DAMON'S POV I can't breathe.I sit rigid in the library, fists clenched tight against the polished wooden table until my knuckles turn alabaster white, eyes staring blankly at the open book in front of me. The elaborate text—black ink on yellowed parchment—blurs and swims beneath my unfocused gaze, but it doesn't matter—I'm not reading them. I haven't been for the past thirty minutes. My mind exists elsewhere, trapped in a labyrinth of fears and suspicions that grow with each passing second.There's only one thought clawing through the tangled mess of my mind, echoing with each painful beat of my heart.Serena.Serena… and that thing I saw that night—the creature wearing her skin like an ill-fitting garment.My chest tightens painfully as vivid flashes of memory invade my thoughts without mercy: the night we were attacked—the witches and warlocks cloaked in darkness, their faces hidden beneath hoods of midnight fabric, chanting a ritual that twisted the very air around us, warping re
SERENA'S POV It doesn't take long before Morgana releases me, and just like that, I'm back.The corridor comes into view as if someone pressed rewind on a VHS tape—back to normal, as though the last otherworldly conversation didn't just tear my reality in half. I blink rapidly, disoriented, trying to ground myself in the sudden shift. The warm amber glow of the school lights bathes everything in false serenity, the distant chatter of oblivious students echoes against lockers, and the chemical scent of freshly waxed floors fills my nostrils—it's all exactly the same as before. But I'm not. I've been irrevocably changed, marked by knowledge that weighs on me like lead.Cassidy and Luna stand a few feet away, staring at me with expressions that suggest I've just materialized from thin air. Their familiar faces now seem like anchors to a reality I'm no longer sure I fully belong to.Luna's eyes narrow with quiet concern, her intuition obviously picking up the subtle shift in my demeanor.
The corridor feels endless, a labyrinthine descent into darkness that seems designed to test her resolve with each excruciating step. Damp stone walls press in from all sides like watchful guardians, slick with ancient moisture and marked with symbols of warning she deliberately ignores. The air hums with thick, suffocating magic—viscous and oppressive—making each breath a conscious effort as if she's drowning in power rather than oxygen. Isabella's polished leather boots scrape against the cracked, uneven floor with each determined step, the sound echoing off the walls like whispered warnings as she pushes deeper into the forbidden heart of the coven. For fifteen agonizing minutes, she's walked this dark, twisted path, feeling the weight of centuries pressing down upon her shoulders, and now—finally—she stands before her destination.At the end of the tunnel stands the door.Not a mere barrier, but a statement of absolute prohibition. A massive structure of obsidian and enchanted iro
Isabella stands her ground, eyes narrowed to glittering slits, jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle pulses visibly beneath her pale skin. The dim, enchanted torchlight plays treacherous shadows across her face, deepening the feral fire behind her storm-gray gaze. She stares at the witch in front of her with calculated defiance carved into every inch of her posture—shoulders squared, spine rigid, chin lifted—as if daring the older woman to make even the slightest move against her.The witch's long silver hair shimmers faintly in the shifting magical air of the coven's ancient hallway, each strand seemingly alive with its own inner luminescence. Her eyes glow a brilliant, unwavering emerald green that pierces through the shadows like twin beacons of warning. The polished obsidian floor beneath them reflects their standoff in distorted, wavering forms, as if the very ground fears what might happen next."You're making a grave mistake," the witch warns, her voice like low thunder rolling
Isabella sits motionless in the farthest chamber of the coven, the darkness around her pulsing like a living thing—expanding, contracting, breathing with malevolent curiosity. The ancient walls breathe with enchantments centuries old, their spells meticulously etched into obsidian stone and coated in velvet-soft mossy age that whispers secrets of forgotten power. Dim light flickers from a lone enchanted lantern suspended above her—its azure glow barely touching the corners of the room, letting shadows stretch like hungry claws across the worn stone floor, reaching for her as if sensing her vulnerability.Her body trembles faintly, not from fear—never fear—but from the raw, unfiltered pain still surging through her bones like molten metal seeking escape. She curls her fingers inward, wincing as the memory comes back in full force, flooding her consciousness with exquisite agony. That moment—that blinding, shattering moment—when Serena unleashed something so terrifying, so primal, so fu
SERENA'S POVShe watches me closely, the ancient torches flickering behind her like restless spirits, casting a soft golden glow over the delicate curve of her face. Her violet eyes—unnaturally vivid and deep—shimmer with an otherworldly knowledge, calm as the surface of still water hiding unfathomable depths. I hate how utterly at peace she looks while my entire world keeps shifting beneath me like crumbling earth in an earthquake, threatening to swallow me whole."You need to be calm, Serena," she says softly, her melodic voice echoing slightly against the cave walls. "Be patient. Everything will fall back into place when the time is right."Her words, though gentle, sound like they're meant to soothe me, but they land like dull thuds in my chest, hollow promises I can't bring myself to believe. The weight of everything unsaid hangs heavy between us."It might not even take a year," she adds quickly, her eyes scanning my face for a reaction, as if that meager reassurance will someho
SERENA'S POVI squeeze my eyes shut, hard, like maybe I can trap the tears behind my lashes. But they're relentless—rising, burning, stinging against my closed eyelids like acid. One escapes anyway, slipping down my cheek like a drop of betrayal, leaving a trail of cold fire against my heated skin."I can't do this," I whisper, voice cracking under the weight of the truth pressing against my chest. The words hang in the damp air of the cave, fragile and raw.The pain is already here, gnawing at the edges of my resolve. Just the thought of being separated from Damon feels like someone dropped a hundred-pound stone on my chest. It's crushing. Suffocating. I feel like I'm choking on it. My breath shortens, coming in ragged gasps that barely fill my lungs. My limbs go rigid, muscles locking as if preparing for impact, and my heart... it feels like it's being yanked in two, each half desperately clinging to stay whole."I can't do this," I say again, louder this time, backing away from her
SERENA'S POVMy world will never remain the same again.I feel it—down to my bones, deep within the very threads of my soul where truth resonates like a forgotten melody. Everything is shifting too quickly around me, reality slipping through my fingers like fine grains of sand on a windy day. There's no pause, no breath, no mercy from this relentless transformation. Just motion. Just change. Constant and unforgiving.Everything around me blurs as if I've been thrust into the seat of a speeding bullet train, racing toward some unknown destination, pre-programmed by fate's merciless hand. No instructions manual provided. No possible detours marked on the map of my future. Just forward. Always forward, hurtling toward something I can neither see nor comprehend.My heart drums against my ribs with painful intensity as I remain kneeling in the heart of the glowing cave, the cool stone beneath me a stark contrast to the fire building inside my chest. Shadows flicker across the ancient ston
SERENA'S POVI remain kneeling on the moss-covered forest floor, unmoving as a statue carved from vulnerable flesh. The stillness of the world around me feels unreal, almost surreal in its completeness, like time itself has paused to let me breathe—yet breathing feels like the hardest thing to do right now. My lungs seem to have forgotten their purpose, contracting painfully with each shallow intake of air. Every word she said still echoes in my mind like a riddle I can't solve, fragments of truth too enormous to fully comprehend.A reincarnated being.A goddess soul inside me.Power that could change everything.The weight of it all presses down on my shoulders with crushing force, and I lower my gaze to the earth beneath me, watching how the luminescent moss pulses with gentle light between my trembling fingers. I'm trying desperately to make sense of what I've just been told, to find some logical framework that can hold these impossible revelations.She stands there, silent and cal