Elian emerged from the catacombs with the weight of centuries clinging to her skin. The daylight, though dull and gray, felt blinding after the suffocating dark below. She blinked hard, as if the sun might somehow burn away what she had seen.
Damian.
His name pulsed behind her eyes like a bruise. The man from her dreams. The stranger who somehow knew her who spoke her name like it was both salvation and a curse. Who she had made a vow that echoed across lifetimes.
And worst of all… a part of her believed him.
"Elian! Where the hell were you?" Mira's voice cracked like a whip across the courtyard.
Elian turned, struggling to summon something like normalcy. Mira was storming toward her, eyes wide with both fury and worry. Behind her, the rest of their classmates were emerging from the cathedral's old stone steps, chattering, laughing, blissfully unaware of what lurked just beneath their feet.
"I.....I got carried away," Elian said quickly. "I thought I saw something. I'm sorry."
Mr. Calderon was there too now, his stern face pale. "You separated from the group in an unstable heritage site. Do you realize how dangerous that was?"
"I didn't go far," she lied. "It was stupid. I panicked."
It was enough, barely. Calderon's scolding faded to a low hum in her ears as Mira guided her back toward the inn. Her legs moved automatically, but her mind spiraled. What if she had been caught? What if they'd found the open chamber? What if they had seen him?
But No!!!!. That part of the catacombs had been hidden and forgotten. Just like he was meant to be.
Just like she was.
That night, Elian lay awake in her small bed, the sounds of the sleeping inn muffled by old stone walls. Mira had crashed after half-heartedly accusing Elian of trying to give her a heart attack.
Elian stared at the ceiling.
Her mind kept returning to what Damian said.
"Because you made the vow with me… before your soul was reborn."
It sounded impossible. But every instinct in her body rebelled against denying it.
Because she did remember.
Not clearly, not like a film or a diary. But in flashes, feelings and fragments.
The curve of moonlight on ancient stone. The feel of a cold hand in hers. Her own voice whispering promises in a language she'd never studied. A battlefield. A betrayal.
Blood.
All these things happening felt so unreal to her, but they were.
She had spent seventeen years living in the modern world. Late nights, reading fantasy novels under her blanket. Saturdays watching movies with her grandma while rain drummed the windows. She worked hard in school. She'd wanted to be a linguist, or maybe a historian. She liked old things, yes but never like this.
She'd never been the type to believe in past lives. In magic. In curses.
Here she was, caught up in something so mysterious....
Back in her hometown, her life had been simple and predictable. After her parents died when she was nine, it was just her and Grandma Marie. They had moved into a tiny blue house near the edge of town, the kind with squeaky stairs and a yard full of dandelions. She had friends. She had her routines. She had the quiet peace of a girl still discovering who she wanted to be.
And now… that life felt like it belonged to someone else.
The person who had boarded the bus to Veyruhn was not the one staring at the ceiling tonight.
Something inside her had been unlocked. Something vast and aching.
The next morning, Elian washed her face in silence, staring at her reflection. The same tired green eyes. The same auburn curls. But something else swam beneath the surface now. A stillness. A sorrow too old for her seventeen years body.
She dabbed at her skin with a towel and stepped into the shared room. Mira was already dressed and stuffing snacks into her bag.
"You okay?" Mira asked, glancing up. "You were tossing again."
"Sorry," Elian murmured. "Bad dreams."
Mira crossed her arms. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Elian hesitated. Her heart leapt to confess to unburden herself. But what could she say? "Hey, so I met a vampire who says I'm the reincarnation of his lost love and that we made a blood vow centuries ago. Also, I might be cursed?
Instead, she offered a weak smile. "I think I just need more sleep."
Mira studied her. "You're acting really weird lately."
"I know, I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. Just… don't shut me out, okay? Whatever's going on, you don't have to go through it alone."
Elian felt the sting of guilt settle under her skin. Mira had always been there for her, stubborn and loyal even when Elian retreated into herself.
"I promise," she said with a little smile, not sure if she could keep that promise.
That afternoon, while the group toured the old bell tower, Elian stayed behind. Her gaze drifted constantly to the cathedral, her mind still echoing with that moment at the crypt door.
"You are the one who can break it."
She didn't even know what it was. The curse? The vow? The life she had before?
And what was to happen if she tried?
Or worse… if she didn't?
That night, when the moon rose again over Veyruhn, Elian stood alone on the back steps of the inn. Her fingers tightened around the pendant she hadn't remembered owning until this trip. A small circle etched with thorns and twin crescent moons—the same symbol from the old book. From her dream. From the crypt.
Her heart pounded.
She didn't know what she was yet.
But she knew one thing:
This was the beginning of something she knows nothing about.
And whether she liked it or not… she is a part of it now.