Eira POV
Moonlight.
Soft silver moonlight.
It spilled across endless fields of white flowers, turning them into a sea of stars.
The air smelled sweet.
Peaceful.
Beautiful.
And in the middle of it stood a girl.
Her long silver hair danced in the wind.
A delicate symbol was carved into the inside of her wrist.
It glowed faintly beneath the moonlight.
She looked happy.
The kind of happiness that only comes when your heart belongs completely to someone.
A pair of arms slipped around her waist from behind.
The girl smiled before she even turned.
As if she already knew who it was.
Always.
The man rested his forehead against hers.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
They simply stood there beneath the moon.
Listening to each other's breathing.
As though the entire world had disappeared.
As though only they existed.
"You came," the girl whispered.
The man's smile was gentle.
"I always will."
The girl laughed softly.
The sound was so warm it made my chest ache.
"What if one day you don't?"
The man reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Then the moon will stop rising."
The girl's eyes shimmered.
"What if we're separated?"
"I'll find you."
"What if years pass?"
"I'll wait."
"What if centuries pass?"
His hand tightened around hers.
"I'll still find you."
The girl looked at him as though he were her entire universe.
"Forever?"
The man's eyes softened.
"Forever."
Tears filled the girl's eyes.
Not from sadness.
But from loving someone so much it hurt.
The wind carried their laughter through the flowers.
Time seemed to stop around them.
The moon shone brighter.
The flowers swayed gently beneath their feet.
And for a moment...
Everything felt perfect.
The scene shifted.
They were walking beneath moonlit trees.
Talking for hours.
Sharing secrets.
Stealing moments.
Every glance.
Every smile.
Every touch.
Filled with a love so deep it felt eternal.
And somehow...
Watching them made my heart hurt.
As though I knew this happiness wouldn't last.
As though somewhere deep inside me...
I was already mourning them.
Then suddenly—
The wind stopped.
The flowers froze.
The night grew cold.
A low growl echoed through the darkness.
The girl immediately stiffened.
The man's arm moved protectively around her.
From the shadows emerged a massive wolf.
Its silver fur gleamed beneath the moon.
Its crimson eyes burned with fury.
Not the fury of a beast.
The fury of someone betrayed.
The girl's face turned pale.
Fear flashed across her eyes.
The wolf took another step.
Then another.
Its gaze never leaving them.
The man stepped in front of the girl.
The wolf snarled.
The sound shook the entire forest.
"No..." the girl whispered.
The wolf lunged.
And everything shattered.
I jolted awake.
My breathing was ragged.
My heart pounded painfully against my chest.
For a moment I didn't know where I was.
The room was dark.
Silent.
Yet tears burned unexpectedly in my eyes.
I quickly wiped them away.
What was wrong with me?
It was only a dream.
Just a dream.
Yet the girl's grief.
The man's promise.
The feeling of losing something precious...
felt terrifyingly real.
I pressed a hand against my chest.
The ache was still there.
As if the dream hadn't ended.
As if a part of it had followed me back.
"Who are you?" I whispered into the darkness.
"And why does it feel like your heart is breaking inside my chest?"
The rest of the night passed without sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw them again.
The girl.
The man.
The promise.
Forever.
And the wolf whose eyes burned with rage.
By morning, my head felt heavy.
Yet the feeling in my chest remained.
As though the dream had left something behind.
Something I couldn't explain.
The college campus was as lively as ever.
Students rushed between classes.
Friends gathered in groups.
Laughter echoed through the halls.
But none of it managed to pull me from my thoughts.
I sat in class staring blankly at my notebook.
The professor's voice became nothing more than distant noise.
My mind kept returning to the dream.
The girl's smile.
The way she looked at him.
The sadness that followed.
Who was she?
And why did seeing her hurt so much?
Tessy slid into the seat beside me.
"You look terrible."
"Thanks."
She rolled her eyes.
"I'm serious. You haven't been paying attention all morning."
I rubbed my forehead.
"I didn't sleep well."
Tessy's expression softened.
"Still thinking about what happened in Silverpine?"
I hesitated.
"I don't know."
A strange feeling settled inside me.
As though something was just beyond my reach.
Something important.
"Where's Jake?" I asked suddenly.
Tessy shrugged.
"He went home that day at silverpine. "
"What?"
"His sister isn't feeling well."
"Oh."
The conversation faded.
My thoughts drifted again.
Back to the dream.
Back to the girl.
Back to the symbol on her wrist.
Without realizing it, my pencil moved across the page.
Line after line.
Curve after curve.
Lost completely in thought.
"Eira."
I blinked.
Tessy frowned at me.
"You've been ignoring me for five minutes."
Before I could answer, she snatched my notebook.
"Let's see what Miss Daydream is drawing."
She looked down.
Then froze.
Slowly, she turned the notebook toward me.
My breath caught.
The page was covered with a strange symbol.
Drawn over and over again.
Perfectly identical.
A chill ran through me.
I didn't remember drawing it.
Not even once.
"Eira..." Tessy whispered.
I stared at the symbol.
Confused.
Uneasy.
Why did it feel so familiar?
The bell rang.
Without a word, I tore out the page, crumpled it, and shoved it into my bag.
"It's nothing."
But even I didn't believe that.
Adrain POV
From the corridor outside, I watched her.
Eira.
Sitting quietly beside Tessy.
Looking distracted.
Lost somewhere far away.
As though part of her mind wasn't even in the classroom.
Something about her seemed different lately.
Subtle.
Almost impossible to notice.
But it was there.
My gaze lingered on her.
A girl who looked completely ordinary.
Yet somehow had walked into a palace that shouldn't exist.
A palace buried so deeply in history that even its name had become a myth.
Astraevor Palace.
The Celestial Mark.
Princess Lunaria.
The crimson glow I had seen in her eyes.
I still couldn't forget it.
No matter how many times I tried to convince myself otherwise.
Something wasn't right.
None of this was right.
How was she connected to that place?
Why had the palace revealed itself to her?
Why had her eyes glowed red?
And why did every path I followed somehow lead back to her?
She didn't look like someone carrying centuries of secrets.
She looked like a normal college girl trying to survive another boring lecture.
Yet she had uncovered something that entire supernatural races had failed to find for centuries.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
"Who are you, Eira?" I muttered quietly.
"And what did Astraevor Palace see in you?"
Inside the classroom, Tessy suddenly grabbed Eira's notebook.
I watched the confusion spread across Eira's face.
Then the fear.
The unease.
Something immediately caught my attention.
The bell rang moments later.
Eira stood quickly and hurried from the room.
A crumpled piece of paper slipped from her bag.
Neither she nor Tessy noticed.
I waited until the classroom emptied.
Then walked over and picked it up.
The moment I unfolded it—
My entire body went still.
The Celestial Mark.
Drawn perfectly.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Dozens of times.
A symbol that should have disappeared alongside Astraevor Palace centuries ago.
Yet Eira had drawn it flawlessly.
My grip tightened around the paper.
How?
How could she possibly know this symbol?
The questions only kept multiplying.
And none of the answers made sense.
My phone vibrated.
Drek.
I answered immediately.
"What happened?"
His voice came through the line.
Serious.
Urgent.
"Michel has returned."
One of the oldest vampires alive.
A man old enough to remember truths that history had buried.
I looked down at the paper one last time.
At the symbol.
At the mystery that somehow always led back to Eira.
Then I folded it carefully.
Enough waiting.
Enough guessing.
It was time to start finding answers.