Chapter 5 Unraveling the Past

Aria didn't sleep that night. The city below seemed to hum with a restless energy, but it was nothing compared to the turmoil inside her. She kept replaying Dominic's words over and over, each one unraveling her thoughts like thread from an old sweater. The promise he'd made to stand by her, the weight of the prophecy that loomed over her-nothing felt real. It was all a tangle of promises and lies, truths and half-truths.

She had always prided herself on knowing her place, on carving out a quiet, unnoticed existence in a world that seemed indifferent to her. But that world had just shattered, and the pieces didn't fit together the way they once did. The reality of her situation-the bloodline she didn't understand, the enemies she hadn't yet met, the future that demanded her participation-felt like a cruel joke.

She had to get answers.

The next morning, after hours of turning the thoughts over in her mind, she couldn't ignore the gnawing sense that she was missing something crucial. Something about the prophecy, about her role in all of this, felt like it was right in front of her, just out of reach. It was more than just the whispers of destiny or the weight of her bloodline-it was something Dominic hadn't told her, something everyone was keeping from her.

She wasn't about to sit around waiting for someone else to hand her the pieces. She had to find out more, even if it meant going behind Dominic's back. She knew that would only deepen the rift between them, but in the silence of her own mind, she realized she had no choice. She needed to understand who she really was, and to do that, she had to dig into her past.

Her childhood was a blur of fleeting faces, empty homes, and the cold, constant ache of being unwanted. Raised in foster homes, she had never known her biological parents. The files in her caseworker's office had been filled with half-truths and missing details, but one thing was always clear-she didn't belong. She had always wondered if there was something more to her story, something hidden beneath the surface, but she had never dared to ask. It hadn't mattered back then, but now, everything has changed.

Determined to find answers, she dressed quickly, her heart racing with anticipation and dread. She had no idea what she was looking for, but she knew she had to start somewhere.

The address she had was buried in a file she'd kept hidden away in her small, overstuffed bag. It was an old building on the outskirts of the city, a place that had always felt like an afterthought in the rush of the city's pulse. Aria had never thought to visit it before. She had no idea why it mattered now, but something told her it was important. She couldn't shake the feeling that this place held the answers she so desperately needed.

The streets blurred as she rode in a cab, the city passing by in flashes of light and shadow. Aria tried to steady her breath, her palms clammy, the pull of the unknown wrapping around her like a suffocating blanket. She hadn't told Dominic about her plan. She hadn't told anyone. But something inside her-the part of her that had always been alone, the part that had survived the worst the world had thrown at her-demanded she do this on her own.

The cab finally slowed to a stop in front of the building. It was an old, run-down place, the kind of building that looked abandoned, but somehow wasn't. The paint on the door had long since peeled away, and the windows were covered in grime, but there was something eerie about the place-something that called to her in ways she couldn't explain.

She paid the driver and stepped out, her heels clicking sharply on the cracked sidewalk as she walked toward the entrance. The air felt heavier here, the tension in the atmosphere making her skin prickle. She pushed open the door, the rusty hinges groaning in protest.

Inside, the building was dark, the faint scent of dust and old wood lingering in the air. It felt like a place that had been forgotten by time, but there was something almost familiar about it. The hall stretched before her, narrow and uninviting, and the silence pressed in around her like a suffocating weight.

At the end of the hall, a small door stood slightly ajar. The nameplate beside it read: "Dr. Celeste Deveraux." Her heart skipped a beat. This was it. The person who might have the answers. The person who could help her make sense of the past.

Aria took a steadying breath and knocked lightly on the door. A voice from inside called out, calm and measured.

"Come in."

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was dimly lit, with bookshelves lining the walls, filled with old volumes that seemed to hum with the weight of their knowledge. Behind a desk sat a woman in her late forties, her dark hair streaked with silver, her eyes sharp and knowing. She looked up from the papers she was reading, and for a brief moment, Aria felt as though the woman could see right through her-into the deepest parts of her soul.

"You must be Aria Hayes," the woman said, her voice soft but firm. "I've been expecting you."

Aria's stomach twisted. She hadn't told anyone her name, hadn't even mentioned why she was here. How could she possibly know?

"I-I don't understand," Aria stammered, stepping forward. "How do you know who I am?"

Dr. Deveraux smiled faintly, though there was a hint of something unreadable in her eyes. "I've known about you for a long time. Ever since you were just a child. It was always only a matter of time before you came to seek the truth."

Aria's heart pounded in her chest. She felt like she was about to unravel something too big for her to grasp, and yet, she had to know. "What truth? What do you know about me?"

Dr. Deveraux stood and walked over to a small cabinet, retrieving a thick folder that seemed to have been waiting for this moment. She set it down in front of Aria, her fingers brushing over the top as though it were something sacred.

"This is everything," Dr. Deveraux said softly, "everything you've been searching for. Your past, your lineage, your destiny. It's all in here."

Aria hesitated before reaching for the folder, her mind spinning with a thousand questions, but none of them loud enough to overpower the quiet sense of inevitability that hung in the air. She opened the folder, and the first thing she saw was a birth certificate-hers. The name listed there wasn't the one she had grown up with, but something else entirely.

Her real name.

Her heart skipped a beat. She had always known there was something she didn't understand, something about her past that didn't quite match up. But now, with the evidence sitting in front of her, the reality of it all hit her like a tidal wave.

The truth was even darker than she had imagined.

Her bloodline was tied to something ancient, something she could never have prepared for. And now, she had no choice but to embrace it.

Dr. Deveraux's eyes watched her closely as Aria flipped through the pages, each document, each note revealing more than she had ever dared to ask.

"Your mother was a Moonborn," Dr. Deveraux said, her voice steady but heavy with meaning. "And you, Aria, are the last of that bloodline. You are the key to the prophecy."

Aria's mind went blank, her body frozen in place as she tried to process the enormity of what she had just learned. The words echoed in her head, but none of it seemed real.

"How do you know all of this?" Aria whispered, her voice trembling.

"I've spent my life studying the Moonborn," Dr. Deveraux replied, her gaze unwavering. "And I've watched your every step. The prophecy is clear. You can't run from it. It's part of who you are."

Aria looked down at the folder, at the name that had been hidden from her for so long. Her bloodline, her legacy, it was all connected to something that had the power to change everything.

And she was just beginning to understand how.

The path ahead was darker than she had ever imagined, but there was no turning back now.