...The chains scraped against the deep, festering wounds on my wrists, making a heavy metal noise. Every movement was torture. The only light in the room was a pale moonlight filtering through the iron bars on the window, making dust grains dance. My breath came out in a cloud of icy vapor, and I felt the chill in my lungs with every breath.
Those few minutes of silence before his arrival were my only hope. Then, in the distance, a door creaked open. My heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to burst from my ribcage. Every nerve screamed to escape him, but my body was confined to this cold stone cell, these chains.
He appeared in the doorway. His silhouette, elongated by the light of the torch behind him, fell upon me. His dull golden irises followed every movement, every breath I took. His wheat-colored hair waved gently in the cold wind. That perverse grin twitching at the corner of his mouth only deepened the disgust that had been gathering in my eyes lately. He seemed to be playing a joke on me.
Why? Why me?
Perhaps this strange situation was driven by a foolish compassion and curiosity for his broken core. Or perhaps I had gone too far to see this disorder, this disorder, that lay deep within Grey's enigmatic soul.
I pitied him on our first meeting. In the early days of our fleeting union, a hope blossomed within me, for the first time since my brother, to know someone. This hope had become rooted in his being and had become the fundamental principle that defined our relationship: to understand him, to pull that lonely man out of that dark place.
And look where I am now. I asked myself again, Why did it all come to this?
"Are you cold there, my Lady?" Grey's voice echoed off the stone walls. It was laced with mocking tenderness. His eyes lingered on me as if they would pierce me, revealing every secret.
A deep pain filled me. Seeing her like this was tearing me apart. I was conflicted, for the pain I felt for her continued to draw me into the dark recesses of her mysterious world.I pressed my back against the icy surface of the wall. She approached me slowly. She stood before me. Those eyes, flowing from vertical slits, stared directly into my soul.
My lips were chapped with thirst and curled in anger. "Why, Grey?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "Why are you doing this to me?" I would have continued, but my voice choked on a sob. My body was trembling.
Grey observed my vulnerability and was silent for a moment. He leaned into me, his gaze deep and penetrating. "I want to protect you, Caera," he said, his tone cold and determined. "This world is a cruel and dangerous place. I'm doing everything I can to keep you safe." The hardness in his voice was as evident as his attempt to conceal his concern.
"Liar!" I cried, unable to resist any longer. "What are you protecting me from? You're the only one who's ever hurt me!"
Before I could finish, Grey's firm hand gripped my cheek. It dug into my skin. "Now, honey," he said in a calm yet menacing tone. "You remember the rules, right? You know how to talk to me."
His presence made my heart beat faster, my breathing deeper. As I gazed at him, entranced, I could smell the alluring scent of the expensive perfume he'd chosen. But the allure couldn't drown out the anxiety and fear within me.
"You asked what I should protect from, didn't you, Caera?" Grey said, lowering his voice. His golden eyes softened, and he nodded slowly. "First, from myself, of course." He reached out and gently pressed a specific point on my neck. My heartbeat immediately slowed, and my breathing became heavy. The world blurred around me. "You should sleep for now. Resisting will only make you tired."
As my consciousness faded, I saw him staring at me, a thin smile on his face. Amidst the anger and fear, I felt a pang of sadness. I felt sorry for him. God, what have we become...
Grey lifted Caera's unconscious body into his arms almost effortlessly, as if it were as light as a feather. The release of her chains gave her immobile body a strange sense of freedom, but this freedom was pure illusion. He laid her down on an ancient, dusty, yet comparatively comfortable chair in a corner of the cell. Compared to the stone walls, it felt as luxurious as a palace chamber.
He crouched down and remained there for a moment, watching her steady breathing, the gentle flutter of her eyelids. It was the quiet, submissive state she could control. It was the only thing that calmed the storm within him.
He slowly pulled an elegant ivory-handled comb from his pocket. He knew Caera had been held in this cell for several days, covered in dust, sweat, and despair. She should have lost the exquisite appearance he normally so fond of.
But it wasn't.
He brought his face close to the curve of her neck. He buried his nose in his messy midnight-blue hair and took a deep breath.The smell...
He shouldn't have bathed. He should have smelled of sweat, a faint, pungent odor. But the scent that filled Grey's lungs was nothing like that. Mixed with the earthy scents of dust and stone, yet far more potent, was an essence unique to him. The lightly damp earth, the most delicate flower buds, and the pure scent of rain from the deepest, darkest woods... As if this was his essence in its purest form. An essence that was only Caera, purified from all earthly impurities.
The scent reached Grey's mind directly, making him dizzy, clouding his mind. It awakened the slumbering beast within him. It was the rarest, most addictive perfume for him. And only he could possess it.
With one hand, he gently grasped the hair at the base of her neck. The silky strands slipped through his fingers. With the other, he plunged the comb into her hair and began to untangle the first knot. She worked incredibly slowly and carefully, as if putting the finishing touches on a work of art.
"Look," she murmured to the unconscious Caera, her voice low and filled with admiration.
"Look. You're no longer the perfect, unattainable Lady Caera others saw. You're dirty, messy, fragile... but you're real."
She ran the comb through a knot.
"They've only seen your exterior, your flawless shell. Your shining clothes, your proud gaze..." Another knot unraveled.
"But I..." she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper, "I smelled this scent of you. I saw your fear, your helplessness, your sweat. Your true self... Even at your ugliest, most vulnerable..."
She untangled the last knot in her hair, and the comb now slid smoothly through her long locks. The action had a hypnotic rhythm.
She dug her fingers into her hair again, this time deeper, reaching the roots, and took a strand in her palm. He brought it to his nose and took another deep, passionate breath. He filled his lungs with that intoxicating scent.
And then... he chuckled.
A quiet, childish chuckle, yet filled with darkness. His shoulders moved slightly.
"Yes," he whispered, his lips almost touching her ear. He spoke to the unconscious Caera as if sharing a secret. "Yes, Caera. Finally... finally, you will be mine alone. No one can appreciate this scent of you, this true self, as much as I can. No one can see you as much as I can."
His words hung in the cold stone room like a promise and a curse. He continued to gaze at her, combing her hair, his face filled with both profound sadness and perverse happiness. Finally, all the pieces fell into place.
***********************************************************************************************
Flashback
The ancient, icy stones of the Relictombs creaked softly beneath Caera's heavy steel boots. Each step shattered the deathly silence of this forgotten tomb, momentarily dispelling the dense darkness surrounding it. A heavy humidity and a static mana energy hung in the air, mingled with the dust of ancient battles and lost souls. Taegen and the other soldier, Goran, followed closely behind in their heavy armor, their eyes scanning the dark corners with alert eyes.Suddenly, Caera's sharp gaze fell on a motionless figure lying in the middle of a vast plain ahead. He was dressed like the other climbers, but unlike the others, he had not survived the struggle.
"This damned labyrinth will swallow you or spit you out," Caera muttered, his voice echoing dully against the cold stone. He waved a sharp hand to the soldiers to halt. "There's no need," he said, the resolve in his voice undeniable. "He's not even as threatening as an insect."
Taegen took a step forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "My lady, be careful. It may not be what it seems." The way he addressed her revealed the strict hierarchy between them.Caera ignored him and crouched down. From her fingertips, a thin thread of mana danced with a purplish glow. The thread drifted toward the stranger's lifeless body, gently curling around it to read its essence, the state of its core.
And she encountered nothingness.
This wasn't a faint flame or a dying spark. It was a utterly barren, bottomless, absolute void. It was as if she were touching a ghost, a nothingness. The mana thread trembled and dissipated at the void it touched. Caera's forehead furrowed slightly, and a rare expression of surprise, a cross between pride and wonder, crossed her face. This was something she had never encountered before. A strange chill and a sense of responsibility welled up within her. How was this possible?
Arthur floated amidst a roaring nothingness, at the bottom of the dark, painful waters of his consciousness. Sylvie's absence, the constant ache of the shattered wreckage of his core... Everything was over. Until she arrived.
A distant voice... Then a warm, gentle touch on his forehead. This touch was an incredible contrast to the terrible coldness and emptiness within him. It was a call to life. He made a tremendous, agonizing effort to open his eyes.
A face with midnight-blue hair and striking, crimson-red eyes appeared in the blurry vision. Their eyes were like two glowing blood-flowers in the darkness of the Relictombs. A perfect blend of mortal danger and otherworldly beauty. Instinctively, he reached out for that warmth, that sign of life. But the movement sent a spasm through his shattered body, and he drew back in excruciating pain.
Caera jerked her hand away. She felt a strange coldness in her fingertips, as if she had touched ice, a slight tingling. A strange, irrational curiosity stirred within her. Who was this man? How had he become like this? This emptiness... it was a mystery that gripped her.
"My lady?" Taegen called, his unease growing. "What is the situation? Is it dangerous?"
Caera stared at the stranger for a moment longer, at the anguish in those empty eyes. She didn't care about his origins or who he was. Only the pain she saw in those crimson eyes, the mystery of that empty core, touched her. She returned to her cold, distant tone, but there was a slight difference in her voice: "Nothing. Just wreckage. Go on." There was a slight pause in her final words, as if she were doubting her own judgment.
She turned her back and continued forward, moving ahead of the group. Taegen and Goran followed after a moment of hesitation. But in the back of Caera's mind, the last spark in those empty eyes and the image of that helpless hand reaching for her lingered. The image was powerful enough to haunt her.
ARTHUR LEYWIN
Nothingness.
An endless, merciless nothingness. Sylvie's absence, the constant pain of the shattered wreckage of my core... Everything was over. I was just wreckage adrift in this void.
Until she arrived.
Heat. A small, yet unbearably real heat in the midst of the void. A light of life. I reached for it. There was someone who saw me. Someone who confirmed my existence in this nothingness, someone who touched me.
Two crimson stars appeared in my blurry vision. They were as dangerous as hell, as beautiful as heaven. They saw me. Me, this helpless wreckage. Perhaps there was nothing but curiosity in those eyes, but even that curiosity was a blessing.
And then... they were gone. They took the heat and those red stars away. They left me in nothingness again, but this time much colder and much quieter.
But now there was a realization. I knew there was something I needed to fill that nothingness
with. That warmth. That red. That touch.Even in the wreckage of my mind, even in my shattered state, a single word, a call, a hope echoed. I couldn't call it by name, but I summoned its presence:
"It... It..."
After the group's footsteps faded into the distance, the heavy silence of the Relictombs descended again. The nothingness within me hummed even more clearly, even more painfully.Then, deep within my mind, a pair of yellow, howling eyes appeared. Regis.
"The trick! Wow, Arthur. You've really hit rock bottom, haven't you?" His voice was loaded with the usual sarcasm, but underneath it was genuine surprise. "You lie half-dead, your core shattered, your soul-bond severed... and the first thing that comes to mind is falling for a red-eyed, armored beauty? Wow, man. Wow. That must be a new record low."
I wanted to scold him, to silence him, but the words were lost in my emptiness.
"Seriously," Regis continued, my mind spinning, "I saw the way you looked at her. Your eyes nearly popped out of your head. They were calling you 'my lady' and all. He seems like a high-ranking man. Maybe he has Vritra blood, who knows? He's not your type, man. Both physically and... well, in terms of his very existence."
I tried to say something. All I got was a weak groan.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir! Please forgive me!" Regis mocked with mock politeness. "I didn't mean to bother you. Just watching you salivate over a girl, even when you're practically dead... It's a little weird. A little pathetic. It's hilarious!" Their laughter echoed in my mind. "But hey, I'm not in a position to judge anyone. After all, I'm just a howling shadow created by your mind. But still, I suggest you pull yourself together a bit. The next time they come around, you should be able to say 'Hello' instead of drooling. What do you say? A small target!"
Regis's words stung, because they had some truth. But at the same time, the memory of those red eyes continued to burn like a spark in my nothingness. Regis's taunts, instead of extinguishing that spark, fanned it even further. I wanted to see her. I wanted to possess her. I knew only she could fill this void.In my mind, amidst Regis's laughter, I clung to a single word:
"Mine... She... Will be mine."
I think it's not bad for the first episode, after all, everything will be revealed in the following episodes.
If there are any issues you would like me to change or add in the following chapters, do not hesitate to tell me, I wish you a pleasant reading :)