Aurin was stunned. The man’s gaze genuinely frightened her. How could it not? Someone who had acted like a normal customer these past few weeks suddenly—without warning—dragged her into a room and said something she couldn’t even begin to understand. Everything happened so fast her mind could barely keep up.
“W-what do you mean? What are you talking about?” Aurin struggled to pull her wrist free, but again she was shocked by the sheer strength in his grip. Raven’s hand clamped around her like iron shackles, unyielding. He wasn’t hurting her, not physically, but the way he held her was something she couldn’t justify. Something was wrong—terribly wrong—and her instincts screamed it.
Her emotions surged, snapping like a wire pulled too tight. Something inside her rushed upward, hot and uncontrollable, flooding her veins with a fury she didn’t recognize. Her body felt like it was burning from the inside out. “Let go…” Her voice was faint—barely more than a whisper—yet sharp enough to make Raven instantly release her.
His face drained of color. He staggered back, eyes wide as if witnessing something impossible. Aurin saw the fear in him, saw the way he stared.
And then she felt it—her vision shifting. The reflection in the glass of the cabinet beside them flickered.
Her brown eyes had shifted into a glowing silver.
Her skin felt feverishly hot, as if flames were licking beneath the surface.
“Oh no. I’m sorry. Aurin, please—please get a hold of yourself, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry…” Raven stammered. He tried to step closer, but this time didn’t dare touch her. His hands hovered in the air, trembling, as though one wrong move might make her explode.
But before he could say anything else, Aurin had already turned away. She couldn’t stay in that room another second.
She ran toward the restroom, her legs shaky beneath her. Her chest tightened, every breath scraping like sandpaper. The heat consuming her body made it nearly impossible to fill her lungs. When she finally reached the sink, she braced herself and bowed her head, fighting for air that seemed to slip right through her grasp.
It took a long while before her breathing steadied. She slid down the wall, her strength draining out of her until she was sitting on the cold tile floor.
“Hah… ha… what’s happening to me? Why do I feel like this when I’m angry? I’ve never—ever—experienced anything like this… I need to see a doctor…” she whispered to herself, rubbing her temple as the throbbing in her head refused to fade.
When she stepped back out, Raven was gone. Maybe she should’ve been relieved that the unsettling man was no longer around. But his words lingered. That fear in his voice… it was real.
Who was he talking about?
Was it the man who saved her that night?
He didn’t do anything except help her. Why would Raven be afraid of him? What was she supposed to be “wary” of?
The questions followed her all the way home. That night, Aurin returned to her apartment, trying to shake off the uneasiness clinging to her like a shadow.
Eventually, exhaustion pulled her under into a deep, heavy sleep.
---
She stood in the middle of a burning forest. Charred pine trunks rose like the ribs of some enormous beast, and the heat was so intense her hair stuck to her temples. Smoke twisted through the air, moving like a creature trying to swallow the sky. Amid the chaos, two massive figures circled each other.
Two giant wolves.
One was pitch black, with eyes sharp as forged steel; the other was white-silver, its fur shimmering like shards of moonlight. Their breaths came out in thick clouds, carrying the scent of blood and earth. They growled—a deep, rumbling sound that made the ground tremble beneath Aurin’s feet.
Her body wanted to run, but her legs were rooted in place.
The black wolf lunged first. Its powerful body slammed into the white wolf, sending both of them crashing into the dirt. They tore at each other with claws and fangs, ripping and striking as if something far greater than victory hung in the balance. The fire cast their shadows across the clearing, making the fight look like an ancient ritual being reenacted.
Aurin wanted to scream.
But her voice caught in her throat when the scene slowed—and the black wolf managed to overpower the white one, pinning it to the ground.
Then… the world burst into light.
Both bodies began to glow.
The white wolf shifted first. Its fur dissolved into a silhouette—a tall man with messy dark hair and stormy silver eyes that seemed too deep, too knowing. His skin was streaked with blood, but his gaze still burned with a fierce fire.
Raven.
Aurin didn’t know him. Yet in the dream, his name rested on her tongue as if it had always belonged there.
The black wolf followed. Its form melted into a broad-shouldered man with a sharp jaw and eyes as cold as sharpened steel. His blue-gold irises glowed like embers refusing to die out.
Kael.
Neither of them looked at Aurin—until suddenly her body appeared lying between them. She saw herself, or rather… another version of herself. Pale skin, hair glowing like scattered light, and a soft luminescence radiating from her as if she was sculpted from moonlight itself.
The Moon Spirit.
The words rose in her mind even though no one had spoken them.
“This is the only way,” Kael—his dream self—whispered. His voice was low, rough, carrying a weight that tasted like old guilt.
He pulled a silver dagger from his belt.
Raven let out a furious snarl, but he could barely stand. He reached for Aurin but collapsed, blood trailing down his arm.
Aurin wanted to scream, to move, to grab Kael’s wrist, but her body was locked inside the nightmare.
Kael looked down at the other Aurin one last time. Something flickered in his eyes—loss, love, and a sorrow that had rotted there for years.
Then he drove the dagger into her chest.
The pain hit Aurin—that dream again—just like a shockwave. Her breath ripped away, her entire body convulsing as though her heart had been crushed from the inside.
And she—woke up.
Aksara