POV: Selene
...
There was something wrong with the Crucible that day.
Even before the door hissed open, Selene felt it..like a low vibration in her ribs, a hush in her bones. The air was thick, charged, like a storm waiting to detonate.
Pix's voice came through the speaker. "Unit Seven. Step in."
Selene didn't hesitate. She never did.
But that didn't mean her fingers weren't shaking.
The Crucible recognized her immediately.
The lights dimmed. The floor shimmered, shifting from metal to a black-glass surface that reflected nothing. Not even her.
A single orb of light hovered overhead.
Pix's voice returned, colder.
"Begin mental calibration."
She took a breath.
Closed her eyes.
And stepped into the dark.
...…..
Time is a funny thing.
She was somewhere else.
Nowhere she knew.
And everywhere she remembered.
The sky was split in half..one side burning, the other silent as snow.
Below, a city of ruins. Dead towers. Collapsed stars. Blood in the rivers.
At the center: a boy.
On his knees. Hands clutching his chest.
Dae.
No doubt. Even here. Even like this.
He looked… older. Taller.
Eyes empty. Face cracked with light.
The ring on his hand was no longer Kairoth.
It was something more. Something awakened.
And around him…
Chaos.
Thousands of silhouettes fought in the distance..cloaked, crawling, flying, burning. Monsters? Soldiers? Gods?
She couldn't tell.
All she could hear was his voice, hoarse, broken.
"I didn't ask for any of this…"
And something answered.
A voice. not human. Not kind.
"But you were chosen. The moment you were forgotten."
...…
Selene stumbled back, gasping. The illusion shattered for a second, but then rebuilt itself, faster this time.
Now she stood inside a memory.
Not hers.
His.
A small room.
Flickering ceiling fan.
A boy, curled up on a narrow bed, staring at a phone that no longer buzzed.
He looked younger. Scared. So damn alone.
On the screen, a deleted contact. A blank chat thread.
Selene moved closer, her throat tight.
He couldn't see her.
But she saw everything.
The phone blinked out.
And Dae whispered one word.
"An…"
The way he said it. soft, crumbling..felt like grief in syllables.
Selene turned away. It felt wrong to watch.
It felt worse not to.
...…
The Crucible wasn't testing her combat today.
It was doing something crueler.
It was showing her why she couldn't afford to care.
Because the more she cared, the more it hurt.
Another flash.
She stood in the arena again, present day. Watching.
Dae stood a few meters ahead, facing an instructor bot. His shoulders tense. His eyes locked.
He attacked. Too slow.
The bot struck back. Too fast.
He stumbled.
And she wanted to run to him.
Wanted to shout his name, throw herself between him and harm like it would change something.
But she didn't.
She never did.
She just stood there.
Three seconds too long.
...…..
The Crucible morphed again.
This time… stars.
Endless, burning stars.
Selene stood on nothing, surrounded by light and ash. Her body felt weightless, like a memory drifting between galaxies.
And in front of her…
A throne.
Made of bone. And flame.
Cracked down the middle.
Seated on it… Dae.
Or a version of him. His skin glowing with scars of light, his eyes pools of pure gold. The ring on his hand blazed like a miniature sun.
But his face?
Still lonely.
Still Dae.
She stepped closer, reaching a hand…
He looked up.
"Do you think you can stop what's coming?" he asked.
Selene swallowed. "I don't want to stop it. I just…"
He interrupted.
"Then run."
And suddenly…
He wasn't there.
Just the ring.
Spinning midair.
Whispering.
Not in words.
In prophecy.
The boy with the ring will burn or bind the stars.
One path ends in ruin. The other… in chains.
He will be remembered only by those who should have forgotten.
The words sliced through her mind.
The Crucible spat her out like a swallowed breath.
...…
She collapsed onto the arena floor.
Drenched in sweat.
Hands trembling.
Her roommates were already waiting. Noor handed her a towel wordlessly. Lune just raised a brow. "Spicy vision?"
Selene didn't speak.
She couldn't.
Because her heart was still racing and her head was still echoing those impossible words.
The boy with the ring.
Dae.
That's why she couldn't get away from him.
That's why he felt like a glitch in her timeline.
That's why even when she wanted to stay distant, her soul kept circling him like a moth around a cursed flame.
"Selene?" Noor said softly. "You okay?"
She nodded once. "Yeah. Just…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Just thought it:
I saw too much.
....
That night, she wrote it down.
In the back of her journal.
Words she didn't understand.
A prophecy with no author.
A warning with no date.
She underlined the same line three times:
He will burn or bind the stars.
Then she closed the book.
And whispered into her pillow.
"Please don't burn."
...…..
To be continued in Chapter 21 – "The Dorm Girl Diaries"
(Gossip, whispers, missed chances… and a hand almost held.)