Chapter 2: The Queen in the Shadows
The city of Kanpur was quiet at dawn. The streets, usually buzzing with impatient cars and shouting vendors, lay hushed beneath a pale orange sky. But Sahil Raj didn't notice the silence, or the sunrise.
He hadn't slept.
Not a second.
He sat cross-legged in his backyard shed, surrounded by open books, loose pages, and a growing pile of half-burned paper. The red fire that had danced in his hand last night? It wasn't a dream.
He could still summon it.
And now he could control it.
Every time he whispered those strange symbols from the pages of his old notebook, something answered—a warmth behind his ribcage, like a living ember. The fire would rise, flicker between his fingers, sometimes blue, sometimes red. It never burned him, no matter how close it came to his skin.
And that wasn't all.
His vision had changed. He could now read old Sanskrit scripts he had never studied. He could hear conversations from blocks away. Once, when he concentrated, he saw the faint outline of a crow flying overhead—its skeleton, glowing against the sky.
He should have been afraid.
But instead, Sahil felt something he hadn't felt in years.
Power.
Not the kind that bullies used in hallways, or politicians in parliament. This was different. Ancient. Alive.
And it wanted something from him.
A Visitor in the Mirror
At around six in the morning, when the city began to stir, Sahil stood up and looked at his reflection again. His crimson-tinted eyes had faded to brown in daylight, but he could still see the glow beneath, faint like embers under ash.
He splashed water on his face and turned to leave the shed.
Then stopped.
Someone was standing behind him—in the reflection.
A woman.
Tall, impossibly pale, with black lips, blood-red eyes, and a crown of shadow woven into her long hair. She wore an ancient gown, flowing like mist. She didn't blink. She didn't breathe.
Sahil spun around.
There was no one there.
He turned back to the glass.
The woman was gone.
A Queen's Awakening
Far across the dimensional veil, in the hidden world of Velmoria, the Vampire Queen stood beneath a dying moon.
Her throne room was lit with floating candles. Crimson flowers bloomed unnaturally along the black stone walls, feeding off shadow and blood. Servants watched from the edges, too afraid to speak.
Queen Seraphina Drakora was not a creature of mercy. She had ruled the Crimson Dominion for over seven hundred years, her presence enough to silence armies and make mountains weep.
But tonight, her silence was deeper than usual.
She had felt it.
The spark.
The awakening.
"The prophecy has begun," whispered her seer, a bent old vampire with blind eyes. "The Heart-Bearer is reborn in the world of men."
Seraphina nodded slowly.
"So... it is Sahil Raj."
She said the name like she had known it forever. As if it was hers to speak. She walked to her sacred mirror—a floating pool of blood encased in ancient silver—and touched its surface.
For a moment, her hand vanished through it. Then the image cleared.
She saw the boy. In the shed. Surrounded by fire and fear.
"He doesn't know what he carries," Seraphina murmured.
The Heart-Bearer was no ordinary title. It belonged to the last descendant of a secret bloodline—one forged in love, magic, and tragedy. A line wiped out centuries ago in the war between realms.
Except… one child had survived.
Now he was a boy. Broken. Hunted. Alone.
And hers to protect—or destroy.
A Faint Whispers and Blood Signs
Back in Kanpur, Sahil sat in class that morning as if everything was normal.
But nothing was.
His senses were overwhelmed. He could hear the teacher's heartbeat. Smell the rust in the ceiling fan. Every time a classmate spoke, their words echoed strangely—like two voices at once: what they said… and what they meant.
He was different now.
And it was becoming impossible to hide.
When Rishi, his bully, passed him in the hallway and slammed a shoulder into him like always, Sahil didn't flinch.
He didn't even move.
But Rishi stumbled back like he'd hit a wall of glass. He looked shocked, even afraid.
"You freak," he spat.
Sahil said nothing. But this time, he didn't look away.
And for the first time… Rishi looked unsettled.
Anika Stirs
That evening, Sahil walked the long road to the hospital.
Anika hadn't moved in weeks. Machines beeped softly around her, the smell of antiseptic sharp in the air. Sahil sat beside her, holding her hand.
"Didi," he whispered, "I don't know what's happening to me."
He told her everything. The fire. The symbols. The reflection. The glow.
He expected silence.
But then—her fingers twitched.
He froze.
"Didi?" he whispered, leaning close. "Do it again."
Nothing.
Then… a breath.
Shallow. Barely noticeable. But different. Real.
Anika stirred.
And as she did, the hospital lights flickered.
Sahil looked around.
Nurses rushed past in panic. Phones stopped working. Lights went off. A scream echoed from the hallway.
Then a voice spoke in Sahil's head—cold and regal.
"You're not alone anymore, Sahil Raj."
A Portal Opens
In a hidden forest outside the city, deep within a cave no mortal had entered for a thousand years, the stones began to glow. A circle of ancient runes shimmered to life on the ground.
Queen Seraphina stepped through the gate, her gown flowing behind her like smoke caught in moonlight. The air around her froze. Trees bent in submission.
She had crossed into the mortal realm.
And she had only one goal.
To find Sahil Raj.
And decide—whether he was the world's salvation…
…or its doom.