The silence thickened as they neared the estate.
Her body felt as though it were cracking with every step, each movement a protest from muscles that had long since surrendered.
The chains bit into her ankles, cold and slick with rain, and her white hair clung to her throat like strips of wet cloth.
The downpour had soaked her through
Her breath rose in faint, trembling wisps
Her skin stung with cold.
But none of the guards slowed, why would they?
Outside—beyond the path—something stirred.
Aurelia lifted her head, blinking rain from her eyes.
She could see them.
Shadows gliding without a sound, without even a single weight.
Shapes that slipped from branch to branch like smoke given form.
These were the estate's true guardians.
So all along Night guardian were real.
Not legends whispered around dying campfires
They were always real.
Aurelia's breath hitched as another shadow slipped between the trees—too tall, too thin, moving with the smooth certainty of something that had never been human.
She had grown up hearing stories of the night-born guardians,They move in the forest shades.
The silent sentinels that served Tenebrarum.
The truth stood now before her, living and watching, their shapes half-hidden, their presence heavy enough to turn her blood cold.
But these things—these shadows—proved every tale true, the dark creatures had great powers, even bending shadows in warriors.
And as she dragged herself forward, chains scraping against wet stone, she could not decide what frightened her more—
the creatures in the forest
or the Tenebrarum who commanded them.
As she was pushed forward, her stomach twisted in fear.
Before her rose a mansion carved from pale marble and polished obsidian. Its columns were taller than any cathedral she'd seen. Silver veins ran through the stone, pulsing faintly—with light… or blood.
The path was lined with impossible flowers. Blooms that shimmered silver under moonlight. Blossoms that looked like bruises in bloom—violets, lilies, jasmine.
The scent hit her like a memory.
These were the same flowers she once loved , Gaius her brother always gave this flowers to her.
Then she saw him
Tenebrarum Mortifer
He stood upon the high balcony overlooking the courtyard, a shadow shaped like a man yet nothing close to mortal. The mask remained upon his face—polished obsidian, blank as a moonless sky, catching only enough light to reflect the world trembling beneath him
His coat fell around him in long, heavy folds, dyed in a black so absolute it seemed to devour the rain as it fell. Threads of gold traced the hem—not bright, not cheerful, but burning like embers trapped behind glass, shifting with his every breath
For one heartbeat she forgot the cold
Forgot the mud
Forgot the ache in her bones
There was only him
She staggered forward instinctively, desperate for warmth, for shelter—anything—before the guards yanked her backward with brutal force
"Where do you think you're going?" one hissed, jerking the chain so hard she nearly fell, her soaked dress slipping from her shoulder
Aurelia twisted sharply, clutching the fabric to her chest before it slid further. Her fingers shook, but she held on
The guards laughed—a cruel, hollow sound that echoed in the rain-soaked courtyard
"Rags do not enter the main chambers," another sneered, shoving her toward the shadows
"They belong there"
He pointed toward a smaller structure near the wall—low, dark, nearly swallowed by the storm, a place meant for creatures unworthy of names
She stumbled as they pushed her again, her bare feet slipping on wet stone
Still she looked back—
toward the balcony,
toward the figure who had destroyed her every breath.
But Tenebrarum had already turned away,
Already disappearing into the depths of his fortress.
-------------------------
Aurelia stepped inside, rainwater dripping onto the stone floor. The door shut behind her with a dull thud.
"Who are you?"
The question came immediately—dry, sharp, without patience.
Aurelia froze. An old woman stood beneath a flickering lamp, her eyes hard, her posture rigid like someone who had spent her life commanding lesser beings. She studied Aurelia with open distrust, as though deciding whether she was trouble or merely worthless.
Aurelia couldn't answer.
Her throat tightened. The woman's stare pinned her in place, demanding a name she no longer carried with certainty.
What am I supposed to say…?
Who was I now?
A nobody, a slave?or a failed warrior who couldn't even meet the fate she'd trained for?
Calling herself nothing would fit best.
Aurelia had always lived in the safety of books, dreaming of worlds her hands could never touch, building legends on paper that her real self could not carry.
In her stories she was fierce, unbreakable, a heroine carved from iron.
But in truth—her truth—she was fragile compared to the warriors she imagined.
She knew beauty.
She knew how to string a bow, how to release an arrow with grace.
But war is not grace, and fate does not bend for elegant hands.
All her life she hid inside pages.
Yet here, in this shadowed room of demons, pages meant nothing.
Her imagined strength could not shield her.
Her practiced poise could not save her.
And the girl who once boasted in books now stood exposed, trembling beneath the weight of a world that did not care who she had pretended to be.
Why did this simple question feel like a blade to the throat.
She couldn't even speak.
She just stood in the doorway, dripping rainwater, her lungs tight and mind blank with confusion.
Who am I?
The thought burned hotter than her wounds, tearing through every layer of her pride.
Aurelia swallowed.
But the answer still would not rise
Her voice refused her to let out a single sound.
Her own identity slipped through her fingers like sand in a basket.
The old woman's frown deepened, slow and disapproving, as if Aurelia's silence was an insult.
With a brief breath, Aurelia pulled back.
Thud...
The wooden door closed beneath her hand,
Aurelia had shut the door before the woman could say another word.
Aurelia turned away—quick steps at first, then faster, almost stumbling.
Her head bowed, hair still sticking to her wet skin.
Her breath trembling with every movement.
She only wanted distance.
From the door.
From the question.
From herself.
Her body ached with every step, wrists screaming, legs wobbling.
The lamps grew fewer.
The shadows grew thicker.
She didn't care—she just needed to disappear for a moment, to breathe in a place that wasn't suffocating her.
Then the world ripped open behind her.
"RRAAAARRR—!"
A sound too deep, too wild, too close.
Aurelia froze.
Her heart lurched into her throat.
Slowly—too slow—she turned.
A wolf.
This wolf didn't look normal.
It was enormous—its shoulders as high as her chest, fur darker than night, its blue eyes burning like frozen fire.
Its growl rolled through the courtyard, low and murderous.
Her whole body tensed.
Her lungs forgot how to breathe.
The beast crouched.
Her legs moved before her mind did.
She ran.
Her feet slapped through rainwater, slipping against the stones.
Her breath tore open through her chest.
The world blurred around her as she sprinted into the darkness—
The wolf thundered after her, claws scraping against the stone, its breath hot and savage behind her.
Aurelia choked out a scream, stumbling over her own steps.
The wolf lunged.
A blur of teeth and hunger—
Then—
CLANG!
The chain around its neck snapped tight, jerking the creature backward so violently the ground shook beneath her.
The beast snarled, snapping its jaws just inches from her back, the force of its roar shaking her bones.
Aurelia collapsed onto her knees, gasping.
"Thank the heavens…" she whispered—
Then pain stabbed her, she felt a strong pain on her leg.
She looked down.
A gash.
Small, but deep enough.
And dark veins were already crawling outward beneath her skin.
Her breath hitched.
No… no…
Her fingers trembled as she touched the wound.
Fire spread under her flesh—quick, merciless.
Her muscles tightened, then loosened all at once.
Her vision wavered, bending the world like heat over sand.
The venom was crawling deep inside her.
Too fast.
She pushed herself up—but her arms buckled.
She tried again—snd just then her legs collapsed completely.
Her breath turned shaky, thin.
Her body felt like it was slipping away from her grip.
But still—she moved.
She dug her fingers into the wet stone.
Dragging herself forward inch by painful inch.
The rain soaked her hair, her clothes, her skin—cold, relentless, stabbing through her bones.
She saw a faint light ahead.
The moon, breaking through the clouds.
And beneath it—
A figure.
Tall.
Wrapped in black, so motionless it could've been carved from stone.
She crawled toward it, each pull of her arms weaker than the last.
Her elbows scraped against the ground.
As her vision flickered.
Her breath rasped.
"Help…" she whispered, voice thin as air.
Her palm brushed against a boot,grabbing it.
She lifted her head with the last of her strength.
All she saw was darkness.
A mask.
A presence too heavy to understand.
She collapsed completely, her cheek against the top of his foot, her fingers curling weakly into the edge of his cloak.
"Help… me…"
Then everything went black.
Aurelia never saw the man she had reached.
She didn't know—
She had collapsed at the feet of Tenebrarum Mortifer himself.
------------------------------
To be continued...