The night air smelled different up here. I perched on the edge of a crumbling rooftop, knees drawn close, body trembling from exhaustion. Every muscle screamed, every joint burned, and yet I was alive. That was enough. For now I guess.
I lowered myself onto the cold concrete, biting back a groan as I pressed my palm against my shoulder. The cut from the clawed creature throbbed sharply. Red streaked across my sleeve. My knees were scraped raw. Bruises bloomed across my ribs. I breathed in shallow, ragged gasps, tasting copper and grit in my mouth.
I expected pain to linger. But then… something strange happened.
Tiny sparks of light seemed to ripple across my skin, blue-gold, flickering.
"Goddamn it… what the fuck, seriously?" I cursed under my breath, shaking my hands.
I pressed my palm to the scrape on my cheek. Nothing. Smooth. Clean. The bruise I had felt, gone. I stared, dumbfounded. A shiver ran down my spine, both terrified and excited.
I healed myself?
I tried it again, rubbing the cut on my forearm. Blue-gold sparks flared faintly, tingling like electricity. The wound disappeared, fading as if it had never existed. My eyes widened. HOLY SHIT!!
I pulled my knees closer, my chest heaving. My fingers trembled not from pain, not from fear, but from something else. Something deep in my blood, humming, alive. I could feel it coursing through my veins, warm, bright, insistent.
"What… the hell… am I?" I whispered, letting the words slip out, bitter and raw. My voice echoed faintly against the rooftops, bouncing off the brick walls. No one heard me. No one could. Not yet.
The fire in me flared, a sudden burst that made my vision sharpen. I could feel the city differently now the faint pull of life, the rhythm of breathing, the subtle currents of energy running through the streets. I swallowed hard. The thought clawed at me.
I'm not like them. Not human. Not entirely.
I pressed my hand to the edge of the rooftop, feeling the wind gust across my fingers. The sparks pulsed again, responding to my touch. Panic bubbled up in my chest. I scrambled backward, breathing hard. "What the fuck is happening to me?" I muttered, pacing. I ran my fingers along my arms, watching the faint shimmer of light pulse and ripple.
It was like fire trapped in water. I didn't understand it, didn't want to. But I needed to. I had to know what this thing, this power was, because it had just saved my life. It had given me more than instinct, more than speed or cunning. It had given me survival when I should have died
I slammed a fist against the brick wall. Pain exploded in my knuckles for a brief second, but even that faded faster than it should have. I staggered back, muttering curses under my breath. "Fucking hell… this isn't normal. This… isn't normal at all."
I let myself sink to the ground, knees against my chest. The city stretched endlessly beneath me, lights and shadows weaving together. I thought about the alley, the monsters, whatever the hell they were and how I had survived from death like it was nothing. My amber eyes glinted faintly as I remembered the way the world had slowed for me.
That was the spark… wasn't it?
It had saved me, and now I knew it was mine. I could feel it, a faint pulse under my skin, as if it had been waiting. Waiting for the first real threat, the first real fight. Waiting for me to need it.
I gritted my teeth, muttering, "Fuck… okay, okay… calm the shit down. Figure it out."
My hands hovered over my knees. I tried small movement for a simple testing. A small cut on my palm glowed faintly, and before my eyes, it closed. Smooth. Perfect. I jumped back, heart hammering.
"What the actual fuck…?!"
I paced. My voice low, bitter, raw. "Who… who the fuck… did this to me? Did someone give me this? Or… am I just… broken?"
I sank to my knees again, pressing my hands against the cold rooftop. Sparks flickered, brushing against the edges of my skin. I flinched. They pulsed in reaction to my heartbeat, to my fear, to my panic. Almost like they were alive. Like they were… aware.
Then it hit me. The alley, the monsters, the way the world had slowed for me just before I had escaped…
This isn't human. This is something else. Something powerful.
I pressed my forehead to my knees, muttering curses I didn't even realize were aloud. "What the fuck am I… what is this power?"
The city moved around me in a rhythm I could almost feel. Cars, people, lights all faint echoes of life and energy. My vision flickered. My hands hummed. The sparks pulsed faintly in sync with my heart. I could feel the energy bending around me, almost protective. Like it wanted me alive.
I bit my lip. "Who… gave me this?"
And then, a thought came like a hammer. My father? My mother?
No name. No memory. Just the idea. A fleeting spark of something. A presence. I didn't know him. I didn't know his face. But something inside me recognized it, faintly, like a memory that wasn't mine but still existed.
I clenched my fists. "No… no. Don't. Don't think about that. Don't even—fuck—just survive."
But I couldn't stop. The thought burned like fire in my chest. The warmth, the light, the life pulsing in me, it felt inherited. Not fully mine. And yet it was mine.
I spent the rest of the night testing, cautiously. I poked at my scratches, flexed my muscles, ran small bursts along the rooftop edge. Bruises vanished, cuts healed, fatigue faded. Every time, the sparks pulsed faintly, responding to me like a heartbeat in the dark.
Fear still lingered, but it was distant. Secondary. Survival was first. Then questions.
I muttered curses, whispered under my breath, ran my hands along my arms. "Jesus… fucking hell… what the fuck am I… seriously?"
The moon rose higher, silver and cold. My amber eyes reflected it, faintly glowing, flickering with the hidden power I didn't yet understand. And somewhere, deep in the marrow of my bones, I knew it was waiting. Waiting for me to push further. Waiting for me to grow. Waiting for the day I would know who I was.
.
.
.
[Artemis POV]
Miles away, deep in the forest where the moonlight shimmered silver across fallen leaves, Artemis moved with deadly grace. Her hunters followed in near-perfect formation, silent and alert, the echo of their prey still hanging in the air.
The hunt ended. Artemis signaled with a single hand, and the hunters froze. Silence fell, crisp and heavy, broken only by the faint rustle of leaves. She didn't turn her gaze to them. She didn't need to. Her eyes, sharp and grey, scanned the distance, detecting subtle flickers of energy across the mortal world.
Her breath was calm, controlled. But beneath it, instinct screamed.
A pulse. A flicker. Raw. Alive. Unclaimed.
She froze mid-step. Her hand twitched, not from weakness, but recognition.
It's him.
Her descendant.
Shock, disgust, fury they twisted inside her, coiling around her heart like vipers. She closed her eyes, mental breaths steady, lips curved into a serene smile that betrayed nothing.
It shouldn't exist… I didn't allow this. How…?
Memories flashed. Impossible, unwanted moments, now distant yet vivid. Her face tightened. Rage, denial, and instinct all warred beneath her calm exterior.
A voice broke her concentration. Zoe Nightshade, sharp-eyed and perceptive, stepped beside her.
"Lady Artemis… is something wrong?"
Artemis' lips curved into a smooth, polite smile. "Everything is as it should be."
Inside, however, the storm raged. Disgust, fury, and curiosity churned, boiling beneath her skin. She felt the spark, his spark. That raw, unclaimed light in the mortal world. It carried her blood, and yet… it defied her control.
She clenched her hands briefly, fingers tightening. Tracking it, feeling it, tasting it without a word. She would not speak of it, not yet. Not to anyone.
Her grey eyes narrowed, tracing the faint pulse as if she could reach through worlds and touch it.
The spark of what should not exist burns bright… and it carries my blood.