The first ghost Arianna Hale ever saw was in her mother's bathroom mirror. She was only seven then, too young to understand why a pale woman with hollow eyes stared back at her instead of her own reflection. Too young to understand why her mother grabbed her shoulders and hissed, "Don't speak to things that aren't there."
So Arianna learned to ignore the whispers.
But tonight, the whispers refused to ignore her.
The university library had closed hours ago, and Arianna was the last student left on campus. She hugged her coat tighter against the cold wind curling through the deserted courtyard. Her breath fogged the air, but she wasn't shivering because of the cold.
Something was following her.
Footsteps that weren't hers scratched across the pavement.
A low rasping sound.
A scrape.
Then silence.
Arianna steadied her breathing. "It's nothing," she whispered to herself. "Just nerves. Finals are killing you. You're imagining—"
A voice slithered behind her ear.
"Found you."
Arianna froze.
Her pulse thudded painfully as she slowly turned her head.
At first, she saw nothing—just the dark pathway stretching behind her, the flickering streetlamp, and the tall, skeletal shadows cast by the leafless trees.
Then she saw it.
A shape.
No—a face.
Distorted, gray-skinned, hanging upside-down from the lamppost as if gravity meant nothing. Its eyes were two bleeding voids, and its jaw hung unhinged, twitching as it spoke again.
"Found you," it croaked.
Arianna staggered backward. "No. No, no, no…"
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing it away like she always had. When she opened them—
It was inches from her.
The creature's face stretched into a grin impossibly wide.
"You can see me."
Arianna stumbled and ran.
Her boots slapped against the asphalt, breath tearing out in ragged gasps, fear spiking through her veins like ice. She'd seen spirits all her life, but nothing like this. This wasn't a harmless wandering echo of a dead person.
This thing felt real. Heavy. Hungry.
"Arianna…" the voice hissed from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Your soul shines… I want it…"
The wind behind her warped. A wave of pressure slammed into her back.
She screamed as she hit the ground hard, palms scraping against the pavement. Pain flared, but adrenaline shoved it aside. She scrambled upright—
The spirit loomed above her.
Its stretched limbs dangled like broken branches, its head tilting with a sickening crack. Shadows gathered beneath it, growing thicker, darker, rising off the ground like smoke.
Arianna backed away until her spine struck a tree trunk. "Go away," she breathed.
The creature smiled with its torn mouth. "You don't belong here… little light… Give me your soul…"
A clawed hand reached toward her throat.
Arianna threw her hands up in instinctive defense.
A burst of white light exploded from her palms.
The creature shrieked as it was thrown backward, dissolving into gray smoke.
Arianna stared at her hands, her heartbeat thundering.
"What—what was that?"
Her hands were glowing faintly, as if coated in moonlight. It flickered and vanished an instant later.
She didn't have time to process it.
A deeper darkness rippled across the courtyard.
She felt it before she saw it: a wave of cold, ancient pressure so thick it pressed on her lungs. The air shifted, refusing to move. The shadows on the ground stretched unnaturally long, converging like strands of ink.
Then a voice—smooth, low, cold—cut through the silence.
"Step away from her."
Arianna's breath caught.
A man stood under the flickering lamppost. Tall. Graceful. Unreal. His coat swept around him like spilled ink. Silver eyes—metallic, luminescent—glowed from the darkness.
The creature reformed in front of him, shrieking in fury. "She is mine!"
The man tilted his head, expression calm—almost bored.
"No," he said simply. "She is not."
The ground split beneath the creature as shadows erupted upward like spears.
Arianna screamed as the night itself moved, swallowing the spirit whole. The creature writhed, screaming as the darkness tore through it, ripping it apart thread by thread.
Within seconds, nothing remained.
The shadows receded.
Silence fell.
Arianna trembled violently, clutching her scraped hands to her chest.
The man turned toward her.
He walked with unhurried grace, as if he had all the time in the world. Moonlight brushed across his features—sharp jawline, high cheekbones, lips shaped in a faint, unreadable line. His long black hair shifted gently with the breeze.
But it was his eyes that trapped her.
Silver. Bright. Ageless.
Eyes that held entire centuries.
He stopped in front of her.
Arianna pressed back against the tree, breath shallow. "Wh-who are you?"
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he raised a hand—slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted. But she was frozen.
His fingers brushed her cheek, wiping away a streak of blood she hadn't realized was there. The gesture was gentle, almost reverent.
His touch was warm.
Too warm.
A shiver ran down her spine.
"You're bleeding," he murmured.
Her heart hammered wildly. "You… you saw that thing. You killed it."
"I did." His voice was smooth, deep, velvety—but beneath it, something ancient pulsed like a second voice curling through the shadows.
"Why?" she whispered.
A faint smile ghosted across his lips—sad, wistful, aching.
"Because," he said softly, "I've been waiting for you."
Arianna's eyes widened. "What?"
He stepped closer, and the shadows bowed toward him like obedient servants.
"My name is Kaelith," he said quietly. "And you, Arianna Hale…"
He touched her wrist.
A jolt of warmth shot up her arm, blossoming into her chest. Her breath hitched.
Her skin glowed.
A faint, delicate mark—like a crescent arc—flared on her wrist beneath his fingertips. Light spilled from it, shimmering like captured starlight.
Arianna gasped. "What—what is that?!"
The man—Kaelith—looked at the mark with a mixture of reverence and longing. His expression cracked, revealing something raw, ancient, desperate.
"It's yours," he whispered.
"It always was."
The mark pulsed once, syncing with her heartbeat.
Arianna pulled her wrist back, panic rising. "What are you doing? Who are you? How do you know my name?!"
Kaelith watched her with an intensity that made her chest tighten.
"I know your name," he said softly, "because I named you."
Her mind blanked. "What?"
His voice dropped to a near-whisper—
a confession carried across centuries.
"I have walked this world for thousands of years," Kaelith said, silver eyes piercing through her. "Searching for the one soul that was mine. The one light that would return to me."
He reached toward her again, but stopped short of touching her.
"You," he breathed, "are the reincarnation of my queen."
Arianna stared at him, stunned. "I—I don't even know you."
He closed his eyes, expression tightening in pain.
"You did."
The wind stilled.
Arianna swallowed hard, chest tight. "Why are those things after me? That… monster… what did it want?"
Kaelith opened his eyes, and she realized the silver in them wasn't just color—it was power, swirling and ancient.
"They want your soul," he said simply. "Because your power has begun to awaken."
"My… power?"
He nodded once. "You unleashed it moments ago."
She stared at her hands. "That light… that wasn't possible… I'm just—"
"You are not 'just' anything, Arianna," he said sharply, stepping closer. The shadows trembled around his feet. "Your past self was a celestial force feared by entire realms. You were killed unjustly. And ever since, your soul has been hunted."
Arianna pressed a shaking hand to her mouth.
"This can't be real."
Kaelith's lips softened. "I would not lie to you. Not to you."
His voice dipped lower, heartbreakingly tender.
"I lost you once. I will not lose you again."
Arianna's breath stuttered.
Before she could respond, the world twisted.
A shockwave tore through the courtyard, sending leaves swirling violently. The lampposts flickered, then shattered. Somewhere above, a rumble echoed like thunder.
Kaelith's head snapped toward the sky.
"They've found you already?"
His expression darkened—pure, lethal fury.
"Arianna."
He grabbed her hand. His touch was hot, burning with power.
"Stay behind me."
A crack split the air.
A tear—literal and impossible—opened in the sky above them. A jagged wound of golden light pulsed, spreading like a fracture through glass.
From within it… figures moved.
Arianna's pulse spiked. "What is that?!"
Kaelith's shadow flared outward, swirling like a living storm.
"The Celestial remnants," he growled. "They want you dead."
"Why?!"
"Because they fear you," he said, stepping in front of her, shielding her with his body. "Because you are awakening. And because they know who you truly are."
Arianna pressed a trembling hand against his back.
The golden rift widened.
Kaelith glanced over his shoulder, meeting her eyes. The silver in them blazed with determination—and something deeper. Something like devotion.
"When I say run," he whispered, "you run. I will find you—no matter what."
Arianna shook her head violently. "I'm not leaving you—"
"You will," he murmured. "You must. Until your power returns fully… I am your shield."
The rift screamed open.
Blinding light poured out.
Kaelith released her hand and stepped forward, his shadow erupting behind him like wings forged from night.
Arianna's heart pounded painfully. She didn't understand any of this, didn't understand him, didn't even understand herself—
But she knew one thing:
The world had changed tonight.
And whether she wanted it or not, her destiny had finally found her.