The first thing you learn in the Veins is how to breathe through static. The air here isn't just air—it hums. Every streetlight flickers with someone's grief, every passing car carries someone's rage, and when it rains, the city cries with you.
I've lived in the Veins all my life, but it still gets to me—the weight of a million emotions pressing against my skin like invisible hands. I used to think it was just noise, just chaos. But then the doctors started calling it a condition. The Bureau called it a curse.
They call me the empath who breaks people.
I don't like that name. But they're not wrong.
When I touch someone, I don't just feel their emotions—I steal them. Every fear, every secret joy, every hidden shame—draining into me like ink spilled into water. Some people faint. Some people scream. A few… just stop feeling altogether.
That's what happened tonight.
**
The alley still smelled like rain and burnt circuits. Neon reflected off the puddles, slicing through the dark in fractured pinks and blues. I stood there, chest heaving, watching the last drops of light fade from the girl's eyes.
She wasn't dead. Just empty.
Her body trembled, her breath shallow, but her face—blank.
I had touched her wrist only once. One second. That's all it took.
And now every beat of her panic, every ounce of her despair—was thrumming inside me. My veins glowed faintly, purple and gold lightning crawling beneath my skin like restless ghosts. I staggered backward, gripping the wall to steady myself.
I hated this part most—the echo. The way their feelings twisted into mine, the confusion of knowing which tears were truly mine.
That's when I heard the sirens.
**
The Bureau always came fast after an Echo Incident.
The air buzzed with drones, their lenses scanning the wet pavement. My reflection shimmered in a puddle—dark chocolate skin slick with sweat, eyes gleaming with faint light. I looked… wrong. Like the city had painted me in its colors.
I turned, ready to run. But the moment my foot hit the concrete, the hum inside me shifted.
Someone nearby was afraid.
It wasn't me.
Their fear pulsed through the air like bass through a speaker. I felt it in my bones—a tremor, a scream that didn't belong to me. My power flared, involuntary. Purple arcs split the mist. The fear multiplied, rebounded off walls, infected every living thing nearby.
I tried to shut it out. To breathe. But when the curse takes, it takes.
For a heartbeat, I was everyone in that alley.
I was the woman crying behind the dumpster. The drone pilot flinching as static scrambled his feed. The man gripping his chest in the rain.
Then—just as suddenly—it stopped.
**
A voice cut through the chaos.
"Stay where you are."
It was deep. Flat. Measured.
When I looked up, he was standing there—
I didn't know his name then, but I would never forget that look.
He wasn't like the Bureau enforcers behind him, twitchy and terrified of me. His uniform was unmarked, matte black, no insignia. He moved like a blade—controlled, clean. His expression didn't flicker once, not even as the air shimmered between us.
And when my curse reached for him… it found nothing.
No heartbeat of emotion. No echo. Just silence.
It was like touching glass after years of drowning in water.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
"You're Eren Vale," he said. His tone was so level it almost sounded bored. "You're coming with me."
I laughed. It wasn't a good laugh. It cracked halfway out of my throat. "You shouldn't come close."
He stepped forward anyway.
Lightning crackled around my hands, tracing along the edges of my fingers. I tried to warn him again, but he didn't stop. His boots splashed through puddles, slow and steady, like he was testing fate.
And then—he grabbed my arm.
**
The world didn't explode.
It imploded.
For the first time since the curse awakened, I didn't feel pain. I didn't feel anything.
It was like standing inside a vacuum—soundless, weightless. His touch was cold, but not dead. More like… neutral. Balanced.
And then, just for an instant, something flickered inside him. A single spark—sharp, unfamiliar, and gone before I could name it.
I looked up at him, breathing hard. "What are you?"
He didn't answer.
The Bureau agents behind him shouted something—orders, warnings—but their words felt far away. He held on for a moment longer, eyes searching mine.
And then, without emotion, he said, "You burn beautifully."
He released me.
I stumbled back, the echo collapsing around me. The lightning died. The girl on the ground gasped and started crying again—alive.
He turned away, signaling the others. "He's stable. Stand down."
They obeyed, though I saw the fear in their faces.
When I looked back at him, he was already walking away.
**
I should have run. I should have disappeared into the Veins like I always did. But something about that silence—his silence—stayed with me.
Because for once in my life, when I touched someone, I didn't take anything.
I didn't destroy them.
I just felt calm.
It terrified me.
**
That night, I didn't sleep.
I sat on the rooftop of an abandoned complex, the whole city humming beneath me. The rain had stopped, but the air still shimmered faintly purple around my hands. I stared at them—these hands that had broken so many people—and wondered why his touch didn't break.
The Veins never really sleeps. From here, you can see the skyline stretch into forever—neon veins pulsing like a heart made of steel and glass. The city is alive, and I'm its cursed pulse.
But maybe ..… maybe he's the silence it needs.
Or maybe he's just the next person I'll destroy.
Either way, I'll find him again.
Because I need to know—why did his emptiness feel like peace?
**
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey readers!
Welcome to Velvet Veins. Chapter 1 introduces Eren and the city of Vareth, setting the stage for the dark, emotional, and morally complex story ahead.
A few notes:
▫️This story is first-person perspective, from Eren's mind, so you'll feel his thoughts and emotions directly.
▫️The tone mixes plot-driven action and emotional/atmospheric storytelling, so you'll experience the curse as he does.
▫️Expect mature themes — psychological tension, moral grayness, and intense relationships — but nothing explicit is depicted.
▫️Keep your heart ready. The city is alive, the curse is hungry, and every feeling is a weapon.
This is a slow burn story so pls bear with me
Thank you for reading! Your support means the world, and Eren's journey is just beginning.
_Lani