RENA : Shadows Awaken

The party raged on in the grand hall, yet in a dimly lit corner, the atmosphere was charged with unbearable tension. Rena, still shaken by the mesmerizing light emanating from her tattoo, had just left the restroom, intent on rejoining the dance and escaping the horrors of her memories.

No sooner had she begun to weave her way through the throng than she sensed a persistent presence following her. Dereck, clearly drunk and consumed by a ravenous desire, advanced rapidly, his eyes glinting with a troubled fervor. The booming music and raucous laughter of the party barely masked the murmurs of his insistence.

As soon as Rena tried to step aside to put some distance between them, Dereck lunged at her, seizing her arm with a brutal force that made her jolt in shock. His grip was unyielding, almost painful, and his fetid breath mixed with the heavy scent of alcohol. In that very moment, the cherished bracelet—the precious gift from her aunt Rose—detached abruptly from her wrist and clattered to the floor, shattering the fragile balance of the situation.

Rena's expression instantly hardened, anger rising within her like an uncontrollable torrent. Her eyes blazed with intense fury.

**"Let go of me, Dereck! I've already told you I don't want you!"** she shouted, her voice resonating with a fury long suppressed.

Dereck, staggering, did not relinquish his hold.

**"But Rena, don't be so cold… You know I… I just want to be near you!"** he stammered, his voice growing hoarse from his insistence.

With a violent jerk, Rena broke free, her arm tightening in pain and horror at his intrusion.

**"No, Dereck! Let me go! I'm not interested in you at all, and I won't tolerate your advances any longer!"** she retorted, every word slicing through the clamor around them.

Fueled by alcohol and arrogance, Dereck tightened his grip further, forcefully pulling on Rena's arm. In that instant, the bracelet fell away completely, scattering on the floor with a definitive, subtle crash. This object, laden with memories and mystery, became the catalyst for an irreversible change.

That brutal contact—this act of aggression—unleashed in Rena a fury she had long fought to contain. A searing heat surged through her body, beginning precisely at the spot where Dereck had touched her. It was as if a long-dormant force had suddenly been awakened. She felt an acute pain, a burning fire consuming her nerves, only to be transformed into an almost divine power.

The world around her seemed to slow and blur. In that vortex of fury, she lost control of herself. Her eyes, usually so gentle, began to shimmer with a supernatural radiance. Slowly, the color of her gaze transformed from deep brown to a dazzling white, framed by an ethereal hint of sky blue that pulsed in sync with her frantic heartbeat.

She felt her muscles contract, as if an intense electric current surged through her veins, awakening in her an ancient, unsuspected strength. The sensation was both terrifying and intoxicating, blurring her sense of time and space. Her hair, once freely flowing, now shimmered with an unusual luster, and her entire back seemed to glow with an incandescent light.

In the midst of this transformation, Dereck, still clinging to her, froze in shock and fear. His eyes widened in terror as he beheld the spectacle unfolding before him. The music, the party lights—all seemed to vanish, as if sucked away by the vortex of energy emanating from Rena.

At that moment, Lucas—who had been seeking Rena, driven by an inexplicable urgency despite the searing pain in his chest—watched the scene from the shadows. His eyes, burning with determination and concern, narrowed as he prepared to intervene.

But before Lucas could reach her, Dereck, still under the influence, made one more desperate attempt to hold onto Rena. He yanked her arm again, but she, overwhelmed by her unbridled rage, violently repelled him.

**"Let me go, you idiot!"** she screamed, her voice echoing amid the sudden silence that enveloped their secluded corner.

Dereck, now utterly panicked and trembling, recoiled, his expression frozen in horror, unable to comprehend what he had triggered. Rena, overtaken by a force far beyond her control, turned away with a look of desperate despair mixed with divine wrath.

Lucas, witnessing the unfolding chaos, felt his heart wrench with urgency. Bruised by pain yet driven by determination, he wove his way through the crowd with quick, staggering steps. Barely had he reached Rena when he called out, his voice hoarse and laced with genuine worry:

**"Rena, what's happening? What... what's wrong with you?"**

Before him, Rena appeared entirely transformed, as though possessed by an ancient, inexorable power. Her eyes—now a brilliant, blinding white with a celestial blue glow—pierced the dimness. Instead of responding in French, her voice emerged in a strange, archaic language, its guttural and mesmerizing tones carrying a weight of forgotten lore.

In this invented ancient tongue, she intoned:

**"Zavash kalir, memoraia en siran."**

The words resonated in the air, carrying a profound significance that only the initiated could grasp. To Lucas, the translation was instant and unmistakable: **"The shadows have been awakened."**

A heavy silence fell, laden with unspoken truths. Dereck, still present but now immobile with dread, stood speechless, his terror palpable. Lucas, for his part, fixed his gaze on Rena, shaken by the revelation unfolding before his eyes.

In that suspended moment, Rena's transformation—her glowing, otherworldly eyes, the incandescent brilliance of her tattoo, and the raw, palpable energy emanating from her—seemed to seal the fate of the night. The ancient phrase hung in the air like a dire omen, a harbinger of upheavals yet to come.

The raucous party continued unabated around them, its patrons oblivious to the intimate drama unfolding in their midst. Only Rena, Dereck, and Lucas bore witness to that fateful turning point, where everything changed. Rena, possessed now by a force far beyond mortal confines, stood before Lucas, her gaze filled with the clarity of another realm. And as Dereck remained rooted in terror, Lucas understood that he had just witnessed something extraordinary—a stirring of shadows that would forever alter their destiny.