Sarafina POV
The pulse in my veins began at noon. A soft throb. Barely noticeable.
By three o'clock, it had grown into something else, a tug. A pull.
A strange, insistent rhythm beating under my skin as if something inside me was knocking.
Come. Come. Come.
I tried ignoring it. I tried grading assignments. I tried talking to Maya. I tried eating. Nothing worked.
By sunset, my chest felt like it was humming. A quiet, silver vibration.
Like my blood was alive.
And every time I tried to walk home, the "pull" dragged me toward the other direction—toward Old Town Valeries.
Toward the narrow streets. Toward the neon shadows. Toward the place where I died.
My stomach flipped.
"No," I whispered to myself. "No. We're not doing this."
But my feet moved anyway.
Old Town Valeries always felt unsettling at night—crooked stone alleys squeezed between glowing lanterns, neon signs reflecting in puddles that had no right to be so deep.
But tonight?
Tonight the whole district felt like it was holding its breath.
As I walked, the silver throb in my veins sharpened, guiding me as if the city itself had taken my hand and was dragging me somewhere I shouldn't go. Left. Right. Down a staircase.
Through a narrow passage I'd never noticed.
Past a glowing red sign with symbols I didn't recognize. Into shadows that felt too dark. I stopped at a dead end.
A brick wall.
The pulse suddenly spiked, burning, urgent.
Before I could step back, the brick shinned, rippled..and dissolved.
A hidden stairway appeared beneath it, lit by floating purple lights that flickered like fireflies.
My breath caught.
My instincts screamed RUN.
But the pull in my veins whispered, Down. So I went down.
The staircase opened into a cavern bathed in light, pink, blue, violet, shifting like a heartbeat.
It was a marketplace.
But not a human one.
Stalls carved from obsidian.
Floating lanterns that changed color with every blink. Shops with banners written in letters that shimmered like liquid magic. And the people…, People who didn't look quite human.
Some had eyes that glowed faintly. Some walked too silently. Some disappeared into shadows before fully turning a corner.
My breath stuttered.
"What… is this place?"
A hidden world.
Right under the city.
I should have run. I should have screamed.
Instead, I stepped deeper.
The pulse in my veins eased, almost like it was sighing in relief.
And that terrified me more.
"Curious little spark, aren't you?"
The voice came from my left.
I turned.
A man leaned casually against a stall frame, arms folded, one eyebrow raised like he'd been waiting for me.
Tall. Dangerous in the beautiful way. Dark hair tousled. Eyes?…not normal. Silver with flecks of violet.
He smirked when I stared too long.
"Lost?" he asked.
My throat tightened. "No. I…. I'm just… looking."
"For trouble?" he asked lightly. "Or answers?"
I swallowed.
He stepped closer, and the lights seemed to shift with him, like they moved to highlight his existence.
"You shouldn't be able to see this place," he murmured, eyes narrowing in interest. "Yet here you are."
My pulse raced.
"Who are you?"
His lips curved.
"Vesper Quinn."
He said it like a charm, a dare, a warning.
"And you," he added, tapping a finger lightly against my wrist, "are glowing."
I jerked my hand back.
"I'm not…."
"Lying doesn't suit you," he interrupted. "Look."
He snapped his fingers.
A small illusion bloomed in the air between us,a floating neon butterfly.
Beautiful. Detailed.
Too real. It drifted toward me, wings shimmering.
And when it touched my palm, it shattered, into silver dust.
Vesper's eyes widened, for the first time showing real shock.
"Well now," he whispered, studying the silver dust evaporating in the air. "That shouldn't have happened."
"I didn't do anything!" I protested.
He stepped even closer, voice dropping low.
"Exactly. That's what makes it interesting."
My breath shook.
"What are you talking about?"
"You walked into a place cloaked by five layers of illusion."
He circled me slowly, inspecting me like I was a puzzle.
"No human can see through even one."
I backed up until my shoulders hit a neon-lit pillar.
Vesper's smile sharpened.
"And that pulse under your skin?" he murmured. "It's not normal. It's reacting to this place. To me. To everything."
"I don't know what you mean…"
"Don't you?" he whispered.
Something flickered across my vision, just for a second.
A flash of a man in shadow.
Standing over me.
Watching me die.
I blinked hard.
Gone.
Vesper noticed.
His tone softened, losing its playful edge.
"You've been touched by something ancient," he said quietly. "Something that's waking up."
My heart pounded painfully.
"I don't….I just want to leave."
"You can leave," he said gently. "But let me give you a piece of advice first."
He leaned in, so close I could feel his breath at my ear.
"Whatever you are," he whispered, "you can't hide it much longer."
A shiver ran up my spine.
He stepped back, expression unreadable, and delivered the warning that froze the air around us:
"You're glowing. Someone will notice."