KALIYAH

Seraphina POV

Darkness surrounded me from all corners. It was a void so deep and cold that it felt like I was sucked into a black hole or abyss. It was terrible. What made it even more frightening was the faces surrounding me and taunting me with their sneers and wicked laughters. The faces of Asterion and Tiffany.

“Seraphina, you're worthless. You will never amount to anything in your life.” Asterion taunted with a malicious glint in his eyes.

“You should just die, your existence is not needed on this earth. Die!” Tiffany sneered

I closed my ears with my hands, trying to down out the noises but their voice still reached me. Their faces twisted and contorted into horrible masks that haunted my consciousness even though I closed my eyes. 

“Leave me alone! Leave me alone!” I screamed as my heart pounded in my chest. Memories of their betrayal flooded my mind. Tiffany's remorseless attitude, Asterion's stoicism and his claws plunging into heart and killing me. It was as if I relived everything in that darkness.

Just as I felt myself sinking deeper into the abyss, my eyes widened and I jolted awake. 

“What? Where….where am I?” I gasped and my hand instinctively flew to my chest, expecting to feel the gaping wound from Asterion's claws. But there was nothing. My skin was unblemished and whole. I was speechless.

“Is this a dream?” I whispered to myself. This didn't feel right, I was supposed to be dead. “No….it couldn't be. It was too real.” I shook my head as I denied the possibility. Asterion clearly pierced my heart. I felt it, I knew I should be dead. So what the hell was going on? 

I tried to make sense of the situation but honestly, nothing made sense. I was too confused and scared to arrange my thoughts properly. With a deep breath, I tried to stand up but there was a problem. I couldn't move freely as the space around me was confined and claustrophobic. 

“What is this?” I panicked, trying to move my body but it was no use. I was trapped in a small enclosed space. I used my strength to push but nothing budged. 

“What a second.” I muttered, feeling the edges of the box and then I was hit with a chilling realization. I was in a box. No, not just a box - a freaking coffin.

“Get me out of here!” I yelled without a second thought and pounded my fists on the lid. I was terrified of tight spaces and I just wanted out of here. I would worry about how I came back to life later.

“We're…alive?” A voice boomed in my head and I paused my pounding. How could it be? The only reason a voice should boom in my head was if….I had a wolf.

“Who….who are you?” My lips trembled, refusing to believe that I had awakened a wolf. 

“I'm Akira, your Lycan. Praise the moon goddess, we are alive.” Akira howled with joy in my head.

“A Lycan? Not a wolf? Ok what was going on?” I muttered to myself trying to make sense of it all.

No, this wasn't the time to think. I had to get out of this coffin. I would decode every other thing later.

“Akira, help me. We need to get out of this coffin.” I called out to her.

“Of course Kaliyah. Feel our power, let it guide you.” Akira said. 

I ignored the fact that she called me with a different name and closed my eyes.

Strength surged through me and before I knew it, my fingers extended into claws and my muscles rippled with a power I had never experienced. It wasn't a fluke. I had really awakened a wolf or Lycan.

I half shifted but just this partial transformation was enough. Without a second thought, I clawed at the lid and my claws ripped through the wood with ease. I continued tearing through the wood until light flooded in, and I pushed the lid. 

I took a deep breath, greedily inhaling fresh air that filled my lungs. I felt the power that surged through me recede and I felt normal again. Raising my head, I looked around and I was met with hundreds of bewildered eyes staring at me like I was some sort of ghost. 

They were people, dressed in warrior clothes and there expression ranged from shock to surprise as they studied me with their eyes.

“Kaliyah?” A booming voice sounded from behind me and I turned around only to see a large man staring at me with red eyes. Some sort of connection welled up inside me when I stared at those intense eyes. I didn't know why I felt that way but in the next minute, Akira answered my question.

*Mate.” She howled in my head.

Suddenly, memories started to flood my mind. Memories that weren't mine. The overload of images and foreign experiences crashed into me and my vision blurred, my knees buckled and I collapsed to the ground.