Chapter Three: The Stranger Who Knows My Name
1046 Words
I didn’t go back to class. I couldn’t.
My hands had stopped glowing, but the tingling under my skin hadn’t faded.
Like something had woken up inside me—and now it was stretching, yawning, testing its limits.
The hallway where it happened was scorched. The floor cracked. The air still smelled of ash and burnt magic.
No one else had seen it. The lights had gone out. Cameras, too.
Just me. Him. And the thing that tried to kill me.
Kael Vireux walked beside me without saying a word.
We moved fast through the side exit of the school. No one stopped us. No one even looked. It was like we’d slipped out of time.
The rain had started. Thin, icy drops falling like whispers.
I didn’t ask where we were going. He didn’t offer.
We stopped in the woods behind the school, near the rusted fence line where the trees grew too thick and the ground sloped toward the old ravine.
I turned to him finally, arms crossed, voice sharper than I felt.
“Start talking.”
Kael regarded me with unreadable eyes. “You’re not safe here anymore.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You’re being hunted.”
“By what?”
He hesitated. “You ever heard of the Flameborn?”
A sharp breath caught in my throat. The word felt familiar. Too familiar.
In the dream—the one with the burning throne—the woman had whispered something before she screamed. I hadn’t remembered it until now.
“Flameborn shall rise.”
I didn’t answer.
Kael took that as permission to continue.
“You’re what they call a Carrier. Every few generations, someone’s born with blood strong enough to awaken it again. The Flame.”
“The flame? As in... actual fire?”
His lips twitched—humorless. “As in the power that once razed kingdoms. The magic that Seraphina Del-ray used to burn half the supernatural world to ash.”
The name cut through me.
Del-ray.
My name.
My aunt always said it was just a family name. Old. Unimportant.
But Kael said it like it meant something. Like it wasn’t just mine.
Like it belonged to someone the world still feared.
“Seraphina,” I said slowly, “was real?”
He nodded. “Very real. Very dangerous. And if the mark on your shoulder is what I think it is—she left something behind.”
My mouth was dry. “You said they’re coming for me.”
“The Witch Covens. The Vampire Council. The Werewolf Clans.”
He looked at me like I was a secret no one should’ve found.
“They all want the same thing: to control you, destroy you, or bind your power before it grows.”
“And you?” I asked, voice low. “Which one are you?”
A long silence. Then, softly—
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
I should have run. Screamed. Called the police. Demanded real answers.
But instead… I stared.
Because something about him was familiar in a way that had nothing to do with memory.
It was like I’d dreamed him long before the greenhouse.
Seen him across burning fields. Standing at my side… or bleeding at my feet.
Kael Vireux wasn’t just some supernatural stranger.
He was a piece of the prophecy.
Of my prophecy.
And deep down, I hated how part of me already trusted him.
“So, what now?” I asked.
Kael scanned the trees, the shadows moving unnaturally around us. “Now you run. You leave this town. You disappear.”
“I can’t just vanish.”
“You must. They know you’ve awakened.”
“I don’t even know who I am.”
“You’re Del-ray,” he said. “That’s enough.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s just a name. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“To them it does. To the world it does.”
He paused. Stepped closer. The space between us felt suddenly charged, like the air before lightning.
“To me… it means everything.”
I backed away, heart thudding. “You’re insane.”
“Maybe. But I’ve seen what happens when a Flameborn Carrier goes unprotected. You think the assassin at school was bad? That was a scout.”
My voice cracked. “Scout for who?”
Kael’s jaw clenched. “The ones who killed your parents. The ones who made Seraphina what she became. The ones who’ll make you burn everyone you love—unless you choose another path.”
My chest ached.
“My aunt,” I said softly. “She knew, didn’t she? That’s why she gave me the pendant.”
Kael’s expression darkened. “What pendant?”
I pulled it from my pocket. The silver glinted, cool in the rain—but its surface shimmered faintly with light.
Kael’s breath caught. “That’s not a pendant.”
“Then what is it?”
He reached forward like he might touch it—then stopped himself.
“That’s a seal. A relic. A key.”
“To what?”
“To everything.”
A low sound cut through the trees. Not thunder. Not wind.
A howl.
Followed by a second. Closer.
Kael tensed. “They’ve found you already.”
My blood froze. “Who?”
He stepped between me and the noise, voice hardening. “Werewolves.”
Another howl rose. Closer. Angrier.
Kael turned to me. “You need to come with me. Now.”
I didn’t move. “Why should I trust you?”
He met my eyes, his voice barely a whisper.
“Because I’m the only one who doesn’t want to use you.”
Kael stepped forward slowly, like he was approaching a wild animal.
“You unlocked it,” he said quietly.
“Unlocked what?”
“The flame. The mark. Your blood remembers.”
I shook my head. “No. This isn’t happening. I’m not— I can’t be—”
“You are,” he said, voice low. “You’re one of us.”
My throat tightened. “What does that mean?”
He looked at me then—not with pity. With awe.
“It means you’re the reason everything’s about to change.”
- Writer
