The weight of something ancient pressed on Kael's shoulders. He picked up the dagger, hands steady despite the chill that suddenly crept into the air. With a deep breath, he drew the blade across his palm. Blood welled up—bright, red, and alive.
He held it over the center of the stone and let a single drop fall.
The moment it struck, the room shuddered.
The carvings burst into flame—glowing red, then molten gold, then a strange, otherworldly violet. The light spiraled outward like veins, rushing along the etchings, pulsing, awakening. The blank center flared, blinding, and suddenly lines of energy surged across the table. They snapped into place, forming sigils—each one perfectly matching the marks that had appeared on the others.
Then came the pulse.
It wasn't sound or sight—it was a force, like a heartbeat too large for any one place to contain.
Across the city—
Rhea shot upright in her dorm bed, breath stolen from her lungs. Her eyes blazed violet, her mark on her wrist searing hot. The room flickered with shadows, every surface vibrating.
Rael, mid-stride in his apartment, stumbled backward as a blast of frost erupted across his walls—unexpected, wild, uncontainable. His hands glowed with icy flame, the sigil on his shoulder alight.
Zayn dropped his guitar mid-song in the empty music hall, wind screaming around him in a perfect spiral. Sheet music flew like feathers, and his tattoo pulsed like a drumbeat in sync with his heart.
Lyra, meditating beneath the sun, flared golden—light bleeding from her skin uncontrollably as she doubled over, overwhelmed by the sudden surge of power.
Nia froze in the university greenhouse, where the earth at her feet trembled, then rose gently in a wave. Vines twisted toward her, eager, alive.
And Elena—
Elena had just opened the door to Rhea's room when she screamed—light exploded around her in a blinding wave. Rhea barely had time to reach out before both were swallowed in a storm of energy.
In a single blink—
They were no longer where they had stood.
Cold stone pressed beneath their feet. Mist curled around their legs like smoke. The air shimmered with ancient energy.
One by one, they appeared—each surrounded by a fading ring of light. Zayn stumbled in with a gust of wind. Rael followed, frost clinging to his clothes. Lyra's light dimmed just enough to see her expression of wonder. Nia appeared silently, her eyes wide with reverence.
Then Rhea and Elena arrived, the latter collapsing to her knees, breathing hard. Rhea clutched her arm, her mark glowing faintly, her expression caught somewhere between awe and fear.
Kael turned slowly, eyes wide as he saw them all—each of the Chosen. Their tattoos burned like starlight.
The Old Man stood at the head of the chamber, which stretched far beyond what the cabin above could have contained. Pillars of stone lined the circular space, each carved with ancient symbols that now responded—glowing in resonance.
"You're here," the Old Man said, voice thunderous now, no longer brittle. "The Veins have answered."
The chamber itself reacted—the walls vibrating with energy as each sigil found its match on the stone. The very ground beneath them pulsed like a heartbeat shared by the earth.
And then—
Elsewhere… in the villain's stronghold—
Deep within a temple carved from obsidian and bone, the altar flickered.
Crystals that had once glowed with the locations of the marked now dimmed. The giant star-map overhead crackled with failing energy, each sigil still visible—but now floating unanchored, disconnected from place.
Selene stepped forward, her eyes narrowing behind her obsidian mask. "What just happened?"
Mirek stared at the map, fists clenched. "We had them locked. The resonance stones were tracking every mark—"
"And now?" Thorne growled, slamming his fist on the altar. The stone cracked under the impact. "Gone."
Selene's gaze drifted upward, cold and calculating. "They've vanished from the network."
Thorne's fury only grew. "That's not possible. Not unless—"
"—they've awakened under protection," Selene interrupted, her voice like ice. "Under a bloodbound veil. Ancient magic."
A pause. Then, Mirek's voice, low and uneasy: "The Old One…? He's alive?"
Selene didn't answer.
But the altar fell silent.
The hum that had once fed it—gone.
The balance of power had shifted.
And the countdown, still carved above in burning red light, now glowed with ominous finality:
12 Days Remaining.
The sun dipped low behind the trees, painting the sky in deep hues of orange and plum. The amphitheatre's ancient stone steps, cracked with age and tangled with weeds, formed a quiet cocoon for the group.
A hush hung in the air, the kind that hums right before a storm.
Leaves rustled. The wind whispered. The air was cool... and charged, like lightning waiting for the strike.
Kael stood near the edge, hands shoved into his jacket pockets, staring out at the setting sun before turning to face the others.
"Okay," he said finally, his voice trying for humor but falling short. "I know I make jokes about weird stuff all the time, but this?" He tugged his sleeve up, exposing the flame tattoo now glowing faintly across his forearm like embers beneath skin. "This is not a coincidence anymore."
Zayn, sitting cross-legged atop one of the stone steps, gave a slow nod. His fingers unconsciously brushed the wind-shaped sigil etched just below his collarbone—barely visible beneath the open collar of his shirt. "Mine's been pulsing since yesterday. It's like... the air's trying to speak."
"I thought I was imagining it," Lyra admitted, her tone quieter, more uncertain than usual. She sat upright, spine stiff like she was trying to hold something inside. One hand pressed over her heart where her sigil, shaped like a starburst of light, had flared during her latest performance. "But it happened mid-song. For a second, I felt like I was glowing from within. Like every note was alive."
Rael, silent until now, flipped open his ever-present sketchbook. The pages fluttered until they landed on a half-finished drawing—an outline of a sword, its blade wrapped in tendrils of ice. Frost shimmered faintly on the parchment, dancing along lines he swore he hadn't drawn.
He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
Nia sat on the ground, legs crossed in the grass, her palms resting against the soil. Tiny shoots of green had sprouted around her fingers as if the earth itself recognized her touch.
"At first, I thought it was just me," she said, her voice grounded and calm. "Just the earth reacting. A nature thing. But this—" she gestured at the group, at the glowing marks, "—it's bigger than that. We're connected. All of us."
Everyone turned to Rhea.
She sat apart from them, near the stone base of the amphitheatre stage, knees drawn up, fingers curled tightly in her lap. Her usually steady gaze trembled as she looked up, eyes still faintly glowing violet, their light flickering with emotion she hadn't named yet.
"My eyes changed," she said softly, as if afraid speaking it aloud might make it more real. "And this—" She pulled back her sleeve, revealing the gem-like sigil on her wrist. It shimmered faintly, a pattern neither elemental nor weapon-like. A geometric core. A seal.
Kael tilted his head, confused. "Wait… a gem?"
Zayn leaned forward, brows furrowing. "That's not an element."
"It's not light," Lyra added. "Not wind. Not flame. Not even earth or ice."
Rael spoke at last, his voice low and certain. "And my mark isn't just ice. It's a sword. It's different."
That caught everyone. Silence fell.
A moment passed.
Rhea's fingers curled tighter. "Why is this happening to us?" Her voice cracked. "Why now? And how did we all end up here—together?"
Nia tilted her head back to the sky. "Fate."
Lyra scoffed gently, but there was no bite in it. "That's not enough of an answer anymore."
Zayn's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, gaze distant. "These aren't just marks. They're not just… powers. They're keys." He looked up. "But keys to what?"
The question hung heavy, like a weight they all felt but couldn't yet define.
Rael turned, his gaze piercing. He looked directly at Rhea, eyes unreadable. "I think…" he began, voice cautious, "she's the center."
Rhea's breath hitched in her throat. "What?"
"I don't know why," he said. "But it's like everything started when you woke up. When your mark awakened, it called to us. Pulled us into that chamber. That pulse—it started with you."
Kael crossed his arms, trying to mask the unease creeping into his voice. "So what? We're part of some cosmic… magical scavenger hunt now?"
"Or a prophecy," Lyra whispered.
Zayn's voice was the softest of them all, but it cut the deepest.
"Or a war."
The wind stilled.
Even the breeze seemed to be holding its breath.
They all looked at each other then—not as classmates or acquaintances, but as something else. Something older. Bound. As if fate had been threading them together one quiet moment at a time.
In the center of them all, Rhea sat still.
And for the first time… she felt the weight of destiny settling onto her shoulders.