Chapter 3 – The Mark of Power
The night bled silver.
Moonlight spilled across Orion City like liquid metal, turning the streets into rivers of cold light.
Liora sat cross-legged on her bed, curtains drawn wide, eyes fixed on the faint glow beneath her collarbone.
The mark pulsed gently—
not like a tattoo, not like a wound.
It beat.
A heartbeat inside her heartbeat, threading through muscle and bone.
Every pulse whispered of power.
Every throb reminded her of the rooftop, of death, of the universe folding like paper around her soul.
She couldn't sleep.
Could barely breathe.
What are you? she wondered, fingertips brushing the warm circle of runes.
The touch sent a shock through her nerves, a spark that skittered down her arms like electricity.
Her desk lamp flickered.
The clock on the wall hiccuped and reset itself.
She jerked her hand away.
Magic.
Technology.
Something older than either.
She had seen it once before—just a flash, a heartbeat of light in the instant between death and rebirth.
But in her previous life, she'd never carried it back.
This time, the power had come with her.
---
The door creaked.
"Liora?" Mina's sleepy voice floated in from the hallway.
Liora quickly tugged her shirt higher, hiding the glow. "Yeah?"
Her sister padded inside, rubbing her eyes. "You're still awake? It's past midnight."
"Couldn't sleep," Liora said lightly. "Too much on my mind."
Mina yawned and leaned against the doorframe. "You worry too much. Just… try to relax, okay? Big day tomorrow."
Tomorrow.
Yes. The entrance exam for the Academy's Rift Division—a program that, in her last life, she'd joined only after the world began to crack.
The place where she'd met the scientists who would accidentally trigger the first outbreak.
The same halls where she'd fallen in love with Kai.
A thousand futures spun behind Liora's eyes.
This time she wouldn't drift through them blindly.
"I'll sleep soon," she promised.
When Mina finally shuffled back to her room, Liora exhaled and turned back to the window.
The mark's glow flared again, as if responding to her thoughts.
This time she didn't shy away.
She pressed her palm against it.
Heat surged through her body—sharp, sweet, alive.
Her breath caught as the room shifted.
For an instant the walls dissolved into a lattice of shimmering lines, blue threads weaving through air and stone.
Every object—the desk, the chair, even the sleeping city beyond—shone with delicate strands of energy.
Like she was seeing the skeleton of the world.
Her heart hammered.
Is this… a Rift sense? she thought, awe curling through her fear.
The ability to see the energy patterns of matter was rumored to exist only in the highest levels of Rift-born mutants.
In her last life, she'd fought creatures who bent gravity with a thought.
Now the same potential hummed inside her veins.
The mark pulsed again, eager, hungry.
And deep within her chest, something whispered:
Build. Prepare. Survive.
The words were not a voice but an instinct—clear, commanding.
---
The next morning arrived too soon.
Orion Academy gleamed beneath the early light, a fortress of steel and glass set against the horizon.
Liora stood at the entrance in her uniform, the city's high winds teasing strands of hair across her face.
She could feel it now.
A subtle hum beneath the pavement.
The mark inside her chest resonated with the hidden tech buried in the Academy's walls—quantum reactors, Rift stabilizers, weapons that hadn't yet been unleashed.
It was like walking through a future she already knew.
"Liora!"
She turned.
Kai jogged toward her, all easy smiles and careless grace.
The sun caught in his dark hair, turning it almost gold.
No silver glow in his eyes.
Not yet.
"Morning," he said, slightly breathless. "Thought I'd walk you in."
Liora's pulse jumped despite herself.
Her mind threw images at her—Kai on the rooftop, blade in hand, whispering forgive me.
She forced the memories down and offered a carefully neutral smile.
"You're early."
"So are you." He grinned. "Guess we're both nervous."
She didn't answer.
If he noticed her silence, he didn't push.
Instead, he matched his stride to hers as they crossed the plaza.
Students buzzed around them, laughter bright against the metallic sky.
Liora caught snippets of conversation—talk of Rift research, new weapons, rumors of strange energy readings from the North Sector.
Every word was a thread in the tapestry of disaster she knew too well.
Kai leaned closer. "After the exams, there's a café near the east docks. You, me, and something sweet? My treat."
The invitation twisted inside her like a knife.
In another life, she would have said yes without hesitation.
She would have laughed, shared dessert, let herself fall deeper into the warmth of his gaze.
This time…
"Maybe," she said, voice cool.
His smile faltered for a heartbeat, then returned—soft, persistent.
"Maybe is better than no."
She didn't reply.
Instead she focused on the mark beneath her shirt, feeling its faint pulse beneath her skin.
Power.
Time.
Knowledge.
The universe had handed her a weapon.
She would use it to rewrite everything—
even if it meant keeping the boy who once killed her at arm's length.
---
Inside the examination hall, the air thrummed with hidden energy.
Holographic projectors flickered to life, displaying simulations of Rift anomalies.
Candidates took their stations, fingers poised over neural interfaces.
Liora closed her eyes.
The mark flared.
And suddenly, the complex calculations on the screen unfolded in her mind like a child's puzzle.
Equations danced, algorithms rewrote themselves, patterns clicked into place with effortless clarity.
Her lips curved.
This was more than rebirth.
This was evolution.
Somewhere deep in her chest, the mark beat faster, echoing the rhythm of a future only she could see.
Prepare, it whispered again.
Liora opened her eyes, silver light flickering in their depths.
"Let the game begin," she murmured.
And the world, for the second time, began to change.