Elara ran. Her lungs burned, screaming for air. She couldn’t seem to gulp fast enough. The cold night air whipped against her tear-streaked face, but she didn’t feel it. Neither did she care about the ache in her feet. All she felt was the frantic, hammering beat of her heart against her chest.

She didn’t look back. She couldn’t. The image of those four boys—men—lying motionless on the ground was stuck onto the back of her mind. One moment they were on top of her, and the next… that strange vibration, a power that seemed to come out from… her? and they just… dropped.

‘What did I do? Did I kill them?’

The thought sent a fresh wave of nausea and panic through her. She skidded around a corner, the remaining pair of shoe slipping on the damp pavement, and pressed herself into the dark corner next to a recessed shop doorway. She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the sound of her ragged breathing, her body trembling uncontrollably.

She pressed down, straining her ears, trying to listen for the sound of sirens, or shouts, or footsteps. Anything. But was met with silence.

“They were going to…” she whispered. The sentence wouldn’t finish. Saying it out loud would make it real in a way she couldn’t handle. But the other thing, the power… that was either real, or her mind was playing tricks too right?

She looked down at her hands, turning them over in the dim light. They looked the same. Normal.

‘I’m definitely not normal or this is all a dream.’

Pulling her scattered hair in a bun, she tore part of her skirt, putting it around her forehead to stop the blood trailing into her eyes before running.

She didn’t stop until she could see the familiar, color of her apartment building. She fumbled with the lock, her fingers numb and clumsy, finally stumbling inside and slamming the door shut. She threw the deadbolt, the loud thunk echoing in the silent, empty space.

For a long moment, she just stood there, back pressed against the door, chest heaving. She slid down to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest, and buried her face in her arms. The trembling started then, a full-body shudder she couldn't control.

What did I do?

The image of the four boys—lying so still on the ground—played over and over in her head even though she could still feel their dirty hands on her

‘I’ve not killed them. They’re still alive! I’m not a murderer. I’m not a witch.”

A dry, sob escaped her lips.

Who was she supposed to tell of this? Infact who would believe her words?

Slowly, she pushed herself off the floor. She walked to the sink and splashed cold water on her face, watching the dirt and tears swirl down the drain. She didn't look in the mirror. She couldn't bear to see the person staring back.

She stumbled to her mattress and collapsed onto it, not bothering to take off her torn clothes.

***

In a huge obsidian throne room, touches flicker with amethyst flame, casting long, dancing shadows that seem to breathe with a life of their own. At the center of it all, Liam, the Crown Prince and Heir to the Black Shadow Throne, stands over a map of the realms carved from pure nightstone. His brow furrowed, as he glared down. It’s another dead end. How many more realms must we scour? How many more years must pass? The guilt had been a constant, cold companion since he was barely nine. He should have been watching her that day. He was the eldest; her safety was supposed to be his first and most sacred duty.

The heavy double doors of the throne room swing open without a sound and Kai moves through them, his footfalls making no noise on the polished jet floor.

As he passes around a pillar, the shadows around him seem to cling to his form, blurring his edges and making him one with the darkness for a fleeting moment.

“The Eastern Veil is quiet brother,” Kai muttered softly. “Her last follower disappeared yesterday night. She left no scent. No trace. It’s as if the earth itself swallowed her.”

Liam doesn’t look up from the map, his jaw tightening. “Morana’s work is thorough. She would not have taken her only to be found by a simple border patrol. Any news about sister?”

“It’s been twenty years, Liam,” Kai says, his dark eyes, the color of a starless night, fixed on his brother.

“And you think I don’t know that?” Liam snapped, his shadows coming out. “Twenty years. What has she become? Where is she?” He forces his composure back into place. “We do not abandon our blood. We do not cease our search. Ever.”

Before Kai can respond, a vibration—a faint, discordant hum that resonates in the marrow of their bones, shadows filled the throne room as amethyst torch flames sputter, their light dimming for a single, heart-stopping second.

“Did you feel that?” Kai asked, his throat tight with emotions.

Liam straightened, his own shadow stretching out behind him, elongating against the wall without his conscious command. “Yes.”

They both stared at each other in disbelief. It’s a pulse. A unique signature of shadow magic they haven’t felt since their mother drew her last breath. It’s her magic. But it’s not. It felt wilder, untamed.

“It’s… her?” Kai whispers, unsure, his heart beat echoing loudly in the room. It can’t be. After all this time… is it a trick? A trap set by Morana?

The throne room doors burst open a second time, and Jace strides in, his usual charming warmth replaced by a frantic, pale anxiety. He stumbles, clutching the doorframe, his knuckles white.

“Brothers…” he gasps, his empathic senses clearly overwhelmed. “By the abyss, what was that? I felt… I felt her. I felt her terror! It was like a thousand needles stabbing into my soul!”

Liam is already moving towards him, the map forgotten. “Where, Jace? Focus. Where did it come from?”

Jace closes his eyes, his body trembling as he tries to connect with the fading emotions. “It’s… muffled. But the direction… It's the Human Realm. The mortal plane.” He stumbled over his feet again, almost landing on the floor but Kai was at his side in an instant, a hand on his shoulder, offering assistance.

A tear dropped from Jace's eyes “The signature was shadow. Mother’s shadow. But it was intertwined with something else. A temporal distortion. Chronomancy.”

Liam stops dead, his eyes widening. “Our line possesses the Black Shadow. Mother had an affinity for time, but it was a latent gift, never fully awakened.” She always said her daughter would be the one to unite all their gifts. Was she right?

“This was awakened,” Kai states grimly. “This was a survival instinct. Elara… she was in mortal peril.”

“We have to go. Now,” Jace urges, his eyes pleading. “The echo is fading. If we wait, we’ll lose the trail!”

“No,” Liam says, he strides to a large, dormant scrying pool set into the floor. “We do not charge into the mortal world blindly. Not when Morana’s spies could be anywhere. We find her first and see what we are walking into.”

He extends a hand over the purplish clear water, his own shadow peeling away from his feet and flowing like liquid night into the pool. The water swirls as darkness mixes with the bright color, and then an image begins to form.