Chapter 1 - The Oath
The air was freezing.
Too heavy.
The wind whispered through the trees.
A strange sound.
Almost alive.
Like muffled screams.
The forest was not like the others.
It breathed.
Fireflies drifted through the darkness, illuminating fleeting fragments that felt both magical… and unsettling.
Clara ran.
Her bare feet struck the damp ground, slipping over dead leaves. Branches clawed at her skin, but she did not slow down.
Fear had taken over.
Behind her, something was following her.
She didn’t know what.
But she could hear it.
The footsteps.
Getting closer.
A crack.
Too close.
Her breath caught.
Her heart pounded so violently she thought it would betray her.
— “Is someone there?”
Her voice trembled.
No answer.
But she wasn’t alone.
A presence.
Different.
She froze.
And that was when she saw her.
A silhouette.
A few meters away.
A girl.
Barely older than her.
Long light chestnut hair framed a face dusted with freckles.
Her eyes glowed in the darkness.
A disturbing shade of violet.
No fear.
No panic.
Something else.
— “You felt the vibrations too… didn’t you?”
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
Clara nodded, unable to speak.
A deep rumble crossed the forest.
The trees seemed to close in around them.
And suddenly—
Movement.
Fast.
Violent.
Something burst from the shadows.
A deformed creature emerged from the darkness.
Clara didn’t even have time to scream.
No sound could have escaped her.
The girl grabbed her hand.
An instinctive gesture.
Raw.
Necessary.
And everything changed.
A blazing heat shot through Clara.
Like lightning beneath her skin.
A bond.
Impossible.
The creature’s scream tore through the night.
But it never reached them.
As if…
something was protecting them.
Silence fell again.
Brutal.
Unreal.
Clara slowly lifted her eyes.
Their hands were still intertwined.
— “What’s your name?”
A heartbeat.
— “Niferta.”
The name itself seemed to vibrate through the forest.
Strangely.
As if it already belonged to something far greater.
Clara tightened her grip instinctively.
They didn’t know each other.
And yet…
they promised they would never let go.
They still ignored the truth.
They belonged to two enemy bloodlines.
Two legacies that should never have crossed paths.
Years later, they would learn the truth.
Brutally.
Their meeting had never been a coincidence.
It was an anomaly.
A fracture.
They were given a choice.
Renounce their bond.
Or be banished.
Erased.
But some bonds do not disappear.
Not the ones forged through survival.
Not the ones sealed within the impossible.
Since that day…
they have carried a name their clans fear:
THE NYRMENIANS
Clara opened her eyes again.
Breathless.
Her chest tight.
It was no longer the forest.
It was today.
She sat up abruptly.
Émilien.
He was in danger.
She was certain of it.
She grabbed a bag in haste.
She had to warn him.
Before it was too late.
ELSEWHERE
A screen lit up in the darkness.
— “Amelia… it’s me.”
Niferta’s voice barely trembled.
But beneath that calm, urgency burned.
— “I need to talk to you.”
Silence.
— “It’s important.”
Then, in barely more than a whisper:
— “You need to listen to me until the very end.”
