My girlfriend is trapped in my superpower

Kael's POV

Bram leaned against the doorframe with his usual smirk, ruffling his hair like he'd just strolled in from a tavern brawl instead of missing an eldritch nightmare. "Oh man, I missed the party," he muttered.

The tension cracked, just slightly. A few councilors exhaled, Mira even rolled her eyes. For half a second, it almost felt normal.

Almost.

Then the weight returned — the eyes, the silence, the questions.

I could feel it in the air: fear dressed up as formality. They didn't say it, but every Guildmaster in that chamber had just witnessed what I carried inside me, and they all knew it wasn't something you could leash easily.

"They're staring at you like you're a loaded crossbow with no safety," Lyra whispered in my mind, voice silken, mocking. *One wrong twitch and boom.*

I swallowed, forcing myself to meet Mira's gaze. She didn't flinch. She never did. But there was something in her eyes tonight — not suspicion, not yet. Caution. A warning.

Outside the chamber, though, it would be worse. I could already imagine it: the people who had seen me ignite in the streets, the way the fire had licked too close to their homes, the way their whispers would turn.

Possessed. Cursed. Devil's flame.

The kind of rumors that could spread faster than the fire itself. And with Lyra inside me… maybe they weren't entirely wrong.

The chamber still reeked of burnt stone and ash. The scorched floor where the creature had dissolved was already beginning to harden into jagged black cracks — a scar the Guild would remember long after the stench was gone.

Bram, of course, broke the silence again. "So… no one died. I'd call that a win."

"Silence, Bram," Master Corvus snapped, his cane striking the marble floor with a sharp crack. His hawk-like gaze settled on me, cold, dissecting. "No one died, yet. That thing breached our walls, and this boy—" he jabbed his cane toward me— "unleashed power that does not belong in human hands." A low murmur rippled across the table. I caught fragments—

"Voidflame?"

"Not possible."

"Cursed vessel—"

My jaw clenched. I wanted to speak, to defend myself, but every word I thought of sounded like an excuse. Lyra hummed inside me, amused at my restraint.

"They fear you because they should," she whispered. "If they understood even a sliver of what I am, they'd chain you to the bottom of the sea. Or bow."

Mira leaned forward suddenly, her voice cutting through the rising noise. "Enough. Kael isn't our enemy. If he hadn't acted, that creature would have torn through the council chamber itself."

"Or perhaps," Corvus hissed, "it found us because of him."

The words landed like stones in the silence. Even Mira stiffened.

I swallowed hard, pulse racing. For the first time tonight, I realized the truth: I wasn't just fighting monsters anymore. I was fighting suspicion — and suspicion in the Guild could be more dangerous than any beast.

And still, Lyra's laughter purred through my mind. "Oh, Kael. You really have no idea what you've stepped into, do you?"

"Corvus speaks wisely," muttered Mistress Elara, her rings glinting as she folded her hands. "We all felt the surge. That was no common spell, Mira. That was something older. Wilder. If the boy can't control it…"

"…then it will control him," Corvus finished, venom sharp in his voice.

I clenched my fists. The marks along my arm where Lyra's fire had spilled earlier still tingled, faintly glowing beneath the skin. It took everything in me not to shout back.

Lyra's voice curled through my head like smoke. "Say the word, Kael. I'll scorch the smug looks right off their faces. You don't need their approval. You have me."

I gritted my teeth. "Not helping."

Mira stood now, slamming her palm against the polished table. "You'd rather throw accusations than admit we were ambushed in our own stronghold? That creature wasn't summoned by Kael—it was hunting him. Don't you see? He's a target, not a traitor!"

The chamber buzzed with clashing voices. Some siding with Mira. Others with Corvus. A few sitting on the fence, their fear heavy in the air.

"ENOUGH!" The Guildmaster's voice cut across the storm. Old Arcturus rarely raised his tone, but when he did the world listened. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

His gaze, heavy as stone, pinned me. "Kael. You've brought questions into this hall that cannot be ignored. You will remain under observation until we decide what to do with you."

The words sank like iron chains around my chest. Observation. Like a prisoner, not a protector.

Bram leaned closer, whispering just loud enough for me to hear, "Cheer up. At least they didn't say execution."

I almost laughed—almost.

But Lyra's hum darkened into something sharper. "Let them cage you, Kael. The moment they do, you'll see who really holds the key."

My throat was dry. I nodded stiffly to the Guildmaster, though every nerve in my body screamed to walk out. To breathe free air again.

"Meeting adjourned," Arcturus said at last. His cane struck once, and the council dispersed into hushed, fearful whispers.

And I knew, without a doubt, that the Guild wasn't the only place I'd have to face suspicion. Word would spread beyond these walls—into the streets.

The chamber doors groaned shut behind me, and for a moment, I stood there in the empty hall, the echo of their voices clinging to me like a curse. "Observation." They made it sound polite, measured. But I knew the truth—it was another way of saying we don't trust you.

Mira caught my arm before I could move further. Her eyes, sharp and unyielding, searched mine. "Don't let their fear get to you. They'll see reason."

I wanted to believe her. I really did. But when I looked past her, I saw Bram leaning against the wall, hands shoved in his pockets, gaze unusually sober. He didn't joke this time. That told me more than words.

Lyra's quiet voice brushed the edges of my mind. "The cage doesn't always have bars, Kael. Sometimes it's made of whispers. Just wait—you'll hear them soon enough."

And she was right.

The first murmurs reached me before I even crossed the Guild's courtyard. Two apprentices lingered near the steps, their eyes darting toward me before they quickly looked away. I didn't catch the words, but I didn't need to. The sharp, hushed tone said enough.

I pulled my cloak tighter and started down the stone path toward the city. The streets felt different now—heavier, narrower. As I passed a baker's stall, a woman tugged her child closer, whispering something under her breath. The boy's wide eyes followed me until I turned the corner.

Each step brought more fragments.

"…he was glowing…"

"…not human, I swear it…"

"…if the Guild can't control him—"

My jaw ached from how hard I clenched it. I kept walking, though the air itself felt thicker with suspicion.

By the time I reached the marketplace, the rumors had already bloomed. A group of men huddled near the fountain, voices carrying.

"They say he summoned the beast himself."

"No, no, it was inside him—saw it with my own eyes!"

"Void-born. Mark my words, nothing good comes from powers like that."

I froze, every muscle locking in place. Void-born. The word dripped with venom, spat like a curse.

Lyra's presence flared hot in my chest, a protective snarl. "Let me out, Kael. Let me show them what Void-born really means."

I swallowed hard and pushed her back. Not here. Not now.

But as I stood among the market crowd, their stares pressing in on me like blades, I realized something chilling—whether the Guild decided my fate or not, the city had already made its choice.

The voices were louder now, sharper, no longer whispers but warnings disguised as gossip.

"…the devil's flame, it burns in his eyes—"

"—don't be fooled, the Guild's covering it up. He's their weapon, nothing more."

"They'll unleash him on us when it suits them. You'll see."

Every word felt like a stone hurled at my back. I could pretend I didn't hear them, pretend I didn't feel the eyes that followed me with every step—but I wasn't that good a liar. Not anymore.

"Oh, how flattering," Lyra purred in my mind, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Apparently, you're both a demonic curse and a secret Guild super-weapon. Congratulations, Kael—you've achieved multi-class villain status without even trying."

"Not helping," I muttered under my breath.

"Not trying to. But look on the bright side—at least they can't agree on what kind of monster you are. That buys us time. Confused mobs are less efficient than unified ones."

I bit back a laugh, because if I started now, it would sound wrong—too sharp, too bitter. Instead, I kept walking, ignoring the way the crowd leaned away as I passed.

A group of children darted into an alley, their shrill voices chasing after me.

"Void-spawn! Void-spawn!"

The words cut deeper than I wanted to admit.

Lyra's presence softened for the first time, a flicker of warmth against the cold that gnawed at me. "They don't know you, Kael. Not really. That's their fear talking. Not the truth."

I wanted to believe her. But when I reached the end of the street, the path opening into the city square, I saw something that made my stomach twist. Guild banners lined the square. And beneath them, nailed crudely to a wooden post, was a piece of parchment.

My face stared back at me—inked rough but unmistakable. Beneath it, bold words:

"WARNING: VOID-BORN."

The crowd milled around it, muttering, some casting fearful signs, others whispering with greedy interest, like men smelling profit in blood. I stopped cold. My heart hammered once, twice, like a war drum in my chest.

Lyra's voice was quiet now, stripped of sarcasm. "So. The cage has bars after all."

And for the first time since this all began, I realized I wasn't sure if I was walking into a city… or into a hunt.