CHAPTER 4:
Dreams tangled with dawn, and upon waking, only a single name remained—a name Aisha could not remember ever speaking aloud: Zaira.
She did not know if it was an echo of her mind, a borrowed memory, or just a fragment of a dream. Yet every time she opened her eyes, that word floated among the folds of the sheets, clinging to her skin like an invisible scar.
The air in Colegio Mayor Unidad had grown cold. Too cold.Aisha stood by the window, watching the moon. But this time… the moon was watching her.
—You are no longer alone, whispered a voice inside her. It wasn't her voice. It wasn't human.
The book on her lap trembled. Its leather cover pulsed as if it had a heartbeat of its own. She had not opened it… yet it breathed beneath her fingers.
She dared to look at the last page where she had stopped.And she saw her.
Zaira.Her face. Her body. Her wounds.Burning.
—No… —Aisha gasped.
But it wasn't a drawing. The page moved.
Zaira staggered across the parchment, leaving bloody footprints behind her. Around her, wolves closed in. And one of them…Had golden eyes.
Suddenly, Aisha was no longer in her room.She was standing in a forest smothered by mist and flames.
Zaira knelt before her.—I never wanted this for you, she said, her voice breaking. I only wanted to be remembered… not to be reborn in you.
Aisha stepped back, confused.—Who are you?
—I am the reason he cannot love you without guilt.—Who?
The wind howled. A silver medallion crashed at her feet, split in two.
—Sanathiel, whispered Zaira. He saw me burn. Now he watches you live.
A scream ripped through the trees. It was her scream, but it did not belong to her.
She awoke with the taste of ashes in her mouth.—They're only dreams… nothing but dreams.
Shaking her head, she hurried down the corridor.At the corner, she collided with someone.
The impact made her stagger, but before she could fall, strong hands steadied her.
—Sorry —a deep voice murmured.
Aisha looked up, and for an instant, the world froze.The stranger's eyes were dark, unfathomable… though she swore that behind him, in the shadows, a violet glimmer flared beneath the broken streetlamp.Too brief.Too unreal.
Her heart lurched, and for a moment, an unexpected warmth burned in her chest, as if a spark had ignited inside her.But at the same time, a hollow chill spread through her stomach—a cold shadow whispering caution.
—You… —she whispered without thinking, her voice trembling.
On the boy's left wrist, a scar in the shape of three circles glowed faintly beneath his sleeve.
He frowned. A strange shimmer crossed his pupils, like smoke dancing over an amethyst gem, vanishing as quickly as it came.
He held out a notebook.—Are you alright? —he asked, his voice calm.
Aisha took it, but as she did, a loose page slipped to the ground, revealing a spiral drawing:a wolf formed from the word "Sanathiel", written again and again, to the point of delirium.
The boy glanced at the page.His lips curved into a half-smile, more puzzled than mocking.
—Do you like fairy tales, Aisha? —he asked.There was a brief silence, and something stirred in her chest.—They say wolves never truly disappear.
Aisha wasn't sure if the words had come from him… or from the shadow that still lingered around her.
When she blinked, the boy had already walked away.But the cold left behind was not his.
And there were no footprints.
Who the hell was he… and who was watching her from the darkness?
The next morning, in class, Aisha tried to focus.But her mind was still trapped in the encounter from earlier.
When the teacher called roll, his voice cut through the silence:—The new student, Rasen, will be working with Miss Aisha.
The entire classroom held its breath.Aisha lifted her gaze.He was already looking at her.
There was something in the way he watched, in how he settled beside her, that set her on edge.His presence was suffocating.His posture, relaxed… yet in his eyes lingered the calculation of a predator.
Aisha tightened her grip on her pen and began to write.Sanathiel.
Without realizing it, she had scrawled the name again and again.Rasen tilted his head, his expression unreadable.
—Your hand is trembling, he said casually, though his eyes gleamed with something deeper.—It's not.
He smiled. A smile that wasn't a smile.A test.A game.One in which she didn't know what role she was meant to play.
Later, the hallways were nearly empty when Aisha stepped into the bathroom.The lights flickered.The irregular dripping of water broke the silence.
She stared into the mirror.Dilated pupils. Shallow breath.This isn't real…
Then, a figure at the doorway.Rasen.Motionless.Drenched by the rain.
His eyes, wide and gleaming, did not blink.
—What are you? Aisha demanded, clutching the notebook to her chest.
Rasen pointed to the drawing of the wolf.—The same as you, he said calmly. A mistake someone wants to erase.
Thunder rolled outside.Rasen's reflection in the mirror fractured.Between the shards, shadows with burning eyes clawed at the glass, desperate to break through from another world.
Aisha staggered back.The sound of water changed.The dripping thickened. Turned black.
Rasen stepped forward.—We'll see each other soon, Aisha.
And then… he vanished.
The rain carried away his voice, but not the symbol left floating in the air, etched in violet smoke:S.S.V.
Before disappearing completely, he raised his hand in an almost ritual gesture.The three circles on his wrist pulsed with a violet glow:Cursed gears, aligning.
Aisha remained there, the notebook trembling in her hands.The paper weighed like a gravestone.Every beat of her heart felt like an omen.
And yet…A part of her wanted to know more.And that desire… was the real trap.