was quiet. “You will hurt someone. That’s not a possibility—it’s a promise. But the point isn’t avoiding it. It’s choosing who deserves it.”
His words sat heavy in the air. Heavy… and true.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, the pendant swinging between us.
“I don’t want this.”
“No one ever does.”
“I’m not Seraphina.”
“No,” he said. “But she wasn’t always the monster they remember. Once, she was just a girl like you. Scared. Hunted. Marked.”
“And what happened?”
Kael’s eyes darkened. “She stopped being scared.”
Silence stretched between us.
I should have hated her. She was the reason the world feared my name. The reason I had to run. Hide. Burn.
But some part of me—deep, buried—ached when I heard her name.
Not pity.Not rage.Something heavier.
Something closer to understanding.
“What happens if I try to reject the prophecy?” I asked. “Walk away. Pretend none of this is mine.”
Kael looked at me for a long moment. “Someone else will bleed for your silence.”
I closed my eyes.
Because I already knew.I’d seen it in my dreams.Ash.Bone.The scream of a child caught in a fire not meant for her.
Kael stood and walked to a stone basin half-buried in moss. Water shimmered inside—still, silver, and far too clear for rain.
“Come here,” he said.
I hesitated.
“Please.”
That word… it surprised me.
I crossed the room slowly and looked into the water.
My reflection stared back—haunted, pale, eyes glowing faintly violet. The mark peeked from beneath my jacket, casting a dim shimmer on the stone.
Then the water changed.
Ripples distorted the image.
And then—another face.
She looked just like me.
Older. Stronger. Dressed in dark armor traced with flame. Her hair flowed like smoke. Her eyes were endless fire.
Seraphina.
But not the version I’d seen in dreams. Not screaming, not burning. This Seraphina stood on a mountain of ash, unbroken, her hands raised as flames answered her.
Not a monster.A goddess.
Then her gaze shifted—to me.
And the world fell away.
Flashes.Memories that weren’t mine.
Ritual circles drawn in blood.A woman’s scream.A blade glowing with symbols.Kael—on his knees, wounded, younger.Seraphina, weeping and wreathed in flame.A baby… wrapped in white silk.
A pendant around her neck.
My pendant.
Me.
I gasped and stumbled back.
Kael caught me before I hit the floor.
“Easy,” he murmured. “It’s a memory echo. The flame is starting to open the past to you.”
I looked at him, my voice trembling. “Was that… was that me? That baby?”
Kael nodded slowly. “Seraphina’s final act before she vanished was protecting someone. Some say it was a child. Her bloodline’s last chance. That memory… it confirms it.”
“So I’m her—”
“Descendant. Legacy. Yes.”
“No,” I said, backing away. “That can’t be right. She was— She destroyed cities.”
“And she also tried to stop the war,” Kael said. “Right before they turned on her.”
I turned away, heart racing.
I couldn’t do this.
I couldn’t be her.
But then why did I feel it—this ache in my bones like something ancient was crawling to the surface?
Why did fire feel like a second heartbeat?
Why did the pendant warm every time I doubted?
Kael stepped closer. “I know it’s a lot.”
“No,” I said. “It’s too much.”
“You have a right to be scared.”
“I don’t want to be her.”
“Then don’t,” he said. “But don’t lie to yourself either. You’re waking. Whether you like it or not.”
I turned toward him.
“Then teach me.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
Kael blinked. “What?”
“I don’t want to be her. But I don’t want to be hunted and helpless either.”
A long pause.
Then he nodded once.
“Tomorrow, we begin.”
That night, I sat alone in the chapel while Kael kept watch outside.
I held the pendant in my palm.
It was glowing. Faintly. A steady pulse.
I closed my hand around it and whispered,
“I’m not her.”
The wind outside didn’t argue.
But somewhere deep inside me,Something didn’t agree.
- Writer
