AUTHOR:CrimsonQuill793
Chapter 3:
The force of it slammed through her bones, knocking the breath clean out of her lungs. She didn't even register the rough, unyielding stone beneath her until her stomach lurched violently. A retch tore out of her throat, her body rejecting the impossible shift it had just been forced through. Bile stung her tongue as she rolled onto her back, blinking up at a sky that didn't belong to her.
The ceiling wasn't plaster or wood—it was ancient. Vaulted. Etched with carvings that pulsed faintly with silver light, like they were breathing. A cold breeze ghosted through the air, bringing with it the scent of damp earth and burning embers. The air was dense here, not heavy in a physical way, but weighted—charged with something she could feel in her bones.
Seraphina groaned and propped herself up on her elbows, the world still spinning around her. "What the hell just happened?"
A shadow shifted. Lucian knelt beside her, his silver eyes scanning her face with a kind of quiet focus that made her skin crawl. "We made it," he said. His voice was low, unreadable. "For now."
She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, the sour taste lingering. Every nerve in her body screamed, but it was her mind that couldn't make sense of anything. The cold stone beneath her was too solid. Too real. Everything else felt warped, wrong.
She pushed to her feet, legs trembling. "Where—" Her voice cracked. She swallowed hard. "Where the hell are we? And what the hell is going on?"
Lucian stood with unnatural ease. "Not where," he said, nodding toward the massive iron doors at the far end of the chamber. "When."
Her stomach clenched. "No." She shook her head. "That's not—this can't be. Time travel isn't real."
Lucian didn't even blink. "Then explain how you got here." He leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest, like he had all the time in the world.
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Nothing came.
Last she remembered, the shadows were closing in. Swallowing her. Then—this. A massive stone chamber lit by flickering torches. Carvings everywhere, full of creatures with too many limbs and glowing eyes. Human and not.
A chill crawled up her spine. "You did something to me," she whispered, stepping back.
Lucian exhaled, slow and even. "I saved you. If I hadn't pulled you through the Veil, you'd be dead."
"The Veil?" The words felt foreign on her tongue. Like something pulled out of a storybook. "So, what—some shadow monsters were about to eat me, and now I'm... what? Just dropped into another place?"
"Not another place," Lucian corrected. "Another time."
She let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Right. Sure. I just tumbled through time. Like I'm in some low-budget sci-fi show."
Lucian pushed off the wall. "It doesn't matter if you believe it. You're here."
She threw up her hands. "That's not an answer! Where the hell is here, Lucian? What even is this place?"
His silver gaze darkened. "The Midnight Kingdom."
She stared at him. "You're kidding. That sounds like a rejected fantasy novel title."
Lucian didn't smile. "You're standing in it."
She turned in place, slowly. Taking in the ancient carvings. The flickering torchlight. The door that felt more like a gate to another world. The air practically hummed with something watching her.
"You really expect me to believe we've gone back in time?"
"Yes."
Her voice dropped. "How far?"
Lucian paused—just a breath too long. "Four hundred years."
The world tipped sideways.
Seraphina inhaled sharply, forcing herself to keep it together. She wasn't the type to panic. But this? This wasn't just bending logic. It broke it.
"Four hundred years," she echoed, almost to herself. Her mind scrambled, searching for a foothold. There was none.
Lucian said nothing.
She straightened, folding her arms tight across her chest. "Then prove it."
His brow lifted slightly. "Prove it?"
"Yes. Show me something impossible. Something that doesn't belong in my time."
He reached into his coat.
When the dagger appeared, the air around them stilled.
The blade was obsidian black, almost too dark. It gleamed as if it absorbed light rather than reflected it. Silver runes shimmered along its surface, shifting like they were alive.
Seraphina's breath hitched. Her heart skipped.
She'd seen it.
In dreams. In nightmares. Always calling to her. Always whispering her name.
"That's…" Her voice caught. "That's not normal."
Lucian held the dagger up to the light. "No. It's not."
She stepped in, drawn despite herself. "What do the markings mean?"
He looked her in the eye. "They spell your name."
A shiver ran through her. Deep. Bone-deep.
She tore her eyes away. "This isn't any language I know. Not Latin. Not Norse. Not even Sumerian."
Lucian's lips twitched, barely. "That's because it's older."
"Older than civilization?"
He nodded. "Older than anything we've recorded."
She stared at the runes. They shimmered and shifted again, rearranging—as if they were aware of her.
"It feels… alive."
Lucian didn't answer immediately. He watched her like he was waiting for something.
"They react to bloodlines," he finally said. "Essence. That's why they respond to me. But when you touch it…"
He offered her the blade.
She hesitated. The air around it crackled. Her fingers tingled.
Then she wrapped her hand around the hilt.
The dagger pulsed. Like a heartbeat.
The runes flared bright, hot. The blade warmed under her grip like it recognized her.
She gasped.
A flash—
Rain. Silver and endless. Lucian, on his knees, bleeding. Shadows swarming at his back.
"I can't hold it much longer," he rasped.
"I don't want to," she whispered. Her hands shook around the dagger. "If I seal it, you'll be less."
Lucian smiled. Quiet. Wrecked. "Then I'll still be yours."
She raised the blade.
He closed his eyes.
The runes blazed.
She pressed it to his chest.
Light poured out, wrapping him in glowing threads. Shadows screamed and scattered.
He collapsed. She caught him.
"I'll always find you. No matter where in time. I'm your guardian. And you… you're my world, Seraphina."
The memory cracked.
Seraphina staggered back, breath ragged, the dagger still in her hand.
Lucian caught her elbow.
"What did you see?"
She didn't answer.
But her grip on the blade tightened.
Lucian didn't press. He didn't need to. His eyes said it all.
He'd been waiting.
Four centuries.
And she was just starting to remember.
But this wasn't the moment for unraveling.
She steadied herself. Focused on the blade. The runes. The chill in the air.
Impossible didn't mean untrue.
Her gaze drifted to the iron doors. "What happens if I walk out?"
Lucian tensed. "If you're lucky? Nothing. If not…" He looked away. "Let's not roll those dice."
"Why? Who am I hiding from?"
He raked a hand through his hair. "They're not fully hunting you. Yet."
"Who?"
"The Umbramortis." The word left his lips like ash. "Shadow-born. They don't live—they feed. On erasure. On what's been lost."
Seraphina's chest tightened.
"They move through time's cracks. Find what doesn't belong. And you…" He met her eyes. "You're not just a thread in the tapestry. You're the origin point. The Timekeeper."
She went still.
"You weren't just hidden," Lucian continued. "You were sealed. Buried so deep even they couldn't find you."
His voice dropped lower. Rougher. "But the seal's breaking. And when you start remembering… they'll start watching."
"They already are," she whispered.
Lucian nodded. "Waiting. Because if they act too soon, before you're fully awakened… it could tear everything apart."
"Because if they erase me before my thread finishes," she said, more to herself now. "Time unravels."
Silence fell.
Her heart beat hard against her ribs.
"I'm not just being hunted," she whispered. "I'm the reason they exist."
Lucian's expression didn't shift. "It wasn't meant to comfort you."
She looked up. "And you? You just show up right as my seal starts cracking?"
He tilted his head, the corner of his mouth twitching—not a smile. A warning.
He stepped toward her. Heat in motion.
"They don't care if you have a life. Or family. Or people who love you."
Something flickered in his gaze.
"They care that you're here. And that you shouldn't be."
She swallowed, chin lifting. "That's funny. I'm not even sure you should exist."
Lucian laughed. Low and gravelly. "You're not the first to say that."
He was too calm. Too steady. That scared her more than anything.
"So what's your part in all this, Lucian?" Her voice was sharp now. "Protector? Kidnapper? Executioner?"
His smirk vanished.
What replaced it was quiet. Dangerous.
"That depends," he said softly. "On whether or not you plan to survive."