Celeste wasn't trying to eavesdrop. She had only just left the library, her mind still filled with the quiet hum of bookshelves and the faint scratch of turning pages, when she turned down the dim corridor and heard his name.
Jase.
Her feet froze before she could stop herself, her fingers tightening instinctively around the edges of her notebook. Something about the way his name had been spoken—hushed, careful—made her pulse stutter. She should have walked away. Should have ignored the conversation that wasn't meant for her. But her body refused to move, held in place by a quiet, insistent pull she couldn't explain.
Amy's voice was unmistakable, softened yet laced with something thoughtful. "I still don't understand why I did not have vision of Jase coming to Alas"
Lucas sighed, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "Of course. Jase never planned to come to Alas in the first place."
Amy hesitated. "Then why did his family send him?"
Lucas was silent for a beat before replying, his voice quieter. "You already know why. After what he said in Velkan."
Celeste's breath hitched.
Velkan.
She had heard of it, of course. A city ruled by the most powerful Luminary families, where traditions were deeply rooted, and power was everything. The mere mention of it sent a prickle of unease crawling down her spine. What happened there?
Amy sighed, the sound almost reluctant. "I still don't think he belongs here."
Lucas scoffed, a dry chuckle escaping him. "Yeah? Well, neither does she."
Celeste's stomach twisted painfully. Were they talking about her now?
Amy's voice softened. "I didn't see this in my visions, Lucas."
There was a pause. A heavy, weighted silence that stretched just a second too long. Then Lucas muttered, "That's what worries me."
Celeste didn't wait to hear more.
Her pulse thrummed in her ears as she turned and walked away quickly, her thoughts racing, her grip on her notebook tightening until her knuckles turned white. She barely registered the faces of students who passed her by. All she could hear was the echo of their conversation, looping over and over in her mind. Jase never planned to come to Alas. And Amy didn't see this.
She wasn't sure how she knew where to find him. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was something else. But her feet carried her without hesitation, moving before she had fully processed what she was doing.
She found him on the school rooftop.
Jase stood near the railing, his posture easy, relaxed, but there was something distant in the way he stared out at the sky.
Celeste hesitated for a fraction of a second, watching him, trying to decipher the strange pull in her chest before she finally stepped forward.
And then, as if sensing her presence, Jase turned his head slightly.
He didn't speak at first. Just watched her. His golden eyes unreadable, sharp and quiet all at once, like he had already expected her to be here.
She folded her arms, standing beside him, her voice steady despite the uncertainty swirling inside her. "Why are you here?"
Jase exhaled slowly, his fingers drumming against the metal railing. "That's not exactly a secret."
Celeste frowned. "You're from Velkan."
That made him turn fully toward her.
For a moment, he said nothing, his gaze studying her carefully, unreadable yet intense in a way that made her skin prickle. Then, a slow smirk curved at his lips, lazy but edged with something sharper beneath it. "I see you've been listening to things you shouldn't."
Celeste ignored the remark, stepping up beside him, her fingers tightening around her arms. "Why did you leave?"
Jase held her gaze for a long moment, something flickering behind his golden eyes before he finally answered, his voice quieter now.
"I think I had to."
Celeste's brows furrowed. "What does that mean?"
Jase sighed, running a hand through his hair before glancing back at the sky, as if the answer lay somewhere in the vast expanse of clouds and fading daylight. "Velkan is… different from Alas. It's bigger, more powerful. It's where some of the most important Luminary families live."
Celeste nodded slowly. She had heard of Velkan. It wasn't just another city—it was the Luminary capital, guarded by the strongest among them to protect its ancient legacy. Their council was based there too, making it the center of power in their world.
Jase's voice lowered slightly. "My family is one of them. They have expectations. Rules. Paths you have to follow." His lips curled into something bitter. "But I've never been good at following rules."
Celeste arched her brow. "What did you do?"
A faint smirk tugged at his lips, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. There was something behind it—something guarded. "I didn't do anything. I just asked the wrong questions."
Celeste tilted her head, intrigued. "Like what?"
Jase's golden eyes shifted toward her, steady and unreadable, but there was something in them.
Then he spoke, his voice low, deliberate. "Like why Mortalis are treated as lesser beings."
Celeste's breath hitched.
Of all the things she thought he might say, that wasn't one of them.
Not from him. Not from a Luminary.
Jase turned back to the railing, his fingers curling a little tighter around the metal. "Velkan has a certain… way of thinking," he began, his voice steady but laced with something heavier, something that hinted at years of unspoken conflict. "Most Luminaries don't question it. They believe we are meant to rule, meant to be separate from Mortalis. Some think Mortalis should never even be allowed near us." His voice dipped lower, quieter, carrying the weight of something unspoken. "But I never agreed. I believed that Luminaries are meant to protect the Mortalis. And live alongside Mortalis equally."
Celeste stared at him, unable to look away.
She had assumed all Luminaries thought the same—that they saw Mortalis as beneath them, as something weaker, perhaps unworthy. That was just how the world worked. From the moment she was old enough to understand the rules of their world, she had been taught that although Luminaries and Mortalis lived in the same sphere, their lives were never meant to intertwine. And yet, here was Jase, a Luminary by birth, someone who had been raised in the very heart of power, standing before her and telling her that he had walked away from it all because he refused to believe in that divide.
Something twisted in her chest—a strange, unfamiliar feeling she didn't know how to name.
Before she could stop herself, she whispered, "You left because of that?"
Jase let out a soft chuckle, though there was no real amusement in it, only something unreadable in his tone. "That… and other reasons." He didn't elaborate, but there was something about the way he said it that made her wonder just how much more there was to his story.
Celeste swallowed, trying to piece together the truth hidden beneath his carefully chosen words. "So you were sent here as punishment?"
Jase shrugged, rolling his shoulders slightly. "Something like that. But not exactly."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The wind swept through the rooftop, cool and crisp, brushing against Celeste's skin, but she barely noticed. The weight of his words lingered between them, pressing down like an invisible force, too heavy to ignore.
Finally, she murmured, "That must have been hard."
Jase glanced at her then, and for the first time, something softer flickered in his expression, a brief crack in the carefully constructed mask he wore.
"I thought it would be," he admitted, his voice quieter now, more thoughtful. "But now… I think I was meant to leave."
Celeste's fingers tightened slightly around her sleeves.
Jase was different. Not just because he was a Luminary. Not just because of his power.
But because he saw things differently. And that was dangerous.
Because a Luminary with a power like him…Could change everything.
She hesitated before asking, "Then why did you come to Alas?"
Jase was silent for a moment, his golden gaze flickering with something she couldn't quite place.
Finally, he exhaled, turning his full attention back to her. "I was sent here by my family. But now…" He trailed off, the words hanging in the space between them, charged and uncertain.
Then, he turned to her fully, his gaze steady, almost knowing.
"I'm looking for something."
Celeste's heartbeat quickened, her pulse stuttering against her ribs. "What?"
Jase stepped closer, so close she could feel his warmth despite the cool night air. The space between them felt impossibly small, a breath, a heartbeat away from something tipping over the edge.
"Not what," he said softly. "Who."
Celeste's breath caught, her entire body going still.
She couldn't look away.
His eyes, usually sharp and distant, had softened just enough to make her pulse stumble in a way she didn't understand. There was something in the way he looked at her, something quiet yet deliberate, as if the answer to the question she hadn't dared to ask was already in front of her.
Before she could speak, before she could even think of what to say, Jase gave her a small, unreadable smile and turned away, walking back toward the stairs.
Leaving her standing there, her chest tight, her thoughts tangled, her heart racing.
*****
That night, Amy sat cross-legged on her bed, her head bowed, fingers pressed to her temples as a dull ache throbbed in her skull. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a soft glow across the room, but she barely noticed it. er mind was too foggy, too full of frustration she couldn't shake.
She'd been trying all day to see something—anything. But ever since Jase came to Alas… ever since Celeste entered his life, her visions had changed. They were no longer clear. Just flashes, broken pieces she couldn't hold onto, slipping away no matter how hard she tried.
It didn't make sense.
She'd always been able to see Jase's path. Always. His future had been steady, easy to follow—like turning pages in a book she already knew by heart.
But now, everything felt off. And for the first time, she couldn't see what was coming.
It was as if something was blocking her.
Amy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and push through the frustration tightening in her chest. She closed her eyes, reaching for the familiar tug of her power, hoping to break past whatever was blocking her.
The air felt thick, full of energy she couldn't understand.
And for a long, tense moment—nothing.
Just darkness. And silence.
Then—
A flash.
Amy's breath caught as the vision hit her all at once, sharp and sudden, as if the universe had finally decided to let her see.
A dark sky stretched endlessly above her, filled with stars that shimmered brighter than anything she'd ever seen. The air felt heavy, ancient, like it carried a power too old to name.
At the center of it all stood Jase and Celeste, side by side, bathed in an eerie, glowing light. Their eyes were fixed on something distant, something she couldn't see.
But they weren't alone.
Behind them, floating in the air, was a symbol—glowing and alive, like it was stitched into the sky itself. It pulsed with light, humming with a strange energy that seemed to bend the space around it.
And then, she heard a voice.
Deep. Ancient. A whisper that wasn't truly a whisper, but something far greater.
"The fated bond has awakened."
Amy gasped, snapping upright with a sharp breath, her whole body trembling like she'd been hit by a jolt of lightning. Her heart pounded against her chest, her skin damp with sweat as she clutched the bedsheets, struggling to steady her breathing.
She didn't understand what she'd just seen. The symbol. The voice. The strange energy still lingering in her chest. None of it made sense—why now, why them, or what it all meant.
But even as confusion swirled through her, one truth settled deep in her bones, clear and terrifying.
Jase and Celeste weren't just coincidences in each other's lives.
They were meant to be together.
And whatever was awakening between them…
Would change everything.