All Chapters of Awakened: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The silence in the hall deepened, the kind of heavy, expectant quiet that precedes a storm. On the dais, the Rector of Harvard Business School adjusted his glasses, the parchment in his hand crinkling into the microphone like a sudden burst of static. "Every year," he began, his voice resonant and aged, "We witness brilliance. But rarely do we witness a transformation that redefines the very standard of this institution. This year’s recipient of the Distinguished Master’s Award did not just excel, they rewrote the curve. They proved that grit is the ultimate currency."I kept staring at my hands. Good for them, I thought. Whoever they are, I hope they know how lucky they are."It is my distinct honor to announce the Best School Master’s Graduand... Ashley Vance." The world stopped. I stood up, my legs feeling like they were made of water. Every step toward the stage felt like I was walking through a dream. The wooden stairs creaked under my feet, a grounding, earthy sound in the

"Yes," I breathed, the word caught between a sob and a laugh. "Yes, Marcus. A thousand times, yes." He surged upward, catching me by the waist and spinning me around. I felt weightless, as if the gravity of the real world no longer applied to me. As my feet touched the stone tiles again, a thunderous wave of applause broke the silence of the rooftop. I hadn't even realized a small group of our closest friends and family had been hiding behind the topiaries, waiting for the moment. "Congratulations!" voices cried out. Marcus kept his arm anchored around my waist as people swarmed us, offering handshakes and perfumed hugs. It was a dizzying, beautiful chaos. I felt like a queen who had finally secured her throne. My career was peaking, I was marrying the man I loved, and I had protected the one person who meant more to me than my own life. Nothing could go wrong in my life at this moment. I looked around for her, needing to share this glow. I found Lurii standing just outside

My eyes snapped open, and the world was an assault of sterile, fluorescent white. It was the hospital smell, bleach, latex, and the metallic tang of illness, but the air felt thinner, sharper. My lungs burned as if I hadn't used them in centuries, and my heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I couldn't breathe. Every time I tried to draw air, it felt like swallowing liquid diamonds, sharp, cold, and lethal. The last thing I remembered was the rooftop. The white roses. The copper taste of betrayal on my tongue as the sky over Boston turned to ink. "She’s awake! Doctor, she’s opening her eyes!" The voice hit me like a physical blow. It was Lurii. But her voice was wrong, it was higher, thinner, vibrating with a youthful, frantic energy untouched by the years of bourbon and bitterness I’d heard on that rooftop. I blinked, my vision swimming through a haze of tears and the stinging glare of the overhead lights. As the shapes solidified, I saw them. Standing on e