LOGINMia's P.o.v:
I wake up with the sun on my face. Ugh. Why does my head hurt?
"Mom, why did you open the curtains?" I ask.
"Mom?" an unknown voice asks me. "Since when did I become your mom, Cutie-pie?"
I let out a scream when I opened my eyes and saw Damian. "What are you doing in my room?"
"Your room?" he says. "Cutie-pie, had you opened your beautiful eyes earlier, you would've seen this isn't your room nor your home."
I take a look around. He is, in fact, right. This isn't my bedroom. Omg, why am I so stupid? I feel myself become red with embarrassment.
"Why does my head hurt so much?" I ask Damian. "What happened?"
"Maybe because you are experiencing a hangover?" he said. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
"Hangover?" I ask. "But I don't drink. I don't remember anything from last night."
"Well, princess, last night you did drink a lot."
"What else happened last night?"
"Well, you and Nella had a lot to drink. Mike and I had to carry you and Nella to the car 'cause you guys didn't want to leave," Damian retells the horrific details of last night. "Nella passed out. Before that, you asked me if I found you cute, and then you were about to kiss me."
I feel myself blush again. "Are you sure it was me?"
"Yes, who else would I call cutie pie? Who else would have blushed when I called them cutie pie?
Oh my god, stop. I'm horrified as I feel myself swoon at his words.
"I'm still not sure that was me," I joke.
Damian chuckles. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes," I replied.
"You can go and freshen up. I am going to ask Nella to bring you some clothes. When you're ready to come downstairs," he says, ready to walk out of his bedroom. "Oh, and there is an extra toothbrush under the sink."
As soon as he exits the room, I go to the bathroom. When I finish, I go back to the room and find folded clothes on the bed. When did she come in?
I make my way downstairs. When I get downstairs, into the kitchen, I see someone familiar sitting on the dining table. I just can't place where I've seen him.
"Mia, how do you like your eggs?" I hear someone ask me. Their voices sound far away.
"Uh, scrambled," I replied.
"Mia, this is Austin Montes," he introduces me. "Austin this is Jessica Mia Jones"
He really looks familiar. Where have I seen him? I ransack my brain but I can't seem to figure it out.
"Nice to meet you, Mia. Is it ok if I call you Mia?"
When we shake hands, I feel some whiplash. I shake my head slightly to get rid of the dizziness.
"Uh, yeah, that's ok," I replied.
"Mia, come sit. Your food is done cooking," someone says.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I snap out of it.
"Come and eat," Damian repeats himself.
"Austin, do I know you from somewhere?" I ask "You kind of remind me of my brother."
"You have a brother?" Damian ask
"Yeah, the last time I saw him was 10 years ago," I say.
"You know that's a coincidence. My little sister was kidnaped 10 years ago," Austin states.
"What was she like?" I ask.
~*~*~*~
Damian's P.o.v:
"Ace, don't they look alike?" I ask my wolf.
"Yeah, ," said my wolf
"She was the sweetest girl. She liked to wake up early in the morning just to see the sunrise," Austin says. "When it was almost over, she'd run into my bedroom, yelling at me to get up, so I'd see fully rise."
"I do the same. Every time I see the sunrise, it's like a new beginning," Mia says.
I watch his eyes fill with tears. Why is he tearing up?
"You know my sister used to say that to me every morning," Austin reveals.
"Austin, can you come with me for a second?" I interrupt their conversation. Austin stands up fast and follows me outside.
"Do you really think she's your sister?" I blurt out.
"Yes. Although, I feel it in my bones. I know she is my sister," he says. "Gosh, it's been 10 years. Do you remember 10 years ago, there was a big war between the Royals and the rogues?"
"Yes, the royal family were massacred," I replied.
"Actually, no, some of us survived and left," he says. "That day was when my sister was kidnapped.
Darkness had texture. It wasn’t empty; it pressed from every side like a heartbeat held too long.Mia floated in it, weightless, unsure whether she was asleep or simply unmade. Threads of silver drifted from her fingertips, disappearing into the black. Each pulse of light revealed flashes of what might have been sky, then ash, then nothing at all.Where am I?Her own voice echoed back in dozens of tones, some gentle, some cruel."Where you always were," the voices replied, "between mercy and ruin."A figure stepped out of the dark—her father first, smiling like he used to when he thought she wasn’t looking. Behind him, her stepmother and the hybrids she’d saved, faces of every soul she’d failed to protect. All of them watching.Mia whispered, “No. You’re not real.”The smiles cracked. One by one, they tilted their heads, eyes turning red.“You made us real,” said the chorus. “You gave us life through memory. Now remember what you did with it.”The darkness twisted, forming scenes: vi
The wind died when the crater formed. Not a single gust dared cross the broken rim, as if even the air understood what slept below.Damian stood at the edge, his armor dusted in soot, eyes locked on the swirling glow deep beneath the surface. The others gathered behind him—Sybil gripping her staff, Nella with her spear still smoking from lightning discharge, and Taro limping slightly, his shoulder bandaged. None of them spoke.The silence stretched until Damian finally said, “We’re going down.”Sybil’s head snapped toward him. “We don’t know what’s waiting—”“We know what’s not waiting,” he cut in. “Mia. And I’m not leaving her there.”No one argued. Not this time.They tied ropes to the remaining stone pillars and began the descent. The heat grew with every step, a dry, pulsing warmth that smelled faintly of iron and earth. The walls of the crater shimmered—veins of light snaking through black rock, some glowing silver, others red, winding together in a pattern too precise to be natu
The first sunrise after the storm came thin and pale, its light filtering through smoke that refused to lift.Aeloria no longer looked like home—it looked like something trying to remember what home meant.Mia woke to the sound of wind moving through torn canvas. The fever had broken, but her body still trembled with every breath. She felt the echo of last night—the power, the pain, the voice. The red veins that had crept beneath her skin were fading now, leaving faint silver traces instead, as if light had learned to bleed.Damian sat nearby, head bowed in exhaustion. When she stirred, he looked up, relief softening his face. “Welcome back.”She tried to smile, but her lips felt cracked. “How long?”“Two days,” he said. “You stopped breathing three times.”“I got better.”He gave a breathless laugh, half disbelieving, half grateful.Mia pushed herself upright. Her vision swam, then steadied. The camp was quieter than before. Fewer tents. Fewer people. The air smelled of ash and herbs
The fire burned low, throwing long shadows across the camp. The Hybrids spoke little; exhaustion had dulled even fear into silence. Beyond the cliff, the forest pulsed faintly with veins of crimson light, each one twitching like a heartbeat trapped beneath the soil.Mia stood at the edge of the camp, barefoot, her toes sinking into the damp earth. She could feel the rhythm beneath her soles—the breath of the wounded realm, uneven but alive. Every inhale of wind drew the same sound through her chest. The world’s pain had become her own.Damian approached quietly, a cloak draped over his shoulders. “You haven’t stopped listening since we arrived.”“If I stop,” she murmured, “it goes quiet. And quiet means dying.”He folded his arms. “Then at least sit while you save the world.”She smiled faintly but didn’t move. “Can’t. It’s changing again.”Lightning crackled far away, painting the horizon in split seconds of white. When the flash faded, the forest below shifted—the red veins withdrew
Silence.Not the kind born of peace, but of something broken too deeply to remember its sound.Mia opened her eyes to a world drowned in light. The air shimmered around her, thick with the scent of burned magic. The sky above was no longer silver but fractured—cracks of darkness laced through it like veins, bleeding faint ribbons of color.Her body ached. Every bone screamed with exhaustion, every nerve buzzing from the surge that had torn through her. The blue crystal was gone, nothing but fine dust in her palm.“Mia!”The voice was distant at first, muffled by ringing ears. Then it grew sharper. Damian’s shadow loomed over her, face streaked with soot, eyes wide with fear.She tried to speak but coughed instead, forcing air through raw lungs. “Did it work?”He helped her sit up, scanning the horizon. “If by ‘work’ you mean the world hasn’t collapsed yet, then… maybe.”Mia followed his gaze. The Aether Spire still stood, but its glow had changed. What was once silver and pure now fli
The morning after the forging dawned pale and cold. The storm had left the valley glistening like glass, every blade of grass tipped with dew and ash. Mia stood at the ridge, her cloak snapping in the wind, eyes fixed westward toward the Shadowed Peaks. They looked impossibly far—jagged silhouettes carved from the bones of the world, each crowned in rolling black clouds.Behind her, the camp stirred with the faint hum of renewal. The Hybrids were awake, moving with the quiet rhythm of discipline reborn. For the first time since the battle, there was structure again—purpose where there had been chaos.“Form up!” Damian’s voice cut through the morning fog. He moved among them like a blade through smoke, sharp and steady. “You all know your positions. We move at dusk.”Mia turned, watching him direct the preparations. For a fleeting second, she let herself feel something like pride. They had broken, yes—but they had not stayed broken.Nella jogged up to her, tightening her bracers. “The







