Semua Bab REBORN UNDER INK AND MOONLIGHT: Bab 1 - Bab 10

The machine hummed like a restless heartbeat, the needle gliding across skin as Ayla Cross filled the curve of a raven’s wing with black ink. The smell of antiseptic and cedar oil wrapped around her, the familiar perfume of creation. Outside, rain streaked the windows of The Runed Den, her little shop tucked between a pawn store and a bakery that stayed open too late. Most nights, this was peace — just her, her art, and the soft crackle of vinyl from the corner speaker. Tonight, though, the air felt charged, restless. Her hands never trembled, but she’d dropped her needle twice. Every shadow seemed to lean closer. Even the ink looked darker than usual, as if it had been mixed with starlight instead of pigment. “Almost done,” she told her client, forcing a smile.The woman nodded, oblivious. Ayla wiped away the last smear, signed the edge of the design with her trademark swirl — a crescent moon hidden in the feathers — and peeled off her gloves. The woman admired the tattoo in the m

The world shattered into noise and motion. Glass crunched beneath Ayla’s bare feet as the night howled its way inside. The creature lunged through the doorway, a blur of muscle, fur, and eyes that burned gold like wildfire. Kian was already moving—blade flashing in a silver arc that sang against the dark. The air rippled. The smell of rain and iron filled Ayla’s lungs. She froze—every instinct screaming to run, but her body wouldn’t obey. “Kian!” she gasped. “Stay behind me!” The beast struck. Claws tore through the countertop where she’d been tattooing just hours ago. Ink splattered across the floor, mixing with blood as Kian’s blade met the creature’s hide. Sparks of blue light flared where metal met magic. It wasn’t just a wolf—it was something older, its skin etched with glowing sigils, each one pulsing in rhythm with the moonlight that poured through the shattered window. Kian snarled as the creature knocked him back into a wall. “Damn it—they marked it with binding

The darkness inside the tunnel wasn’t empty. It breathed. Ayla felt it before she heard it—the pulse of something vast and ancient pressing against her chest, as if the air itself carried a heartbeat. The faint light from her mark flickered, shadows stretching long and distorted across the stone. “Kian,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “What’s happening?” He raised his blade, eyes glowing faint silver in the dark. “Stay behind me. Don’t make a sound.” A rumble answered him—low, guttural, and almost human. The air grew thick, heavy with a scent like burning ink and cold metal. Then, from the far end of the chamber, the shadows began to move. They poured across the floor like liquid smoke, pooling, thickening, taking form. A tall figure emerged—cloaked in shifting darkness, its eyes twin embers of violet flame. Its voice, when it spoke, was both whisper and echo. “So… the Runed Luna awakens at last.” Ayla stepped back until she felt the wall press against her spine.

The sound wasn’t a sound at all. It clawed through Ayla’s mind—too sharp, too alive to belong to the world of the living. It was the scream of something ancient and buried, breaking the surface. She fell to her knees, clutching her arms as the ink beneath her skin writhed like a living thing. The floor pulsed with dim red light, the echo of Lucen’s crescent shimmering faintly above. Kian was beside her in an instant. “Ayla! Breathe—listen to me!” “I—I can’t—” Her voice broke. It felt as if her veins were rivers of fire and her heartbeat was the drum of some dark god. Every mark along her skin burned, each one whispering fragments of words she couldn’t understand. Kian gripped her shoulders. “Focus on me, not the ink.” But it was too late. The ink wanted her to listen. She saw flashes behind her eyes—images bleeding together like spilled paint. A black ocean under a blood moon. A figure standing on the water’s surface, hair white as starlight, eyes bleeding silver tears. A

The air shimmered with the breath of broken glass. Every shard of the Mirror hovered around Ayla in a slow, spiraling orbit—each fragment reflecting a different version of her face. Some were smiling, others screaming, one was crying blood. Kian pulled her back, his arm firm around her shoulders. “Ayla—don’t move!” But she couldn’t obey. The voice calling her was too familiar, too close. The figure stepping out of the light had her body, her eyes, her heartbeat—but not her soul. The Other Ayla was made of ink and moonfire, her skin swirling with patterns that pulsed like constellations. Her gaze held centuries, her voice soft as silk and full of storms. “So,” she said, tilting her head, “this is what I became without memory.” Ayla swallowed hard. “You’re not real.” The Other Ayla smiled. “Then why do I remember everything you’ve forgotten?” The light from the floating shards dimmed as silence stretched between them. Ayla could hear her own heartbeat pounding against her