The morning sky did not show its usual blue. The sun was smothered by layers of damp, ashen clouds, as if the ocean itself had risen to hang over the city. Aria tried to focus her mind on the documents before her, but the weight of the Moon Locket beneath her shirt felt like a coal of freezing fire.
"Aria, Mr. Abraham is waiting in the meeting room," Maya's voice shattered her daydream. Maya looked different today—her face was pale, and her eyes pointedly avoided Aria's gaze.
As Aria stepped into the meeting room, the temperature plummeted. Mr. Abraham, the middle-aged man who was supposed to be her business client, sat with a stiff, unnatural posture. Instead of discussing the hotel contract, he stared blankly out the window.
"I hear you often dream of the moon, Aria," Mr. Abraham said. His voice did not sound human; it was the sound of grinding stones at the bottom of the sea. "Pity. The moon you worship will soon be extinguished."
Suddenly, Mr. Abraham stood up. The skin on his face began to crack, and from the fissures seeped a thick, black water that reeked of rotting brine. Aria recoiled in terror, but the door had been sealed shut by an eldritch force.
"Hand over the Locket, or the sacred blood in your veins will become an offering for our Master, the Water Demon!" Abraham screamed. His body had morphed into a hideous aquatic monstrosity, his fingers elongating into sharp talons of ice.
Just as the claws were about to tear through Aria's throat, the floor-to-ceiling glass window shattered into a thousand shards. A giant gray wolf with eyes as bright as gold leapt inside, lunging at the monster and throwing it backward.
The wolf landed in front of Aria with a bone-chilling growl. In an instant, the wolf's fur receded, replaced by the figure of a towering man with silver hair clad in a black leather coat. His gaze was cold, yet fiercely protective.
"I have come to claim Luna's promise, Erala," the man said without turning around. He was Theron, the Werewolf King.
"My name is Aria!" she screamed amidst the panic.
Theron glanced back slightly, a faint smirk appearing on his handsome, battle-scarred face. "In this world, you are Aria. But in your blood, you are the key to stopping the apocalypse. Now, take my hand if you want to live!"
Without waiting for an answer, Theron pulled Aria out of the building, which had begun to crumble under the assault of black water erupting from every corner of the city. Outside, the sky had turned to night in an instant. A blood-red eclipse began to swallow the remaining light.
"Where are we going?" Aria asked, her breath hitching.
"To the dimensional border. The Axer Forest," Theron replied, unsheathing a silver blade. "The Water Demon has unleashed his legions into the human realm. They aren't looking for a hotel contract, Aria. They are looking for your heart to resurrect their Dark Lord."
Amidst the chaos of a city now flooded by sentient black water, Aria felt the power of her locket begin to throb in sync with her heartbeat. A diamond-blue light began to radiate from her skin, forming a shield that repelled every monster that dared to draw near.
Theron looked at the light with profound emotion. "After a thousand years... the moon has finally come home."
The world around Aria spun into a vortex of black and silver. In an instant, the office building had vanished, replaced by rows of towering trees with trunks that coiled like giant tentacles. The wind in the Axer Forest whistled past her ears, carrying the scent of damp earth and ancient magic.
Theron released his grip on Aria's hand. He stood with his back to her, his breath ragged, while his faint wolf-like ears twitched in wary alertness.
"Who are you?!" Aria screamed, her voice trembling violently. She stepped back until her spine hit the cold bark of a tree. "Who am I? And that creature... what happened back at the office?"
Aria looked down at her hands. Residual flickers of blue light still pulsed beneath her skin, flowing through her veins like uncontrollable electricity. "Why is my body glowing like this? This makes no sense! Yesterday I was just a project assistant, and today..."
Theron turned slowly. Beneath the blood-red moon hanging in the Axer sky, his face became clearer. A jagged claw scar ran across his temple—evidence of a centuries-old war Aria had never known.
"You saw that monster? That was a follower of the Water Demon," Theron's voice was heavy and calm, a stark contrast to Aria's panic. "They are no longer human. They are hollow shells filled with the darkness of the deep sea."
"And you?" Aria pointed at Theron with a shaking finger. "You changed from a wolf into... this. You're not real. This has to be a nightmare because I read too much of that legend book!"
Theron stepped closer, cornering her. He stopped right in front of Aria, his scent like pine forests and a coming storm.
"My name is Theron, King of the Werewolves, eternal protector of the lunar bloodline," he said, staring directly into her eyes. "And you are not 'poor Aria.' The sacred name you carry is Erala. You are the reincarnation of the goddess's beloved, the bearer of the blood that can reseal the darkness threatening to swallow our world."
Aria laughed hysterically, a sound that bordered on a sob. "Erala? I don't know that name! I have parents, I have a friend named Maya—wait, where is Maya? Is she okay?"
Theron's face hardened. He didn't answer. The silence made Aria's heart feel as though it were being crushed.
"Listen to me, Aria," Theron gripped her shoulders, forcing her to focus. "The world you've known for the last twenty years is nothing but a thin veil. The Water Demon has torn that veil apart. If you do not accept who you were in your past life, you will never control the light within your chest. And if that light goes out, the city you just left will become a mass grave beneath black water."
Aria felt the locket around her neck throb with heat, as if the object itself were agreeing with Theron. In her mind, flashes of memories that weren't hers began to surface: a white altar, a beautiful woman with silver hair (Luna), and a cataclysmic war where ink-black seawater swallowed the sky.
"I'm scared..." Aria whispered, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "I don't know how to be a hero or a goddess reincarnated. I just want to go home."
"You are on your way home, Aria," Theron replied, his tone slightly softer yet still firm. "But your home is no longer a cramped apartment in that city. Your home is the palace beyond the moon, and I swear by my own blood, I will take you back there, even if I must kill every demon in this ocean."
Suddenly, the bushes around them rustled. The sound of boiling water hissed from behind the forest mist. The Water Demon's forces had not taken long to track them down.
"Get ready," Theron growled, his eyes shifting back into a glowing gold. "Your time for confusion is over. Now, you must choose: surrender to the darkness, or rise as the light."