Chapter 1
It began the same way it always did. The moon hung unnaturally large in a sky choked with red clouds, casting its cold, silver light over a forest that whispered her name. Aria stood barefoot on the stone floor of a forgotten temple,wearing a bloodstained white gown. Her heart thundered, not from fear—but from recognition. She knew this place. She knew what came next. The sound of footsteps echoed across the marble.
She turned.
He stood at the edge of the darkness. Tall. Dressed in black. Eyes like obsidian, holding galaxies of grief. He didn’t speak. He never did, not at first. But his presence crushed the air out of the world. Aria’s breath caught. Her lips trembled.
"Lucien."
The name left her like a vow. He moved closer, and with every step, memory clawed up from the grave inside her. Flashes. A
hand reaching through fire. A kiss under a blood moon. A blade driven into her chest. Over and over. Life after life, death after death—and always him.
Always him.
"You came back," he whispered.
A tear slipped down her cheek. "I always do."
He stepped forward, reaching for her— the world cracked. Blood. Screams. Her body breaking apart.
She woke up.
Gasping. Drenched in sweat. Her hand clutched the bedsheet like it was the only thing tethering her to reality. Her room was dark, lit only by the faint orange streetlight filtering through the curtains.
Everything was quiet. Ordinary. Except for the bleeding scratch on her palm.
Aria stared at it.
It hadn’t been there before she went to sleep.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Zoya : "U still alive? pick me up 4 school or I’m telling your mom u dreamt about that goth boy
AGAIN lol"
Aria didn't smile.
Because this wasn’t just a dream.
It never was.
She got ready in silence. Her sister was still asleep. Her parents whispered downstairs. Normal morning things. But Aria moved like a ghost. The dream still clung to her skin. The name still echoed in her ears.
Lucien.
She whispered it once in the mirror, like a curse, or maybe a plea. The mirror didn’t answer. But the lightbulb above her flickered. Outside, the sky was a clean slate blue. Birds screamed at each other on telephone wires. Zoya bounced beside her, eating a protein bar and telling a story about some senior who got caught cheating on three girls at once. “...and THEN he said, ‘but you’re the only one I love,’ while the other two were literally behind him
with murder in their eyes. It was so funny. Aria, are you even listening?”
Aria blinked.
“Yeah. Cheater boy. Got it.”
Zoya rolled her eyes. “Seriously, what is up with you lately? You look like you haven’t slept in years. And don’t lie, I saw you crying in your sleep again last week. You keep saying names. Same one.
Lucian? Lucifer?”
“Lucien,” Aria corrected before she could stop herself.
Zoya raised an eyebrow.
“So you DO know him.”
Aria stared ahead. “No. I don’t.”
But her chest burned. Because something inside her said:
Yes. You do.
They arrived at school.
The air was too still.
Students chattered and laughed, lockers slammed, teachers shouted attendance. It was normal. But it felt like walking into a place that would be swallowed by something dark before the sun set. In third period, she saw him. Standing in the hallway.
Black uniform. Pale skin. Dark eyes that didn’t look at her—they recognized her.
Aria stopped breathing.
Zoya bumped her. “Whoa. That guy looks like he eats poetry and bleeds eyeliner. New kid? Your type.”
But Aria couldn’t answer.
Because the moment their eyes locked, something inside her fractured.
And somewhere deep in her memory, a voice said:
"You died here once."
The bell rang. But Aria stood frozen. Because for the first time in seventeen years, she wasn’t just haunted by the dream. The dream had stepped into her world.
