There are people you meet in life who leave no trace, and then there are those who change the air around you, who make the world feel sharper, brighter, and infinitely more dangerous. Selene had always considered herself grounded, rational, careful but then she met Lyra, and everything shifted.
Lyra moved through the world like a shadow with a heartbeat, graceful yet distant, as if she carried entire lifetimes behind her eyes. There was something magnetic about her, something Selene couldn't name, couldn't explain, no matter how much she tried. She was drawn to Lyra the way one is drawn to a storm: knowing it could hurt, knowing it could consume, yet unable to resist stepping closer.
But Lyra was a mystery wrapped in layers she refused to peel away. There were whispers of secrets she never shared, of a life lived far longer than any normal human span. Lyra was part of something bigger, something hidden a secret society whose rules and motives were locked behind doors no ordinary person could open. Selene had caught fleeting glimpses of this world, but each time, Lyra had pulled away, leaving only traces of what might have been.
Ariana, Lyra's closest friend, had always been a shadow to Lyra's light. With her own secrets wrapped tightly around her like a cloak, Ariana was always there, offering an occasional glimpse into the world Lyra so desperately kept hidden. Selene had met her a few times, enough to know that Ariana knew more than she let on, but never enough to break the walls Lyra had built around herself. There was a quiet understanding between them, a recognition of the deep, unspoken bond they shared with Lyra but Ariana was like the calm before the storm. Silent, composed, but always watching. Always waiting.
And then there was the society. The Creed, as Lyra called it an ancient group, tied to history in ways that Selene could barely grasp. They were older than time, older than the world itself, with their own rules, their own truths. They moved in the shadows of history, influencing events from the fringes, shaping the world with a careful hand. Lyra was part of them, bound to them in ways Selene had yet to fully understand. Every time she thought she was close to breaking the mystery, Lyra would slip away, retreating behind a wall of quiet grace, leaving Selene to wrestle with her growing obsession.
The world they shared or perhaps the moments that brushed against it were full of collisions: accidental touches, lingering glances, confessions half-spoken. The library became a stage for a tension neither of them fully understood. And yet, when Lyra vanished into shadows, avoided Selene's gaze, or retreated behind a wall of carefully constructed composure, there was always Eliza, a vibrant, unshakable presence, stepping in to anchor the moments Selene could barely navigate.
Eliza was loud, bold, and fearless. She didn't have the same shadows around her that Lyra did no secret society to shield her, no past centuries hidden in her gaze. But Eliza had her own way of pulling Selene from the depths of confusion, even if it was only temporary. She made Selene laugh when all she wanted to do was cry. She made the space feel a little lighter, a little easier to breathe in. But even Eliza knew that the weight between Selene and Lyra couldn't be lightened so easily.
It was all unresolved, heavy with unspoken truths. There were stolen moments, silences that roared, and words that should have been said but never were. Selene's heart ached for a connection that seemed impossible to reach, yet impossible to ignore. She didn't know why she felt so tethered to Lyra, why the pull was there despite the chaos, the fear, the distance.
And Lyra... Lyra had her reasons for every step back, every avoided glance, every tear unshed. Reasons she couldn't or wouldn't share. For Selene, the only certainty was uncertainty itself, and the knowledge that no matter how much space Lyra demanded, no matter how far she pushed away, some invisible thread kept drawing her closer.
A thread that, if pulled too hard, could unravel both of them entirely.