Chapter 2 Stormborn

The elevator doors slid shut behind her, cutting off the charged air of the top floor. Aria leaned against the cool metal wall, her breath shallow, heart pounding like a war drum.

What the hell had just happened?

Flames in his hand. Runes glowing with power. A book that reacted to her touch. And that moment - that spark between them. It wasn't just chemistry. It was something more. Something ancient and terrifying.

"Prophecy," she muttered under her breath. "Lightbearer. Bond. What the actual-"

The elevator dinged and opened onto the lobby, but it might as well have been another planet.

Everything here looked normal. Too normal. People walked by with coffee cups. A man checked his watch. A woman typed on a tablet. The receptionist gave her a polite nod as she passed, like nothing extraordinary had just occurred dozens of floors above.

As Aria stepped back into the rain, it was as if the city had swallowed her whole again.

The storm had worsened.

She darted beneath her umbrella, but wind whipped it sideways. Rain soaked her hair in seconds, plastering it to her neck and face. She barely noticed.

Her mind was too full of fire and gold and the look in Darian Vale's eyes when he said her name.

She turned a corner and ducked into a narrow alley between two buildings. Her breathing was unsteady. She pressed her back to the brick wall, trying to ground herself. The city sounds faded into the background - honking cars, distant voices - muffled by the storm and the roar in her ears.

What had he said?

A Lightbearer will awaken... the Dragon will rise to meet her...

It sounded like something out of a book. Something she would've rolled her eyes at in college. But she'd seen that fire. Felt the heat. And the way the runes lit up when she touched them - no trick could fake that.

A shiver ran through her.

Was it true? Had her mother... known?

She reached instinctively for the silver locket around her neck - a tiny thing shaped like a teardrop. Her mother's. The only piece she had left. She opened it, revealing the faded photo inside. Her mother's eyes - dark like hers. Kind.

"Who were you really?" she whispered.

A sudden clang startled her.

She looked up - just in time to see a flash of movement at the edge of the alley. A shadow slipping behind a dumpster. Too fast. Too fluid.

"Hello?" she called out.

No answer.

Another flicker - closer this time. And a hum, like static electricity thickening the air. Her umbrella twitched in her grip.

Aria's skin prickled. Every instinct screamed run.

She turned - and saw it.

A pair of glowing violet eyes in the dark. Watching her.

And then it lunged.

She screamed and ducked as a shape burst from the shadows - tall, humanoid, with skin like charred stone and claws like obsidian. It swiped at her, missing by inches as she stumbled backward. The umbrella fell. Her bag hit the ground.

The creature hissed, teeth bared.

Aria scrambled back, heart hammering, hand reaching blindly-

Her fingers closed around something.

The locket.

And then -

Light.

A burst of blinding silver shot from her palm, slamming into the creature with a crack like thunder. It shrieked and flew backward, crashing into the far wall. Smoke hissed from its skin.

Aria stared at her hand.

A faint glow still pulsed from her palm - soft and silver, like moonlight.

"What... the hell..."

The creature snarled, staggering to its feet.

But before it could lunge again, a wave of golden fire tore through the alley.

Aria threw her arm up against the heat. The creature shrieked - and vanished into ash.

The fire vanished.

And standing at the mouth of the alley, drenched and furious, was Darian Vale.

His golden eyes glowed in the storm.

"You weren't supposed to be attacked this soon," he said, voice low and tight. "Damn it."

Aria stared at him. "You followed me?"

"I watched you. There's a difference."

She shook her head. "What was that thing?"

"A shadowspawn. Sent to test your power. Or kill you before it fully wakes."

Aria's knees buckled. Darian was at her side in an instant, catching her.

"I've got you," he said, softer now.

"I lit up," she whispered. "Like... like a flashlight on steroids."

"I told you," he said, brushing wet hair from her face. "It's waking."

"I didn't mean to- I didn't even try-"

"Instinct," he said. "It knows how to protect you even if you don't."

She looked up at him, the fear slowly melting into something else. Resolve.

"I need answers," she said. "No more riddles. No more cryptic half-truths. If I'm really in the middle of something... ancient and deadly... I deserve to know everything."

Darian studied her for a moment - and nodded.

"Then come with me."

"To where?"

He looked up at the sky. The storm rolled above them, lightning cracking behind the skyline.

"To the one place that can tell you who you truly are."

Aria's mind was still reeling from the attack. The creature's violet eyes - the cold, venomous hiss of its breath as it lunged at her. The way her body had reacted. How she had felt the power within her, like a roaring river breaking free from a dam.

She wasn't just afraid. She was shaken.

The feeling lingered in the air between them, crackling like the storm overhead.

Darian's grip was gentle, but firm as he helped her to her feet. "You're still in shock," he said, his voice low. "Let's get out of here."

She shook her head, brushing herself off, though her hands still trembled. "No. I need to understand what just happened."

"We'll talk soon," Darian said, his expression unreadable. "But right now, you need to get somewhere safe."

He started walking, not waiting for her reply, his strides long and purposeful. The rain drenched him, but it didn't seem to touch his skin. It only slid off, as though he were made of something more than flesh and bone.

Aria followed him, more out of instinct than reason, still processing what she'd seen. The alley was quiet now. The remnants of the shadowspawn had disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence. Had it even been real?

"I'm not going with you," she said suddenly, her voice firm, though she still wasn't sure of anything.

Darian stopped, turned slowly, and looked at her with those impossibly intense golden eyes. For a moment, he said nothing. Just studied her as though he were weighing her very soul.

"You don't have a choice, Aria," he said quietly. "The world is changing. You felt it tonight. And there are those who won't stop hunting you until they have what's inside you."

Inside her.

She looked down at her hand, the faint shimmer still glowing along her fingertips.

"What are you talking about?" Her voice wavered, betraying the fear she was trying to keep buried. "I don't even know what this is. Why me? Why now?"

Darian stepped closer, his eyes never leaving hers. He seemed to tower over her, despite his calm demeanor. "Because of your bloodline. Your mother's bloodline. It's ancient, Aria. And it's powerful. You've inherited more than just her looks."

Aria felt a chill at his words. Her mother. The woman she barely remembered, whose memory felt more like a dream than reality. She hadn't known much about her - only that she had been beautiful, strong, and tragically lost to an illness when Aria was still a baby. Her father had never spoken of her past, and no one in her family ever seemed to want to share details about her mother's life.

"You're telling me that my mother..." She trailed off, not wanting to hear the words, but needing to know. "She was... like you?"

Darian nodded, his expression serious. "She was one of the last true Lightbearers. A rare, almost mythical kind of being. And you are her legacy."

She blinked. "A Lightbearer? That's some kind of fairy tale, right?"

Darian shook his head, his voice becoming more intense. "It's not a fairy tale. It's real. Your power, Aria, has been dormant for years. But tonight... you awakened it."

The weight of his words sank deep into her chest. She felt the blood drain from her face. "That thing... the shadowspawn. It came for me. Because of this power?"

"Yes," he said. "And it won't be the last. There are others who will seek you out. Those who want to control you. Use you. And worse."

Aria took a step back, her mind swimming with his words. Everything was spinning - the shadowspawn, the fire in Darian's hands, the way the locket had reacted to her touch. She wanted to say something - to tell him that she didn't believe him, that it couldn't be true, that this was all some strange dream. But her gut told her otherwise. The magic felt real. The danger was real.

"Then why didn't you just tell me all this before?" Aria demanded, her voice rising. "Why let me walk into that building without knowing what I was dealing with?"

Darian's gaze softened for just a moment, and something flickered in his eyes - regret? Pain? "Because it was never supposed to happen this way. You were supposed to be protected. Hidden. But once you touched that book..." He shook his head. "There's no turning back now."

Aria swallowed hard. "What does that mean? What happens now?"

Darian gave a sigh, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Now, you come with me. I'll take you to the only place that can help you understand who you are and what's happening. You're not ready for this fight alone."

"You're not going to let me go, are you?"

He gave her a rueful smile. "You're not ready to leave."

Aria stared at him, trying to make sense of everything. She had questions - so many questions. But one thing was clear. She didn't have a choice. Not anymore.

"Fine," she said, her voice steady, though her mind was still racing. "Take me wherever it is you're taking me."

Darian's smile widened. "Good choice."

He reached for her hand, a gesture she had already grown used to - firm but gentle. And this time, when he touched her, the warmth that spread through her palm was like a fire that ignited in her chest.

This was no longer a decision about just a job. It was a step into a world she had never known - a world she wasn't sure she was ready for.

But one thing was certain: Aria Monroe was no longer just an ordinary woman.

She was something much, much more.