The last thing Sejal remembered was falling asleep on her narrow bed, moonlight glinting through the windowpane of her family’s apartment above the humming, restless city. She’d drifted off after meeting Prince Finnick— the comfort of familiarity. But when she awoke, everything had changed.
A hard stone floor pressed against her back. The air was musty, scented with age and something ancient. She blinked her lapis lazuli eyes open and sat up slowly, pushing her fiery hair out of her face. Around her rose soaring columns, intricately carved with patterns and symbols she couldn’t read. The space echoed with silence, broken only by a strange bell tolling in the distance.
Her instincts screamed caution. She scanned the cavernous temple interior, careful not to reveal her powers just yet. This wasn’t the kind of place where you acted before thinking. The carvings were beautiful — a fusion of artistry and mythology — and the script on scattered parchment scrolls was unlike anything she knew.
She ascended the spiral stone stairs to the second storey, where she found a statue that made her hesitate — a towering stone deity, eyes cold, arms wielding many weapons. There was a sense of recognition in this female deity. One she couldn’t comprehend. Sejal pried a dagger from the statue’s hand. Cold metal. Ornate handle. It all felt... familiar.
She climbed another set of stairs and reached the rooftop, where she glimpsed her surroundings: a crumbling city swallowed by time. Dense foliage blanketed its edges. Looking at it, she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time - alone and scared. She retreated inside. While she was inside, completely out of anyone’s sight, she turned invisible.
There were two paths out of the rotunda of the temple: one leading toward decrepit villas, the other to overgrown playgrounds. With a hunch, she followed the line of the villas. First, she only chases the ghosts of the concrete remnants from outside and then finds the courage to step inside. The first house was a small one, particularly belonging to a low-level knight. The walls of the guest area were emblazoned with arms. The other chambers were mostly empty, other than necessities.
Sejal moved with the poise of someone raised in shadows — silent, calculated, blades always within reach. Another three houses were collected with dust and were on the verge of crumbling. The fifth house was different. It felt... watched. She crept up the stairs.
A rustle. Movement.
A rat darted toward her. She flung her dagger — but the rat shimmered, twisted, and transformed into a boy with tanned skin, sharp green eyes, and blonde hair.
“I can smell you,” he said simply.
Sejal narrowed her eyes. She knew her invisibility was on. And yet, this boy knew she was there.
“Who are you?” She asked with confidence. Without letting the fear show in her voice.
“Liam,” he replied, brushing dust from his tunic. “I see you are invisible. That’s your power, right?”
She considered lying — she was brilliant at it — but something about the boy disarmed her. She dropped invisibility.
“Sejal,” she said. “A shapeshifter, eh?”
“I don’t normally go around announcing my power, but you aren’t ordinary either. Also, you happen to be in an abandoned city, like me.”
They talked about the lost city, their sudden appearances, and the mystery that bound them here. Liam had been trapped for three days. In that time, he’d found no other soul until her.
They agreed to search the perimeter. Sejal would take the north, Liam the south. Dusk would be their reunion point.
After a few hours, she regretted taking this side under her search area. The fields stretched endlessly. There was absolutely nothing other than green foliage, dark bark and fruits. But she wasn’t one to accept failure so easily. She decided to search until dusk since her other power, the power to teleport, would allow her to get back in no time. However, when it was time to return, teleportation failed her. Without her power, she felt fragile. She walked back, breathless. She plucked some fruits on the return journey.
She found Liam already waiting on the foyer’s divan, making his way through his gatherings of fruits
She also presented her gatherings.
With the fear of poisonous items, Sejal hesitated to eat.
“It’s safe,” Liam said. “My instincts — they’re... animal. I’d know.”
Later, as dusk settled into night, Liam asked, “Do you feel... whole?”
“Ask what you mean to ask,” Sejal replied.
“I feel like something’s missing,” Liam admitted. “When I shapeshift now, I lose control. Like I’m... slipping.”
She had felt it too — a thinning of power, a fog in her mind — but she didn’t say it. Not yet.
On the second day of searching, she still hadn’t come across anything unusual or special.
Curious, Sejal returned to the temple. Alone. Invisible. As she stepped inside, something pulled at her gut — a feeling of being watched. On the second floor, the deity now glowed. Not with light, but with presence. Power. It shimmered, almost painfully bright.
She tried teleporting. This time, it worked.
Realisation bloomed in her mind: the temple was the key.
Perhaps Liam had a right to know, yet she kept this knowledge to herself.
The next day, she goes back to the temple, where in the deity room, motion caught her eye. A knife was being pulled out of diety hands.
She watched from the shadows, ready to spring into action — until the face of her opponent became clear.
Prince Finnick.
The very man who had hired her to spy on the court. Kind-hearted, calculating, dangerous. He had found her. She dropped her invisibility at once. She almost crouched into a curtsy but then remembered no one was present and relented.
Confusion gripped her brain like an old friend.
“How...?” she asked.
“I followed the trail of power,” he replied. “Yours. Liam’s. Mine. I’ve been here longer than you know.”
“I hope you have realised the temple’s significance by now.” He spoke before Sejal had a chance.
“I would not be standing here if I hadn’t, your highness.”
“Come now, Sage, no one appears to be here. Leave the titles be”
They talked. Finnick revealed his ability to sense and use others’ powers. Amplify them. And, she suddenly knew why she had always felt at ease with him, why it was effortless to use her powers in his presence. She wondered whether her powers would not diminish now that his power led all the struggles away.
To test this theory, she took him to the reunion house. They waited until the dark fell and Liam returned with his hands full of food items. Though Liam had graciously welcomed her, his eyes narrowed right at the moment he noticed the prince. But, any dispute was resolved quickly with Sejal’s subtle parley.
With Finnick’s help, Liam was capable enough to exercise his powers to the full extent. He transformed — fully, gloriously — into a dragon. They soared above the city, discovering it was an island surrounded by uninhabited lands, endless ocean, and nowhere to go.
At a glistening lake, they camped. Bathed. Ate.
Talked.
They shared everything they knew.
And then, in agreement, they returned to the temple — all three of them realising it was more than a structure; it was a message.
Inside, the carvings revealed a story.
"Long ago, three beings came together — a witch, a human, and a dragon. They created an entity from their combined powers to dominate the world. But ideologies clashed. The human with his newly gained powers won control. The entity — the deity — grew furious. It cursed them to forget. To live in exile."
Liam. The dragon.
Finnick. The human.
Sejal. The witch.
It all made sense.
All three of them, understanding their roles, decided to take a full analysis of the deity. In the sanctum, they found texts written in a script unknown to all of them.
In the effort to decipher the script, an idea bloomed. The dragon, being a magical creature, might be helpful.
Liam, in his dragon form, deciphered the language — Rumin, an ancient dialect only dragons remembered.
The text spoke of their story, which also consisted of many rituals. Rituals to embolden their powers, combine them as well as search for what has been lost. Reading this, Liam knew exactly what to do. The first step would be to obtain their lost memories.
They begin preparing the ritual.
Liam, in dragon form, burned the temple’s exterior.
Sejal, arms raised, recited the spell.
Finnick, resolute, offered blood into the sanctum's basin.
The deity awakened. And so did their memories.
They remembered everything — power, betrayal, anger, and pain.
But the exile had changed them.
They no longer wanted dominion.
They wanted peace.
Together, they performed one final ritual — not to awaken war, but to return.
Back in the City
Sejal opened her eyes to moonlight on her old windowpane.
Downstairs, her family stirred.
The city buzzed.
But she was no longer just a girl.
She was a witch who had chosen peace.
A dragon had found his soul.
And a prince had proven trust.
Somewhere out there, two others remembered too.
And perhaps, the world would never be the same again.
React
