Water filled my lungs.
My body refused to move.
I was floating between life and death, and somewhere in that space, I heard a voice distant, soft, like a memory that refused to fade.
"Wake up, my lady. You still have promises left to keep."
I gasped and lurched upright, coughing water onto cold tiles.
Fluorescent lights blinded me. The faint hum of machines surrounded me.
I wasn't in the river anymore. I was in a hospital.
The nurse looked up from her clipboard, startled. "You're awake! You've been unconscious for nearly two days."
Two days.
Two days since the river. Since Elias. Since everything I thought I understood shattered.
She hurried to adjust my IV. "You were found near the riverbank, barely breathing. A man called the ambulance, but by the time they arrived, he was gone."
A man.
Silver eyes.
No name. No trace.
Elias.
My pulse quickened. "Did he say anything?"
The nurse shook her head. "Only that you shouldn't be alone."
I looked down at my hands trembling, pale, and marked with faint lines that glowed when the light hit just right. Not scars. Not normal. Like veins of silver light running under my skin.
When I blinked, I could still see flashes of that night.
The river glowing. The world bending.
And his voice calling me Ariselle.
Who was I now?
Aiden Vale, the twenty-year-old orphan barely scraping through life?
Or Lady Ariselle, the long-dead knight who defied gods for love?
Neither name felt real anymore.
I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to block the world out. But then something brushed my mind faint, electric, like someone whispering from far away.
"You shouldn't have come back."
I froze. The voice wasn't mine. It came from somewhere deep, within the magic that had awakened.
The door creaked open.
A man in a dark suit entered quietly, the kind of presence that made the air heavier. He wasn't Elias, but his gaze lingered on me with unnerving intent.
"Mr. Vale," he said, his tone smooth, professional. "I'm Dr. Kael Moran. I was asked to check on your condition."
"Doctor?" I repeated, my throat dry. "I didn't ask for one."
His smile didn't reach his eyes. "No. But someone did. A friend, perhaps?"
My heart stuttered. "Who?"
He ignored the question and started scribbling something on his tablet.
"You're quite lucky. The river you fell into isn't kind to survivors. Yet here you are, without a single bruise."
He looked up. "Tell me, Aiden. Do you believe in reincarnation?"
My blood went cold.
That wasn't a question a doctor should ask.
And the way he said it calm, curious, like he already knew the answer made my stomach twist.
Before I could respond, the light flickered. Just once. But in that instant, his shadow on the wall moved a second slower than his body.
He noticed my stare and smiled faintly. "You saw that, didn't you?"
I couldn't breathe.
"What are you?"
His pen clicked shut. "Someone who studies things that shouldn't exist."
He leaned closer, his voice lowering.
"And right now, Aiden Vale, that's you."
I tried to pull away, but Dr. Kael only smiled, his calmness more terrifying than rage.
"Relax," he said, jotting something down. "I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to confirm a theory."
"A theory?" I repeated, voice trembling.
He tilted his head. "About souls. You see, sometimes... when a soul refuses to rest, it looks for a vessel. But your case is peculiar. You weren't reborn. You replaced someone."
My breath caught in my throat. "That's impossible."
He watched me closely. "Then tell me, Aiden Vale, why does your cellular structure contain two distinct energy patterns? One human. One... ancient."
My chest tightened as the air around us shimmered faintly. The monitor beside the bed beeped erratically.
Dr. Kael leaned back, clearly pleased with my reaction.
"You felt that, didn't you? The magic. It's buried deep, but it's waking up."
"Who are you?" I whispered.
He tucked his tablet under his arm and smiled as if he enjoyed my fear.
"Let's just say I work for people who have been waiting for someone like you for a very long time."
The door opened again. A nurse peeked in, startled. "Doctor, we need you in ICU."
Kael nodded without looking away from me.
"Stay alive, Aiden Vale. You're more valuable than you think."
Then he was gone.
The silence that followed pressed on my chest like a weight. I glanced down at my hands again faint silver lines pulsing beneath the skin, brightening with every heartbeat.
I grabbed my jacket from the chair and pulled out the IV. I didn't care about the pain.
I had to leave. Now.
The hallway outside was empty.
Every step echoed, too loud, too hollow. The flickering lights hummed above me like insects trapped in glass.
I reached the exit door and froze.
He was there.
Leaning casually against the wall, dressed in black, silver eyes glinting beneath the dim light. Elias.
"You shouldn't be walking around yet," he said softly.
My anger spiked before I could stop it. "You disappeared! I almost died because of you!"
He didn't move closer, didn't apologize. Just looked at me with that same unreadable expression.
"If I hadn't left, you'd be dead for real."
"What do you mean?"
"There are people watching you now. People who know what you are."
I hesitated. "What I am?"
His jaw tightened. "A soul that shouldn't exist. The world already tried to erase you once. It'll try again."
The wind outside grew colder, howling against the glass doors. For a second, his reflection in the window flickered not human, but shadowed, something ancient and wounded.
Elias extended his hand toward me.
"Come with me, Aiden. I'll explain everything."
I stared at his hand. The warmth of it. The danger of it.
Part of me screamed to run. Another part whispered that I already belonged to him long before this lifetime began.
I took a single step forward.
And then the hospital lights exploded.
Glass rained down. A wave of invisible force threw me backward.
Through the smoke, I saw a figure standing at the far end of the corridor not Elias, not Kael but someone else entirely, cloaked in darkness.
Elias turned sharply, pulling me behind him. "They found us."
Before I could ask who, the world fractured into a thousand shards of light.
Everything went black.
To be continued...