Belle Corsini didn't walk into Aurelith Academy that morning — she stormed in.
Her boots echoed against the marble floors, each step sharp, deliberate. Conversations softened as she passed, whispers curling behind her like smoke. Her phone buzzed nonstop in her hand — messages, notifications, missed calls — but she didn't look. She already knew.
Heat coiled low in her chest, familiar but stronger than usual. It felt like anger, but deeper. Heavier. Alive.
She tightened her grip on her bag strap and lifted her chin, scanning the hallway — lockers lined in silver, students pretending not to stare. Then she saw him.
Jayce.
Leaning casually against a locker like nothing had happened. Like he hadn't crossed a line that couldn't be uncrossed. His eyes met hers, and for a moment he smirked.
The warmth inside Belle snapped.
It surged upward, racing through her veins, climbing her throat, flooding her skull. Her ears rang. The air around her shimmered as if the hallway had suddenly become too small to hold her. She swallowed hard, trying to breathe, but every inhale tasted like smoke.
What is wrong with me…?
Her fingers tingled. She flexed them once. Twice. Tiny sparks danced across her skin, gone before she could be sure they were real. Students nearby shifted uncomfortably, fanning their faces as if the temperature had risen.
Jayce pushed himself off the locker and walked toward her, confidence dripping from every step. "Belle—"
The word never finished
Something inside her burst.
A wave of invisible heat exploded outward, a violent rush of air and fire without flame. Papers flew. Lockers rattled. The fluorescent lights flickered wildly. A ring of scorched marks spread across the tiled floor around her feet as if the ground itself had exhaled.
Students stumbled back in shock. Someone screamed.
Belle stood frozen at the center of it, her heart hammering, her hands trembling, warmth still pulsing through her veins like liquid fire. She hadn't touched anything. She hadn't done anything.
But she had.
Jayce stared at her, eyes wide now — no smirk, no arrogance. Just fear.
The hallway buzzed with confusion, with questions, with disbelief. But Belle heard none of it. All she could hear was the roar inside her chest, the echo of power she didn't understand and couldn't take back.
She looked down at her hands again, expecting them to be burning, glowing, something — but they were just hands. Normal. Ordinary.
Except they weren't.
And in that moment, surrounded by shaken students and trembling walls, Belle Corsini realized one terrifying truth:
The world she thought she knew… was gone.