⚔️ The Battlefield – 1916
The air reeked of blood and burning metal.
Mud clung to boots like chains, swallowing every step with a sickening squelch. Cannons thundered, shattering the ground with each deafening strike. Shouts of orders and screams of the dying tangled into one endless roar.
The trenches were not protection anymore. They were graves—waiting, yawning, patient.
Above, the sky had no color. Only black smoke, rolling fire, and the dull red glow of a sun that could no longer be seen.
War was not a battle. It was Hell wearing the mask of glory.
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⚔️ Hitler's POV
My fingers curled tighter around my rifle, though I barely felt it anymore. My hands were blistered, skin split open. My throat burned from smoke.
Every sound bled into one—the constant shriek of metal, the cries of comrades, the distant thunder of death approaching.
And then—
A blast unlike any before.
A roar that seemed to rip the very air apart.
The earth lifted beneath me, throwing me into the storm. My ears rang, my lungs collapsed, smoke swallowing me whole.
I should have died.
But when I opened my eyes, I did not see death.
The battlefield was gone.
No mud. No trenches. No blood.
Instead—blinding lights burned against the dark sky. Glass towers stretched so high they seemed to pierce the heavens. Monstrous carriages without horses screamed across black roads. Strange symbols glowed in bright colors I didn't recognize.
I lay on cold pavement, chest heaving, heart racing in disbelief.
"What… is this?" My voice was broken, hoarse, almost unrecognizable.
And then—her.
A girl.
Alone, walking through the neon rain. Her shoulders were slumped, her small frame weighed down by something invisible. Her hair clung to her cheeks, damp under the glow of the lights.
But it was her eyes that struck me—dark, hollow, yet unwavering.
For a moment, the noise of cannons left me.
For a moment, war forgot my name.
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🌑 Anaya's POV
The city always looked beautiful at night.
Glowing signs. Neon lights painting the rain in colors. But beauty was a cruel mask. Beneath it, silence waited for me like an old friend.
My shift at the café was over, but exhaustion still dragged me down. My grandmother would've been waiting at home with warm tea. My parents would've laughed at the way my hair stuck to my face.
But none of them were here.
They never would be again.
The scholarship email buzzed in my phone. I shoved it into my pocket. What was the point of a scholarship if my heart was already bankrupt?
Maybe it was the Alexmethiya.
Maybe it was me.
Either way, feelings never came when I wanted them to.
I pulled my jacket tighter as the drizzle grew heavier. That's when I saw him.
Collapsed on the ground.
His uniform was torn, soaked in mud and blood. His face—sharp, foreign, dangerous—looked like it had crawled out of another time. His chest rose and fell in harsh gasps, as if breathing itself was a war.
And then his eyes locked on mine.
Wild. Desperate. Starving.
I froze.
Every instinct screamed run. But my feet stayed rooted.
And deep inside, where silence usually reigned… I felt something.
Something I couldn't name.
Something I didn't want.
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🐾 Azul's POV
I had closed the café hours ago, but I never truly left.
The city was mine to watch, mine to guard. Its shadows whispered secrets, and tonight… they screamed.
From my window, I saw her.
Anaya.
My waitress. My broken bird. She thought no one noticed the way her hands trembled when she believed she was alone. She thought her silence made her invisible.
But I saw her. Always.
And tonight, she wasn't alone.
My gaze shifted to him.
A stranger sprawled across the pavement—dirt, blood, and something… ancient. His scent was wrong. Not human. Not beast. Something torn from time itself.
His eyes burned into her like a starving predator finding its prey.
And I hated it.
The city wasn't big enough for two predators.
And Anaya… she didn't know yet.
But she was mine.
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✨ End of Chapter 1