Read a Sample Chapter
Sleep had become impossible. Selen lay in her bed, watching shadows dance across the ceiling as car headlights swept past her window, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw his face—those starlight eyes searching for her through the mirror’s surface, lips forming words that echoed in her bones: Soon.
By 4 AM, she gave up pretending rest would come. She made coffee with hands that trembled only slightly and sat by her window, watching the pre-dawn world emerge in shades of gray and amber. The ordinary city looked different now that she knew it was full of walking tapestries of light and shadow, people carrying their souls on the outside where anyone with the right kind of vision could read them like books.
Anyone like her.
What am I becoming?
The question had been circling her mind for hours, a prayer without an answer.
She walked to work feeling as if she’d stepped into a lucid dream. Every reflective surface felt charged with possibility—windows, chrome, puddles left by the rain. She avoided them instinctively, not ready for the visions they might reveal.
But she couldn’t avoid the world forever.
Moonbeam Café was quiet in the early morning lull. Marcus had called in sick, leaving her alone with the comforting ritual of opening the shop. But today, even the simple tasks felt like pretending to be someone she no longer was.
The first customer was a woman Selen had never seen before—tall, elegant, silver hair pulled back in a severe bun. When Selen turned to the espresso machine, she froze.
The woman’s reflection in the polished metal shimmered with threads of deep violet light, moving with deliberate purpose—nothing like the soft emotional auras Selen had been seeing for days. This energy was structured. Ancient. Intelligent.
And it was looking directly at her.
“You’re beginning to see,” the woman said quietly.
“What?” Selen whispered.
“The awakening. It’s happening faster than expected.”
Selen’s heart pounded. “What’s happening to me?”
But the woman didn’t answer. She only murmured one warning before disappearing into the city:
“Trust your instincts, but not your heart.”
Hours later, Selen understood why.
She felt him before she saw him.
Warmth bloomed in her chest—the same impossible sensation she’d felt in her dream of the crystal city. The café lights dimmed and shifted, reality bending around the arrival of someone who didn’t belong to this world and yet felt more familiar than anyone she had ever known.
When she turned, time stopped.
He stood framed in the doorway—dark hair kissed with starlight, eyes holding centuries, presence humming with otherworldly power.
Their eyes met.
Recognition slammed into her like a memory returning all at once.
It wasn’t just meeting someone.
It was remembering someone.
Golden threads of light shimmered between them, delicate and alive.
“Selen,” he said, her name a promise and a plea.
“You’re real,” she breathed.
But before she could speak again, the world began to darken.
Shadows crawled along the windows, draining the light.
“They’ve found you,” he whispered. “We need to leave. Now.”
She hesitated only a moment—just long enough to feel her fear and recognize that something deeper was stronger than fear.
She grabbed his hand.
And the world dissolved.