*Before you begin, I wanted to point out that the setting in this story is an alternate universe. I do hope you enjoy Calina's story.*

Calina
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With barely contained boredom, I watched as my best friend Raine paced around the living room for the second time, like a shark circling its prey.
"I swear to the Goddess, I strolled through every room in this house as casually as possible, and Elonzo is nowhere to be found. Why'd he invite me if he was going to be a no-show?"

"Chill, Raine. It's only ten at night. Not to play the blame game, but you were the eager whore... I mean beaver that wanted to arrive early. I'm sure he will show up," I commented with a Cheshire grin, accepting the biofoam cup she offered.

"Bitch, you're not funny," Raine said, playfully rolling her eyes.

Sniffing at the cup, I glanced up at her. "What's this?"

"A tequila sunrise. Your favorite, duh."

"I don't..."
"Drink. Yeah, I know. I was kidding. It's a lemon-lime soda. I think it's time to cut the cord and stop being daddy's little princess, Callie. Your parents will never find out if you had one measly drink. You're twenty. It's perfectly legal."

"They worry, Rai. Being an only child had very few perks." I leaned back into the cushion of the couch and sipped my soda while surveying the room, watching the gyrating young adults move their bodies in time with the loud music. I snorted a quiet laugh at the few brave souls dancing out of rhythm to some beat of their own drums. They couldn't blame it on the alcohol. The party had really only just started.

"You know we have like two hours before this is really even a party. Are you sure you don't want to sip on a little rum? Follow me to the dark side, Callie." Raine grabbed my hand, pulling me along before I could break free. Reluctantly, I followed her past the rickety plastic folding tables where various fraternities competed in a rigorous game of beer pong. We shuffled through a sliding glass door into a dingy kitchen. There was an asinine amount of bottles of liquors and mixers lining the white marble countertop in the middle of the room.

"I'll take some mango rum, I guess." Picking up some peach juice and pouring a little into my soda.

A deep sigh rattled out between my teeth. I felt ashamed of how easily I had buckled under the slightest peer pressure. If I had just said no, Rai would have dropped the subject. What could possibly go wrong with one little drink.

Besides, after what Raine had shown me hours before I agreed to join her at this party, I needed the liquid courage just to process the... the... a chill raced through me like a thousand ants climbing over my skin.

Raine's voice cut through my anxiety, and I only caught the end of her rambling complaints.

"... we finish this drink, and if Elonzo still hasn't shown up, we should leave. This party is lame, and I really need to study for my finite math quiz due on Monday," Raine grumbled, dumping a shot of mango rum into my concoction of lemon-lime soda. "Hey, Callie, you okay?"

I forced a smile. "Yeah, just lost in thought."

Raine narrowed her eyes, not entirely convinced but let it slide. She laughed, her eyes sparkling. "Well, snap out of it! Now, let's make a pact. No more brooding tonight, okay? Just fun."

"Deal," I said, raising my cup in agreement.
She clinked her cup against mine, her grin infectious. "To fun and forgetting."

"To fun and forgetting," I echoed, feeling a bit lighter, trying to let the music pulsing around us sink into my bones. I focused on the present, on Raine's infectious energy, and the promise of a night where thoughts wouldn't haunt me.

"Not sure why you're getting so worked up over some cute guy, but let's go on the hunt for him," I said, taking a sip of my drink then grimacing. It was sickly sweet. Maybe too many flavors in a single drink.

"You just need more soda," Rai said, pouring some into my cup and hers before walking toward the kitchen door. "Besides, I said Elonzo is bangable. He is a hot piece of ass." She flashed me a smug grin.

I threw the little orange stirring straw from my drink at her and said, "he's not that hot." It was a lie, but she needed to make better choices with the men she slept with.

Her lips tipped up in a smirk. "Well, the fastest way to get over one guy is to get under someone else. Elonzo is about to get his body worshipped by yours truly."

Elonzo walked through the open doorway, a wide smile forming on his full lips. I slapped a hand over my mouth to contain my giggle. His interest was unmistakable, written clearly on his angular features. Those cornflower blue eyes of his locked onto my best friend and brightened like he'd just discovered some ancient treasure.

I didn't get the hype that surrounded Elonzo. But I would at least try to be honest, even if I found him a bit repulsive. In girl world, Elonzo was dreamy-a tall, athletic build, his blonde hair effortlessly pulled back into a bun. I typically despised that specific style on men, but it suited him. It made him look like some sort of Viking model. No matter how handsome he was, his personality was slimy and I couldn't overlook that.

Raine's face turned several shades of red. She quickly composed herself, lifting her hand and waving it in front of her chest to showcase her assets. "I don't just give it away to anyone, Elonzo. You'll have to work for it, of course." She flicked her long turquoise hair back off her shoulders, oozing confidence while sashaying out of the kitchen.

Elonzo, looking slightly flummoxed, approached me. I glowered at him.
"Oh, eyes of amethyst, so deep and true, captivating hearts with every hue. In your enchanting gaze, I find my prize, a glimpse of magic in your purple eyes. Your eyes are such an inspiration. Callie Darling, will you ever let me sketch your beauty, your essence on paper?"

My expression softened, as I considered his request. The poem was kind of sweet. Maybe Elonzo wasn't as bad as I thought.

"Or at least," he added with a smirk. "You could join me and your friend for this body-worshipping Raine seemed so eager for."

Ugh, what a pig.

I couldn't fathom what Raine saw in him. He posed no challenge whatsoever.

"Oh, Elonzo," I sputtered, fluttering my long lashes and fanning my face. "Just the mere thought of you naked..." I paused and covered my mouth for a second. "has me gagging on my own vomit." I rolled my eyes and gulped down the remainder of my drink in two sips before casually tossing the cup into a nearby recycling bin.

"Have a pleasant night, assface," I called over my shoulder, exiting the kitchen.

Raine's vibrant turquoise hair was like a beacon in the small crowd of shuffling bodies on the makeshift dance floor in the living room. "Where's the bathroom?" I yelled over the blaring music, approaching her. She pointed towards a set of stairs in the far corner of the room. "Upstairs, down the hall, third door on the left, but the line is crazy long. You're better off squatting behind a tree." She cackled at her own joke and turned on her icepick heels toward the random guy grinding against her.

I spent over an hour waiting in line. On three separate occasions, I considered actually trekking to the backyard to piss in the woods. "Ugh." I cringed inwardly when I pushed open the bathroom door. The smell and the interior design were competing for which was worse.

Letting out a groan, I cringed inwardly at the dingy, outdated claw-foot bathtub with a ripped shower curtain, taking up the center of the small space, as I locked the door behind me. My curious gaze surveyed the ugly, chipped retro pink tiled walls, afraid of what might crawl out from between those cracks.

After using the toilet, I blinked at my reflection in the dirty mirror, trying to get my blurred gaze to focus. Just one drink, and I already felt the effects of the alcohol. "Lightweight," I whispered with a giggle to my hazy reflection. This was the first time I'd had the nerve to look at myself since that startling photo Raine had questioned me about earlier before this ridiculous party.

What Raine had showed me sent chills down my spine.
In the image was a young woman, unmistakably identical to me. I snatched Raine's phone from her hand, bringing the picture closer to my face for inspection.

Staring back at me was a woman with long, dark, wavy hair that framed her subtle heart-shaped face, freckles were dusted across her cheeks and pert nose. It was like looking in a mirror-there wasn't a single difference between myself and the woman in the photo. None that I could see, anyway. She even had my defined jawline and the stubborn set of my chin. The way her Cupid's bow lips tilted up in a smirk mirrored my signature smile when I was up to no good.

I scrolled on the screen, more pictures of the woman. Some formal. Some candid. There were even a few shots that she may have taken herself, making silly or sultry faces at the camera.

Her eyes struck me through the gut like a serrated knife. Feathery dark lashes framed her gently upturned eyes, their almond shape mirroring my own. The subtle curve of her lower eyelids lent a softness that added a hint of playfulness to her gaze. I had always adored the shape of my eyes, proud of their unique allure, but seeing them on someone else was deeply unsettling. It wasn't just the shape; it was the color, too.

They were exactly like my unusual violet eyes right down to the grey swirling within.
At the bottom of the screen was only a name.

Queen Ariadne Ariti.

"Do you know who she is?" Raine asked, hurriedly grabbing her phone from me like she was afraid that my tight grip would crack her precious screen.

"Where did you get that?" I asked instead.
"Well do you remember Aeren from my Human-Computer Interaction class?"

Hair so blonde it verged on white, inky black eyes and skin as pale as cream, sent an involuntary shudder down my spine.  He was no ordinary soul.  A technology savant that dabbled in the illicit dark web, adept at uncovering secrets that would make even the most hardened individuals tremble.

I nodded.

"Well, he stumbled upon that image while attempting to breach the security of the United Greecia's network.
The website claimed she was a queen from over four centuries ago, a woman that is clearly your doppelgänger, Callie. He couldn't really dig up anymore information before getting kicked off the site. She's got to be your relative. Aren't you from United Greecia?" Raine asked.

"My parents are. I was born here in Freedom," I whispered, pushing down the bile rising in my throat.
At least that's what my parents had always claimed. "But why would Aeren be investigating me?"
I've never crossed him, made sure to stay far away from his path and off his radar."

"He wasn't," Rai said dismissively, waving her hand as she pushed bright pink feather earrings into her lobes.
"Aeren is snooping around on this dreamy guy from my English Lit class. He is a transfer from the forbidden country of United Greecia."

A piercing scream sliced through the thumping music reverberating through the house. Instantly, my heart rate skyrocketed, and a surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins, sending sharp, tingling prickles across my scalp.

Within seconds, acrid smoke invaded my nostrils, saturating the air like a contagious disease. I instinctively raised my hand to shield my mouth and nose from the overwhelming stench. I flung open the bathroom door. Bad, poor, stupid decision.

The smoke billowed out into the hallway, denser and more suffocating than it was in the bathroom. In the distance, tiny flames flickered, reminding me of the fireflies I used to chase as a little girl. Squinting through teary eyes, I felt paralyzed as I watched the flames rapidly intensify, engulfing the floor and crawling up the walls in angry streaks of orange.

A large bookcase had toppled, obstructing most of the door and blocking my escape. A tight knot formed in my stomach, twisting with pain. The slender opening between the doorframe and the bookcase was too narrow for my hips to squeeze through. I swallowed back a scream. How long did I have before the flames came for me?

There was not a single soul in sight, no signs of help. I strained my ears to hear over the thrumming against my eardrums, but all I could hear was the crackling of the wood burning in the fire. I was trapped. Was this really where I died? Alone? In the ugliest bathroom I'd ever seen in my short life.

This couldn't be the end of my story. I cried out for help, desperately hoping I could fit through the slender gap between the doorframe and the bookcase. Struggling and contorting my body, I squeezed through the tight space. I screamed for help again, but it was no use. The sound was lost to the sinister symphony of the roaring flames swallowing the house. The searing heat was unbearable. Sweat dripped into my eyes, making it even harder to see.

A violent cough racked my lungs as the polluted air consumed my body. The loop on my jeans snagged on a jagged corner of the fallen bookcase, and with determination, I strained and tugged, not flinching as the sharp wood carved into my skin. I just needed half an inch more, and I could escape from this suffocating bathroom. With one final, exerted pull, I managed to free myself. My shoulder thumped against the thickness of the carpet. I lay there, coughing, staring through blurry vision at my pants dangling from the bookcase. My dizziness intensified, clouding my thoughts, and each breath grew more laborious. The will to reach up and grab them eluded me-I was drained.

I could only lay there, my skin sticky with sweat, as the flames closed in, encircling me within their fiery embrace.

The heat was so intense that my mind kept going blank. Lying there, eyes closed, until the dizziness subsided seemed like the easiest option.

Yet another wave of coughing racked my body. I writhed on the floor, the pain searing through me like a vise squeezing my insides. I needed clean air, not sleep. If I slept, I'd never wake up again. I had to fight. The urgency to rise and flee the house surged within me.

Rolling onto my side, I pushed myself off the ground, mustering every ounce of strength just to stand.

"Oh my Goddess, C, I've been screaming for you! Let's get the hell out of here," Raine exclaimed, appearing beside me like a hallucination, enfolding her arms around me to lend support. Waves of intense pain shot through me as her hands made contact with my skin.

I wanted to ask where the hell she'd suddenly appeared from, but the urgency of our escape took precedence. Smoke and fire were raging all around us, and the crackling of wood engulfed the air.

A haze settled over my mind as Raine guided us through a labyrinth of back hallways, her breathing ragged as she struggled under my weight. The memories of what followed were fragmented-a door splintering as she kicked it open, a descent down stairs, and then she was hoisting me through a shattered window, the sharp shards of glass tearing at my bare legs. I could hear the shrilling wails of sirens in the distance and people shouting faraway.

Shit, shit, shit.

I turned around, arms clutching myself tightly, and what was once a house now stood as a towering inferno, almost beautiful in its chaotic destruction. I couldn't tear my gaze away.

All I wanted to do was attend a party, to hang out with friends and have some fun. Why did this have to happen?

So fast. It all happened so damn fast.

My best friend pulled me to safety when all hope seemed lost, but my thoughts immediately shifted to my parents. They almost lost their only child. The weight of their potential disappointment hung heavy on my heart.

We never really grow up to be quite the person our parents want us to be, do we?

That's because life was built upon a fragile foundation, patiently biding its time for just the right moment to crumble beneath us. Life consists of a series of missteps, poised to reshape the course of our lives.

My aching body collapsed to the ground, Raine's urgent calls for help barely registering as my mind swirled with disbelief and pain.

My life crumbled into a thousand jagged pieces today. I just didn't realize that this was that pivotal moment when everything irrevocably shifted.

The pain consumed me, dragging me deeper into its depths until my vision faded and the world went dark.