Sera didn't understand why she felt so drawn to him. The man who had appeared out of nowhere, saving her from a fall she couldn't explain, was unlike anyone she had ever met. His presence felt like an enigma, a puzzle with pieces she didn't know how to fit together. As he moved away, his coat still wrapped around her shoulders, she tried to steady herself, still shaken by the strange encounter.
The night had taken an odd turn. The cold wind whispered through the trees, but the chill didn't reach her anymore. Aidan's coat was warm, and the lingering scent of cedarwood wrapped around her like an invisible cloak. She could still feel the weight of his gaze on her, though he had already taken a few steps ahead.
Sera stood there for a moment, staring at the path he'd taken through the forest. Everything about this place felt different, alive, as if the very earth beneath her feet was watching, waiting. It made her uneasy, but at the same time, something about it felt strangely familiar.
She shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts that swirled in her mind. What was happening to me?
"Sera," his voice called out softly, drawing her from her reverie. She looked up to find Aidan waiting for her, his figure silhouetted against the moonlight.
"Come on," he said, his voice deeper now, carrying a hint of something urgent. "We need to keep moving."
Sera hesitated, still feeling the pull of the night air, the pull of something hidden deep within her, but she followed him anyway. There was no turning back.
They walked in silence, the only sound the soft crunch of their footsteps on the forest floor. Every so often, Sera would glance at Aidan, but he remained unreadable, his expression distant as if his mind was somewhere far away.
"You know," she began, her voice uncertain, "this doesn't make sense. What are we doing here? Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"
Aidan's steps faltered for a moment, and then he glanced at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. "I can't explain everything to you, not yet. You wouldn't understand."
She wasn't sure if it was frustration or curiosity that gnawed at her, but she couldn't stop herself from asking. "Why not? What's so hard to understand?"
He stopped walking, his back to her as he gazed into the forest ahead, the moonlight casting an eerie glow on his features. Sera waited, her heart pounding, but he didn't answer. Instead, he spoke slowly, as if testing the words before letting them fall from his lips.
"You have dreams," he said quietly, his tone soft but charged with an undeniable intensity. "Strange dreams, visions that you can't quite grasp, but that pull at you. You feel it, don't you?"
Sera froze. The words hit her like a jolt, like the sound of thunder in a clear sky. How did he know about her dreams? The ones she had always pushed aside as mere figments of her imagination? Those fleeting glimpses of a world that felt so much older, so much darker than anything she had known?
"I... I don't know what you mean," she said, her voice shaky. "I've had dreams, but they're just dreams. Nothing more."
Aidan turned to face her then, his eyes locking onto hers. There was an odd intensity in his gaze, something ancient, something that felt too old for someone as young as him.
"It's more than that," he said softly. "You were born with the blood of our kind in you. The dreams are the beginning, the first whispers of a past that you've long forgotten."
Sera took a step back, her mind racing. The blood of their kind? What was he talking about? She knew she wasn't crazy, but hearing Aidan say these words made her question everything. She had always felt... different, out of place in the world she knew, but to hear him speak of bloodlines, of something so foreign to her, was too much to comprehend in that moment.
"I don't understand," she whispered. "What are you talking about?"
Aidan took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair, his posture tense as though he was struggling to hold something back.
"I told you. Not yet. You're not ready for the truth. But it's coming, Sera. Everything you've ever felt, every strange vision, every odd sensation you've had, it's all leading you to something far greater than you realize."
Sera felt a lump form in her throat. What did he mean by that? What was he trying to tell her? Was he talking about the dreams, or was there something more?
"You're not just anyone," Aidan said softly, his voice heavy with something Sera couldn't place. "And neither am I. But together, we have a destiny. You and I, we're connected in ways that are beyond comprehension. And when the time comes, everything you thought you knew will change."
Sera's heart was racing. Destiny? What destiny? She opened her mouth to ask, but her words faltered as another question took hold of her mind.
"Wait... I never got your name," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Who are you?"
Aidan's eyes softened just a fraction, and for a brief moment, the intensity in them seemed to lift.
"Aidan," he said simply. "That's all you need to know for now."
But Sera wasn't satisfied with that. Something about his name didn't sit right with her, something deep inside her stirred when she heard it. There was a familiarity to it, an echo of something buried far in her past that she couldn't place.
But before she could voice her next question, a rustling noise from the direction they had just come from caught their attention.
Aidan's expression hardened immediately, his posture shifting from calm to alert. "We're not alone," he muttered under his breath.
Sera's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively took a step closer to him, the coat still draped over her shoulders now feeling like a shield.
"What's happening?" she whispered, her pulse quickening.
Aidan didn't answer. He simply motioned for her to stay close as he moved swiftly into the shadows, his gaze darting through the trees. Sera followed, the weight of the unknown pressing down on her as she tried to make sense of everything that had just happened.
The forest had become far more than just a place of eerie beauty. It had become a place of danger, of secrets, and of a past that was somehow connected to her in ways she didn't understand.
And Aidan... Aidan was the key.
But to what?.....