เข้าสู่ระบบThe heat pressed down on me like a living thing. Every breath I took burned my throat. The air shimmered red, and the ground beneath me cracked, spilling fire from its wounds.I stood in what used to be a grand temple, though it was hard to tell now. The marble was blackened, the pillars broken, and the walls flickered with symbols that glowed like embers.Seraphine stood a few feet away, calm and untouched by the flames. Her long dark dress moved like smoke around her feet. Her eyes glowed faintly, the color of molten gold.“This is where it began,” she said softly, her voice echoing through the hall. “The first bond between wolf and flame. And it is where it must end.”I turned to her slowly. My skin was burning, but I refused to fall. “You mean where your madness ends.”She smiled, not in anger, but with something almost like pity. “Still brave. Still foolish. You don’t understand what you are, Elena. You are the last spark of something that should have died long ago.”Her words tw
The forest was silent after her scream faded.No wind, no sound, nothing moved except my heartbeat.“Elena!” I shouted, pushing through the trees. The branches cut at my arms, but I didn’t stop. The roots that had come alive moments ago now lay still, as if they had lost their power.But she was gone.Her scent still lingered in the air — warm, faint, mixed with smoke and something ancient. I knew that smell. It was Seraphine.My anger burned hot in my chest. “You made a mistake taking her,” I said, my voice shaking. “You should have taken me instead.”The air grew heavy. The forest seemed to breathe around me, the ground trembling slightly. She could hear me. I could feel her presence.I followed the scent trail deeper into the woods. The further I went, the stranger everything became. The trees glowed faintly. The moon above looked like it was pulsing. The world felt stretched, twisted, unreal.Then I found the clearing.The pool was there, glowing red. I dropped to my knees beside
The moment her scream faded, the forest went dead silent.No wind. No sound. No heartbeat — except mine.“Elena!” I shouted again, tearing through the branches that still clawed at my legs. The roots that had been alive seconds ago fell limp, as if whatever force controlled them had vanished with her.But she was gone.My wolf instincts kicked in. I could still smell her — her warmth, her heartbeat, her fear. It lingered faintly in the air, mixed with something else: smoke and old fire.Seraphine.I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms. “You made a mistake taking her,” I growled. “You should’ve killed me instead.”The forest didn’t answer, but I could feel the shift — the ground trembling, the air thickening with power. She could hear me. She always could.I forced myself to focus. The scent trail led deeper into the forest, beyond the boundaries of what used to be real. The further I went, the more the world changed. Trees shimmered like glass. The moon pulsed like a heartb
The flames had gone out, but the smell of smoke clung to everything.The cabin was dark and quiet again, too quiet — the kind of silence that made your skin crawl.Damon’s arm was still around me. His breathing was uneven, his shirt torn from where the fire had struck him. I touched the burn on his shoulder, but he caught my hand.“I’m fine,” he said, voice low. “We need to get out of here.”He was right. The air felt strange, heavy with something unseen. It wasn’t safe anymore.We stepped outside into the night, and the cold hit me like a wave. The blood moon still glowed high above, turning the forest red. The trees seemed taller, their branches twisting in odd shapes that hadn’t been there before.I stared at them, my chest tightening. “Damon… does the forest look different to you?”He scanned the area, his jaw tightening. “Yes.”We started walking toward the path that led back to the river — the same path we had taken so many times before. But tonight, it wasn’t the same. The tree
The forest outside the cabin was glowing red.The light of the blood moon poured through the cracks in the walls, painting everything in shades of crimson. It made the air shimmer, heavy and strange, like the world was breathing with me. I stood near the window, unable to look away.Damon stayed close, watching me carefully. His hand hovered near mine but didn’t touch. “Elena,” he said quietly, “don’t answer it.”I tore my eyes from the moon. “Answer what?”He pointed toward my chest. “The pull you feel right now. The one that’s telling you to step outside.”My breath caught. Because he was right. I did feel it — a soft voice deep inside, whispering my name in rhythm with my heartbeat. It was sweet at first, like a lullaby… then it grew louder.“Come home, my flame,” it whispered.My head throbbed. “She’s calling me again,” I whispered.Damon moved in front of me, blocking my view of the window. “You’re not going anywhere.”I nodded, but my body didn’t listen. My fingers twitched, my
The lantern light trembled between us. Damon’s shadow stretched across the wall like something alive, and the only sound was the crackle of cooling embers.He set the lantern down slowly, his voice calm but careful. “Tell me what you saw, Elena.”I wrapped my arms around myself, still shivering though the room was warm. “Her face. She was in the flame, Damon. She looked at me.”He frowned. “You’re sure it wasn’t just—”“It wasn’t my imagination,” I cut in softly. “She smiled. Like she knew me.”For a long time, he didn’t speak. He walked to the window, staring out at the dark forest. When he finally spoke, his tone had changed—lower, darker. “I’ve seen faces in fire before… when magic gets close. When power isn’t settled.”“Magic?” I whispered. “You mean—mine?”He turned to me, his jaw tight. “You said the flame spoke. That means something inside you is waking up. You’re tied to this more than you think.”I glanced down at my hand. The golden mark still glowed faintly under my skin, p







