Blood and moonlight
“Their blades weren’t ordinary. They cut deeper… like they were made to remember.”
Ava frowned. “But you’re not supposed to bleed like this.”
“They were old. Cursed, maybe. Their metal stung like it knew what I was.”
Something twisted in her chest—fear, yes, but something else too. A knowing.
Without another word, she unsheathed a dagger from her side, pricked her thumb, and let her blood fall into the open wound.
It hissed.
And then—
Her world shifted.
The firelight vanished. The earth beneath her feet dissolved into mist. Ava stood in a dreamscape filled with pale fog and floating stars. At the center stood a woman—tall, regal, eyes glowing like twin moons.