### Chapter 1: Fractured Shadows
Kael Voss had always been the kind of guy who blended into the background, a shadow in a world of spotlights. At twenty-two, he was midway through his computer science degree at the University of Washington in Seattle, living in a cramped off-campus apartment that smelled faintly of instant ramen and stale coffee. His days blurred into a predictable rhythm: wake up to the blare of his alarm at 7 a.m., chug a black coffee while scrolling through code forums on his laptop, attend lectures where he sat in the back row taking meticulous notes, then head to his part-time job at the campus library shelving books until closing. It wasn't glamorous, but it was safe. Structured. After losing his parents in a freak car accident five years ago-hydroplaning on a rainy highway, the police said-he'd learned to crave control. No surprises, no risks. Just lines of code that did exactly what you told them to.
But the shadows... they were the one thing he couldn't control. They'd haunted him since childhood, faint wisps at the corners of his vision, like smoke curling from an unseen fire. As a kid, he'd drawn them in his notebooks-dark tendrils twisting into shapes that almost looked like faces or symbols. His mom had called it an overactive imagination; his dad, a phase. Therapy after their death had labeled it anxiety manifestations. Kael had buried it deep, dismissing the episodes as migraines or tricks of the light. Lately, though, they'd grown bolder. During late-night coding sessions, they'd slither across his screen, distorting pixels into eerie patterns. In the shower, they'd coil around the drain like living ink. He told no one-not his roommate, Alex, a laid-back poli-sci major who spent weekends at parties Kael avoided, nor his few casual friends from class. Admitting it felt like inviting chaos into his carefully ordered life.
That fateful evening started like any other. It was a Thursday in late fall, the kind where Seattle's perpetual drizzle turned the city into a watercolor painting of grays and muted blues. Kael had just wrapped up his shift at the library, the clock ticking past 10 p.m. His backpack was heavy with textbooks and a half-eaten protein bar, and he zipped up his worn black hoodie against the chill. "Night, Kael," called out Maria, the elderly librarian who always slipped him extra shifts. "Stay dry out there."
"Yeah, you too," he replied with a half-smile, pushing through the glass doors into the night. The campus was quiet, streetlamps casting hazy glows through the mist. He plugged in his earbuds, queuing up his usual playlist of lo-fi beats to drown out the world. As he walked the familiar path toward his apartment-cutting through the quad, past the fountain that gurgled like a distant whisper-his mind wandered to the upcoming finals. He needed an A in Algorithms to keep his GPA afloat for that internship at TechNova next summer. Stability. That's what mattered.
The shadows stirred then, subtle at first. A flicker in his peripheral vision, like a curtain rustling in a breeze that wasn't there. Kael paused under a lamppost, rubbing his eyes. "Not now," he muttered, shaking his head. But they persisted, pooling at his feet like spilled oil, stretching toward the alley shortcut he always took. His pulse quickened-a prickling unease crawling up his spine. He glanced around, but the quad was empty, save for the rain-slicked paths and the occasional distant laugh from a dorm window. Swallowing hard, he pressed on, telling himself it was nothing. Just his mind playing tricks again.
He veered into the alley, a narrow strip between brick buildings lined with overflowing dumpsters and graffiti-tagged walls. The rain picked up, pattering against his hood like impatient fingers. The shadows deepened here, the alley's single flickering bulb casting long, distorted silhouettes that seemed to move independently. Kael's footsteps echoed too loudly, his breath coming in shallow bursts. The whispers returned-faint at first, like wind through cracks: *Eclipse... closer... bond...* He froze mid-step, yanking out an earbud. "Who's there?" His voice cracked, echoing back mockingly. Silence, broken only by the drip-drip of water from a gutter. Heart hammering, he scanned the darkness. Nothing. But the shadows writhed, inching closer, brushing his ankles like cold fingers.
"Get it together," he whispered, forcing himself forward. The end of the alley loomed, the intersection's lights a beacon of normalcy. But the whispers grew louder, insistent: *Home... awaken...* A chill wind gusted from nowhere, carrying the metallic tang of ozone. Kael broke into a jog, backpack thumping against his back. He burst out onto Pine Street, gasping, the crosswalk light blinking green. Cars whooshed by in the adjacent lanes, their tires hissing on wet pavement. He stepped out, earbuds still half-in, music a faint anchor to reality.
Then, from the shadows of the side street, headlights flared-twin beams cutting through the rain like predatory eyes. A black SUV, sleek and anonymous with tinted windows, idled at the edge of the intersection. Kael's instincts screamed *wrong*-the vehicle wasn't moving with traffic; it was waiting. Watching. The light was green for him, red for them. He hesitated, one foot in the crosswalk, shadows now surging around him like a storm cloud.
The engine revved-a low, menacing growl. Time fractured. Kael's mind raced: *Run. Back. Now.* But his body lagged, frozen in the glare. The SUV lurched forward, accelerating through the red light with deliberate precision. No swerve, no brake lights. It was aimed at him. Shadows exploded from Kael's hands in a panic-dark tendrils lashing out instinctively, as if to ward off the inevitable. "No-" The word tore from his throat.
Impact. Metal crushed into flesh with a deafening crunch. Pain detonated-ribs splintering, breath exploding out in a ragged cry. He was airborne for a split second, world spinning in a blur of rain and lights, then slammed onto the asphalt. Skull cracked against pavement; vision shattered into stars and crimson haze. Blood filled his mouth, warm and coppery, mixing with rainwater pooling around him.
Agony pinned him down, every nerve screaming. He gasped, trying to roll, to crawl-anything-but his limbs were leaden, unresponsive. Onlookers' voices pierced the fog: "Jesus, call an ambulance!" "Did you see that? It didn't stop!" The SUV's taillights vanished into the night, engine fading like a predator sated.
Shadows enveloped him now, not as tormentors but as a cocoon, whispering clearer: *The eclipse calls you home. Your blood awakens the bond.* A fleeting vision assaulted him-twin moons, crimson eyes piercing his soul, a pull like gravity. Then, the world faded, darkness claiming him in a final, suffocating embrace.
Death wasn't the end Kael expected. No white light, no tunnel, no reunion with his parents. Instead, he awoke with a jolt, gasping for air that tasted electric, charged with ozone and unfamiliar spices. His body ached, but the injuries were gone-vanished as if the accident had been a nightmare. He lay on soft, luminescent moss, the ground pulsing faintly beneath him like a living heartbeat.
Sitting up slowly, he took in his surroundings. The sky above was a velvet expanse dotted with constellations he didn't recognize, dominated by two moons: one full and silvery, the other partially shrouded in an eerie eclipse. Towering trees with leaves that shimmered like jewels framed a pathway leading to grand spires in the distance-structures that looked like a fusion of Gothic cathedrals and futuristic skyscrapers, etched with glowing runes.
"What the fuck..." Kael whispered, his voice echoing oddly. He patted himself down: hoodie intact, no blood, no bruises. But his wrist burned-a fresh tattoo there, an eclipsed moon encircled by writhing shadows, fading even as he watched. Panic bubbled up. Was this a hallucination? Coma dream? Afterlife?
Footsteps approached, light and purposeful. Kael tensed as a young woman emerged from the trees-mid-twenties, with wild auburn curls tied back in a messy bun, wearing a flowing robe embroidered with arcane symbols. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and a faint glow emanated from a pendant around her neck.
"Well, hello there, newbie," she said with a grin, tilting her head. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or become one. I'm Lirael Ember-Lira to friends. Welcome to Arcane University. Rough portal crossing?"
Kael blinked, mind reeling. "Portal? University? Where... what is this place?"
Lira's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, stars, you're one of those. Fresh from the veil, huh? This is Elyria, dummy. The realm of magic and all that jazz. If you're here, you must have some spark in you. Come on, let's get you oriented before the guardians sniff you out."
As she helped him to his feet, Kael's world tilted anew. Elyria. Magic. The shadows inside him stirred, eager now, as if finally home. But in the distance, those crimson eyes from his vision watched from the shadows-Riven Thorne, sensing the arrival of the one who would upend everything.
Little did Kael know, his death on Earth was no accident. It was the beginning of a bond that would eclipse them both.
Written by goddesslove950