Celeste had always felt different, a restless energy beneath her skin and a quiet sense of something just out of reach. It had always been there, part of who she was, but she had never understood why. She never knew why she felt things more deeply than others, why the wind seemed to shift when she was lost in thought, or why the world felt closer to her, as if it were waiting.
Not until now.
Ever since Jase's first kiss, something inside her had awakened, raw and ancient, impossible to ignore. It wasn't just emotion or desire. It was power, and it was growing.
Her emotions had become magnified, the intensity behind them unnatural, uncontrollable, as if the very world around her was responding to her heart.
When she was startled, the flames in the lamps flickered, bending toward her as if they knew her pulse, as if they could feel her fear.
When she was calm, the air around her lightened, weightless, almost humming with an invisible force, something alive, something waiting to be understood.
When she was truly angry, the ground beneath her seemed to vibrate, a subtle but undeniable tremor, as if the world itself reacted to her fury.
Celeste had spent her entire life believing she was just a Mortalis. But she wasn't. She was something more, something different, something the Abyssals had been searching for all along.
*****
It happened as she was leaving school.
The day had been clear only moments ago, the sun stretching lazily across the sky, but now the light was draining from the horizon and the sky darkened unnaturally, as if something unseen was stealing the warmth from the world. The shadows along the pavement weren't normal; they slithered and twisted, like hungry hands reaching for her.
Then it hit.
A deep, bone-chilling cold coiled through the air, wrapping around her like a whisper, seeping into her skin, tightening around her ribs like a vice. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she couldn't move.
Then—
A low and familiar voice.
"We've found you, Eclipse Child."
Celeste's body went rigid, her breath caught in her throat, and her pulse thundered in her ears as the air around her froze. An unnatural chill slithered through the night, curling around her skin like an unseen hand, pressing and suffocating.
Figures emerged from the alleyway, sliding through the darkness instead of moving like normal beings, their presence warping the world around them. The thick, suffocating Abyssal energy made the ground feel unsteady beneath her feet. Their forms flickered and shifted, hovering between dimensions, not fully of this world.
They moved slowly and deliberately like predators who already knew their prey had nowhere to run.
Before she could react—
Jase was already moving.
He stepped in front of her in an instant, his golden eyes burning with unmistakable fury, his entire presence shifting into something deadly, something lethal. The heat of his power radiated off him in waves, and the contrast between his fire and the Abyssals' cold was so stark that the very air crackled around them, a silent clash of forces waiting to ignite.
His stance was protective.
Dangerous.
"You will not touch her."
His voice was low and steady, but beneath it lurked something primal, something terrifyingly certain. It wasn't a warning. It was a promise, and its weight sent a shudder through the night, as if the darkness itself feared what he would do next.
Vaelith, the leading Abyssal, a tall, cloaked figure with glowing crimson eyes, smirked beneath the shadows of his hood, an expression dripping with amusement.
"We do not need to."
His voice was smooth, laced with cruel delight, the sound of it slithering under her skin like poison.
"She will come with us on her own."
Celeste's stomach twisted, fear coiling in her chest like a vice.
"Why?" she forced out, her voice barely steady. "What do you want from me?"
Vaelith tilted his head, studying her, his crimson eyes gleaming with something twisted and hungry, like she was a puzzle he had almost solved but not quite.
"You don't know?"
A slow, deliberate pause.
Then he chuckled.
"Interesting."
A low, threatening growl rumbled from Jase's throat, his body tensing like a coiled predator on the verge of attacking. His golden eyes flashed, something feral, lethal igniting in their depths.
"Say another word, and I'll tear you apart."
Vaelith merely laughed, unshaken, unbothered, as if he had expected nothing less.
"We will not fight you today, Luminary."
His crimson gaze flickered back to Celeste, locking onto her, a silent promise lingering in those eerie depths.
"But soon, you will understand what you are."
And just like that—
They vanished, dissolving into the shadows like ghosts of the abyss, the air around them shuddering as if reality itself was exhaling.
The night fell silent again.
Celeste staggered back, her breath unsteady, her entire body shaken to the core. The cold that had wrapped around her seemed to linger, pressing against her skin like an unseen weight, an echo of something she didn't understand.
"Jase…" Her voice was quieter now, laced with something raw, something terrified. "Who am I exactly?"
Jase's fists clenched, his entire frame still coiled with tension, his golden eyes dark, filled with something she had never seen before—worry.
"I don't know."
But they were going to find out.
*****
That night, Jase brought her to Velkan—the ancient, luminous city that belonged to the Luminaries alone, a place where the echoes of centuries past whispered through the air, carrying the weight of knowledge, power, and secrets long buried. The city shimmered beneath an eternal twilight, bathed in the soft glow of celestial energy that pulsed through its towering spires and intricate stone pathways.
As they walked through the city's marble corridors, inlaid with starlight, Celeste felt the presence of something greater, something timeless. The walls seemed alive, filled with the wisdom of ages, humming quietly through her bones. Each step took her further from the world she knew, deeper into a truth she had yet to understand.
Jase led her through archways etched with ancient inscriptions, their symbols shifting subtly under the ethereal glow of floating lanterns. The further they went, the heavier the air became, thick with history, power, and mysteries lost to Mortalis and even to some Luminaries.
At last, they reached the heart of Velkan, a temple older than any written record, where time itself seemed to still. There, within a vast hall illuminated by suspended orbs of golden light, an elder Luminary awaited them.
She was ancient, her presence like a beacon of unshaken wisdom. Her silver-white hair fell in soft waves over robes woven with threads of light itself, and when her golden eyes met Celeste's, the weight of centuries bore down upon her. Yet, beneath that commanding presence, there was something else—an understanding, a quiet gentleness that set her apart from the cold authority Celeste had expected.
The elder studied her, her gaze deep and searching, yet void of shock or fear. Instead, it held something far more unsettling: recognition.
Then, at last, she spoke.
"You are not Abyssal, child."
Celeste exhaled sharply, a rush of relief flooding her chest—until the next words came.
"But you are not purely Mortalis either."
Her heart stopped. The moment stretched, impossibly long, as her breath hitched in her throat.
"What do you mean?" she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath, her hands trembling at her sides. The answer felt close, hovering just beyond her grasp, yet she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.
The elder's lips curved into a faint, knowing smile, as though she had long anticipated this moment.
"You," she said softly, "are an Eclipse Child."
Jase stiffened beside her, his entire body going rigid as if the very words had struck something deep, something instinctual. A shadow flickered across his face, his hands curling into fists at his sides. Celeste could feel the tension radiating off of him, the quiet, barely-contained storm raging beneath his skin.
"What does that mean?" His voice was steady, but Celeste could hear the undercurrent of tension threading through it, the quiet demand for answers.
The elder's gaze flickered toward him, ancient and unreadable, as though she were weighing something unseen, something greater than them all. And then, she answered.
"It means she is the bridge between two worlds."
Celeste's breath hitched, her stomach twisting into something tight and unbearable.
"She carries the blood of both Luminaries and Mortalis."
The words landed like a physical blow, shaking something loose inside her, something she had never dared to question.
"But… how is that possible?" she whispered, voice barely more than a breath. "Luminaries and Mortalis are forbidden to be together."
The elder nodded, solemn, steady, her glowing eyes reflecting a history that stretched far beyond their understanding. "And yet, it happened. You are proof of that."
Celeste felt lightheaded, unsteady, the weight of the truth pressing down on her, wrapping around her ribs like an invisible chain. The world, the only world she had ever known, was shifting beneath her feet, unraveling with each passing second, thread by thread.
"But why do the Abyssals want me?" she forced out, her hands clenching into fists, desperate for something solid to hold onto.
At that, the elder's expression darkened, her eyes dimming as though shadowed by something ancient and foreboding.
She turned, lifting a hand toward the towering murals that adorned the temple walls, etched in glowing engravings, shifting and pulsing as if they were alive. The images were haunting, swirling with a magic that felt older than time itself, telling a story that had been waiting for her to see it.
Celeste's pulse roared in her ears.
The scenes depicted armies of light and shadow, locked in an endless war. Luminaries clashing with the Abyssals, creatures of void and whispers, their forms bleeding into darkness itself. And in the center of it all, stood a single figure, neither fully Luminary nor Abyssal, something in between.
Celeste's chest tightened, a pulse of recognition sparking deep inside her, something buried, something forgotten, something that terrified her to understand.
The elder's voice was quiet, yet it carried the weight of prophecy.
"Because, child… you hold the power to change the world."
Celeste's fingers curled around the fabric of her sleeves, trying to steady herself, trying to breathe through the storm building inside her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
The elder turned to her once more, her golden gaze deep and knowing. "Long ago, there was peace." She lifted a hand, and the murals responded, shifting their luminous engravings into new scenes, golden cities untouched by war, where Luminaries, Mortalis, and something else stood side by side, their harmony woven into the very essence of the world. Celeste watched as the figures moved within the engravings, radiant and whole, but as the elder's voice darkened, so did the murals. "But war broke out, and the three bloodlines separated." The images flickered, their light dimming as shadowed figures clawed their way across the once-peaceful cities, corruption bleeding through the golden structures, turning harmony into chaos.
"Luminaries remained pure." A golden figure stood tall, radiant, untouched by darkness, their celestial power shimmering like an unbreakable shield. "Mortalis remained weak." A line of warriors stood at the edge of battle, shields raised, yet unable to wield the same celestial force, their bodies frail in comparison, their mortality a tether keeping them bound to the limitations of their kind. "And Abyssals… were born from corruption." The final engraving twisted, dark figures emerging from the abyss, their bodies shifting, writhing as though barely contained within their own forms, eyes gleaming with an unnatural hunger. Celeste felt a cold dread settle in her chest as she took it all in, the birth of a war that had never truly ended, the ripples of which had now come crashing down upon her.
Then, the elder's gaze locked onto Celeste's, and the weight of her next words pressed upon her like a storm gathering on the horizon. "But Eclipse Children are different." Celeste's breath caught, her pulse thundering as the mural shifted once more, revealing a single figure standing between light and shadow, neither fully Luminary nor fully Mortalis, but something else. "They are born of light and mortality, making them the only ones who can truly wield both Luminary power and the resilience of Mortalis."
Celeste's stomach twisted, unease settling deep in her bones. "So, what do the Abyssals want with me?"
The elder's expression turned grim. "To break the limits of their kind."
Beside her, Jase's entire body tensed, his golden eyes flashing dangerously. "What?" His voice was edged with something sharp, something lethal, his entire stance shifting as though bracing for a fight.
The elder nodded gravely. "Abyssals crave power, but they can never truly ascend beyond what they are." She turned back to the murals, lifting her hand toward an image that sent a chill racing through Celeste's spine. A lone figure stood between light and shadow, their form flickering, shifting, as if being torn in two directions. "An Eclipse Child changes that."
Celeste's throat went dry.
"If an Eclipse Child's power is corrupted, they can become a conduit for Abyssals to break free of their weaknesses to become something more."
Jase exhaled sharply, slow and controlled, but Celeste could feel the fury radiating from him, see the way his hands curled into tight fists at his sides, barely containing the storm raging beneath his skin. "So they don't just want her," he murmured, his voice dangerously low, his golden eyes gleaming with something deadly. "They want to turn her into a weapon."
The elder nodded. "That is why you must protect her, Jase."
She turned back to Celeste, her eyes shining with a quiet, unshaken certainty. "If she falls into their hands, they will use her to create an army even Luminaries cannot stop."
Celeste staggered back, her breath coming fast and shallow, her heart pounding too hard against her ribs, the weight of everything pressing down like an avalanche. Her very existence was a threat?
Jase's jaw tightened, his expression unreadable as he reached for her, gripping her shoulders firmly to keep her from slipping too far into fear. Celeste swallowed hard, searching his face for something or anything that might make this feel less terrifying.
Jase's golden gaze held no doubt, no hesitation. His grip on her was steady, unwavering.
"They will not have you."
His voice was quiet, but there was an unshakable finality in it, something deeper than a promise, something absolute.
"I will never let that happen."
And in that moment, Celeste knew whatever happened next, she wasn't alone.
She had Jase and she had the power to choose her own fate.