The next day, something felt different.
Not just in the air. Not just in my chest.
But in the way people looked at me.
Like they saw something now—something I didn't even see in myself yet.
---
Classes were normal, or at least as normal as they could be in a school where people used spells, trained to fight demons, and read from books that whispered when no one was looking.
But I wasn't thinking about class.
I was thinking about her.
**Aria.**
---
I saw her again during sword training.
She was at the far end of the arena, alone as always.
But this time, something was wrong.
The sword in her hand was glowing. Her whole body looked frozen—literally. Ice clung to her arms, her shoulders, even her lashes.
The dummy in front of her was already in pieces. Not just cut… shattered.
She stepped forward and raised the sword again.
The ground cracked beneath her.
Her blade hummed with blue fire.
Students stepped back, scared.
"Instructor," Mira whispered beside me, "she's losing control."
The teacher, Fen, rushed forward.
"Aria. That's enough."
She didn't hear him.
Or maybe she did—and ignored him.
I didn't know what I was thinking.
Maybe I wasn't thinking at all.
I dropped my practice sword and ran toward her.
"Hey!"
She turned. Her eyes were glowing white-blue, like frozen stars. Her hair whipped around her face, and her lips were trembling—but not from fear.
From pain.
Her sword flickered in her grip.
"Get back," Fen shouted.
"No," I said. "She's not trying to hurt us."
She stared at me.
Then—suddenly—her power faded.
The ice cracked.
She dropped the sword and fell to her knees, breathing hard.
---
Later, I found her outside, sitting by the fountain behind the dorms.
She didn't look up when I approached.
"You okay?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
"Your sword was pretty crazy today. Like something out of a dream."
Still nothing.
I sighed and sat beside her, careful not to get too close.
"I don't know what's going on with you," I said. "But I know what it feels like to break. To not know who you're becoming."
A pause.
Then she whispered, "You shouldn't have come near me."
"I wasn't going to let you fall apart alone."
Her eyes flicked toward me. Sharp. Wet.
"I could've hurt you."
"You didn't."
"I wanted to."
"But you didn't."
She looked away again.
"I don't like people," she muttered. "They lie. They leave. They die."
"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon."
"You will. They all do."
I didn't say anything for a while. Just watched the water ripple.
Then I said, "I think you're stronger than you think."
She turned fully now, really looking at me for the first time.
"Why do you care?"
I opened my mouth.
Paused.
Then said the truth.
"Because when you looked at me just now… I didn't feel cold. I felt seen."
For a second, something passed through her eyes. Something soft.
Then she stood.
"I have to go."
She walked off into the shadows.
But she didn't look angry.
And she didn't look alone.
---
That night, I couldn't sleep again.
The mark on my chest itched—burned.
Like it knew something was coming.
Mira knocked on my door without asking.
"Hey," she said. "I brought midnight snacks."
She held up a bag of spicy chips and two juice boxes.
"You're twelve?" I asked.
"Nope. Just awesome."
She dropped onto my bed and opened the chips.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I kind of have."
"Aria?"
I nodded.
"She's powerful," Mira said between bites. "But broken."
"Aren't we all?"
"Maybe. But she's… cracked in places that don't heal easy."
"I think she wants to be better."
"She won't say it out loud. But yeah… maybe she does."
I leaned back on the pillow. "Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of something I don't understand?"
"Because you are."
She looked at me seriously.
"There's something about you, Agla. That mark… it's not normal. You were chosen for something."
"Chosen by what?"
"By the Abyss."
My mouth went dry. "You said that before. What is it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. But it's older than any demon we've ever studied. Some say it's not a thing. It's a voice. A will."
"A will?"
"That wants to be born again. And it chose you."
---
I had a dream.
In it, I was standing in the middle of a dark ocean.
No land. No sky. Just water that didn't move.
A girl stood in front of me.
Not Mira.
Not Aria.
Someone else.
Her face was hidden by light.
She reached out and touched my chest.
"You are the gate," she said.
"What gate?"
"Open me."
I woke up gasping.
The mark on my chest was glowing again.