Kael's Chosen Girl

Vaelora's POV

Red is often described as warm, stimulating, and intense. It’s seen as attractive and even aggressive, but it can also evoke feelings of love and comfort.

​Red is often used to grab attention.

​The color red represents assertiveness, courage, perseverance, energy, strength, enthusiasm, impulsiveness, attractiveness, and aggression.

​Red represents physical energy, lust, passion, and desire. It symbolizes action, confidence, and courage.

​Red is an intense color packed with emotions ranging from passion and deep love to anger and violence, representing both the god of love and the devil itself.

​It’s a hot, strong, and stimulating color that represents joy and energy.

​Honestly, I disagree with that statement; the color red has never made me feel any excitement at all.

​Humans have adopted the evolutionary meaning of red and used it as a warning, like with stop signs and traffic lights.

​But doesn't that mean you should be careful whenever you encounter it?

​I read all these analogies on a website called diedit.com. I was actually looking up the meaning of the color red, but instead, I stumbled upon this explanation.

​Lately, I've been curious about the color red, all because my sister keeps telling me that whenever a blood moon arrives, I have to stay inside and not go anywhere.

​Hmm... The problem is, tonight is a blood moon eclipse. The moon will be incredibly bright, its light refracted into a slightly darkened, blood-red hue.

​Alaric—my brother—said tonight would be a total blood moon eclipse. Which means, tonight, I’ve already broken his warning.

​

​Knock, Knock.

​A knock on my door made me jump a little. It was Saga Valmount, a tall, handsome guy with short black hair. He’s my assistant and personal bodyguard.

​"Miss Vael, Mr. Alaric instructed you to return home before nine o'clock tonight," Saga said.

​I glanced at the wall clock hanging right above Saga's head. Ah, it was already eight in the evening; I guess I’d been working overtime for too long.

​"Alright, get my car ready. I'll drive myself home this time."

​"But Miss—" Saga protested, but I cut him off with a sharp look.

​He sighed but finally nodded and left the room. I got ready to head out. The night sky was pretty dark, but one thing caught my eye: the Blood Moon.

​A red moon, as red as blood.

​My footsteps echoed through the office hallway. There were still a few people working overtime besides me. The moment I stepped into the elevator, the atmosphere shifted. It felt like a sudden breeze was blowing around me, like someone was standing right there, even though I was completely alone.

​As the elevator approached the ground floor, the lights flickered violently. Panic surged through me, I was trapped in here alone.

​The second the elevator doors slid open, I burst out, terrified of getting stuck. Saga was waiting for me, looking worried.

​"What happened? Is there something wrong with the building's electricity?" I asked him.

​He seemed to be contacting the security team on his walkie-talkie, then he nodded at me.

​"Just a minor glitch, they're fixing it now," he replied.

​I didn't feel relieved at all. My mind was racing because the vibe earlier had been so tense. I walked out of the building with Saga trailing behind me, the moon climbing higher into the night sky.

​Since Saga hadn't retrieved my car from the basement yet, I had to wait in front of the lobby.

​Once again, I felt eyes on me. But this time, it was coming from across the street. I spotted a man with red hair, dressed completely in black, staring right at me.

​Not only was his hair as red as the moon tonight, but his eyes were blood-red too. Even though we were pretty far apart, for some reason I could see him perfectly, as if his image was burned right into my mind.

​I gasped as the building's lights suddenly went pitch black, along with all the streetlights outside. People started to panic, but just as my car pulled up and illuminated the area, the power snapped back on.

​And the man was gone.

​I approached one of the guards standing nearby.

​"Did you see someone over there? He was standing right under that light. Where did he go?"

​The guard looked confused. "I didn't see anyone there, Miss."

​Saga hurried over to me. "What's wrong, Miss?"

​"I saw a man standing right there, Saga. But now he's gone. Can you check the CCTV cameras facing that area?"

​I was burning with curiosity. After all, that man had completely unnerved me. He felt strangely familiar, and I needed to know if I was losing my mind or if he was real.

​Saga sighed softly, then checked his phone to contact security again.

​It didn't take long before a guilty expression crossed his face. "I'm sorry, Miss. Right before the power went completely out, the CCTV system suffered a blackout too. Nothing was recorded until the power came back on."

​I took a deep breath, nodding in resignation. I’d better hurry home before Alaric lost his temper.

​

​I quickly got into my car and drove off. Tonight, the blood moon kept me company, lighting up the deserted streets until I reached my house, the massive Haugen family mansion that had stood for hundreds of years.

​Maybe around two or three hundred years? At least, that’s what my mother told me.

​After parking the car, I stepped out and walked toward the front door. A sudden gust of wind brushed against the back of my neck, ice-cold and making me shiver.

​From the bushes to my right, I felt someone watching me again, but when I looked, there was no one there.

​The front door swung open abruptly, revealing Alaric, who immediately glared at me.

​"Vaelora! I told you not to come home late during a blood moon!" he snapped, his annoyance obvious.

​"I'm sorry, brother," I murmured as I slipped inside, and he slammed the door shut behind me.

​"Why anyway? What would happen if I came home late?" I challenged.

​Alaric walked ahead into the house toward the living room, while I lingered by the doorway, waiting for an answer.

​"You don't need to know. Just drop it, it's late."

​Alaric's answer was completely useless, so I stormed up to my room, feeling a mix of annoyance, frustration, and intense curiosity. He warned me almost every time a blood moon eclipse approached, but he never gave me a straight answer.

​Should I sneak into the family archives?

​Only Alaric, my parents, and I were left in this massive house. Our extended family had slowly drifted away, most marrying outsiders, leaving just us to inherit the estate and run the family company.

​Midnight finally arrived, and I crept into the unlocked family archive room. The room was packed with records, everything from investor data and client profiles to the genealogy of every single member related to the Haugen family.

​Everything was neatly organized but coated in dust, clearly rarely visited.

​My eyes caught a book sitting at the far end of a table near the window. It was red, looking ancient, with raised engravings that wrapped around it like twisting roots.

​Tap. Tap. Tap.

​The sound of footsteps echoed. I whipped my head around, but I was completely alone. Was it just my imagination? I took a breath and focused back on the book in my hands.

​When I opened it, my heart stopped. Written clearly on the pages were the names of my ancestors, crossed out in ink as red as blood.

​I flipped through page after page, revealing the names of women from the Haugen family, all marked and crossed out.

​Then, I noticed a phrase written clearly beneath them:

​The Chosen Girl.

​My heart pounded against my ribs; fear crept in. I flipped to the next page, and my eyes widened. There, my mother's name was clearly written. It was marked, but not crossed out.

​Right next to it, a single word was stamped: Failed.

​What did that even mean?

​"Vaelora Haugen."

​My breath hitched in my throat. I heard a man's voice speak right behind me, but when I spun around, there was no one there.

​I turned back around, and there he was. It was him! The man with the red hair, as red as the blood moon tonight, standing just a few steps away, wearing a smile that sent shivers down my spine.

​Moonlight streamed through the window, cutting through the dark room where, for some reason, the lights had gone out again.

​"Who are you?!" I demanded, my voice trembling.

​He grinned at me. "Your beautiful nightmare," he replied.

​The book slipped from my hands and thudded onto the floor, falling open to a page that made my entire body go rigid. My name was clearly written there, marked in blood-red ink alongside the date of the next blood moon.

​"You can't run from me, Vaelora. You're trapped in this destiny with me."

​The lights suddenly snapped back on. The man was no longer in front of me, he was already right behind me. I could feel his icy breath brushing against my neck.

​But when I turned to look, he had vanished into thin air, leaving me completely alone with the ancient book and my name marked inside it.