I don't remember much of the walk. Not because I wasn't paying attention, but because my mind was still tethered to what had just happened. The numbness, the girl in green, her words—"If you died now, the world would end before it even begins."
They echoed in me like a riddle carved into bone.
Beside me, Elira walked in silence. Her steps were sharp against the cobblestones, but her eyes… her eyes had drifted somewhere far away.
I tried to pierce it. "Back there… you froze. For a second, I thought you'd seen death itself. Why? What happened?"
No answer. Only her hair swaying as she turned her face slightly away.
"Was it something from your past?" I pressed. "Something you can't talk about?"
Her pace quickened. Her robe brushed against mine as if warning me not to walk closer.
That silence was heavier than words. I could almost hear it screaming: I don't trust you. Not yet.
And maybe she was right not to. I was an outsider. A stranger dragged into the Chancellor's game. Why should she spill her scars to me?
Yet her silence cut deeper than any blade.
Elira's Memory Flashback -
The fire came without warning. Liliath Town was bright that night—not with lanterns, but with flames.
I was a girl then. The air smelled of iron and ash, the cries of the townsfolk tearing through the night. I ran through alleys littered with bodies, the cobblestones painted red.
And then—the castle. Its great white walls blackened by smoke. Inside, where I should have felt safe, I found something worse than the burning streets.
A chamber. Curtains drawn, the stench of medicine rotting the air. And on the bed—
A woman. A woman in a blue dress, silk once radiant now clinging to her thin, unmoving body. Her eyes barely flickered. Her hand, limp. Her lips trembled like she wanted to speak but her tongue was paralyzed by pain.
I stood there, frozen. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. My chest rattled with terror.
And when her eyes finally met mine, I saw not life—but the shadow of death lingering too close.
Back to Present -
"Elira?" I asked softly, but she had already blinked the memory away. Her face returned to stone.
I bit back the urge to push further. Some walls weren't built to be climbed in a day.
The Castle of Avreth loomed before us. Its black spires stretched like claws into the night sky, the torches at its gates burning cold instead of warm. Every time I stepped inside, I felt like prey walking into a predator's jaws.
This time was no different.
Inside the grand hall, the shadows played tricks. A shape leaned against a pillar near the far corner. At first glance, he was just another figure in robes. But as Elira guided me closer, details surfaced.
Brown robe. White scarf covering half his face. His stance calm, almost too calm, like he belonged more to the silence than the room.
"Elira, who's—" I began, but she was already walking ahead. She spoke to him in a low voice I couldn't hear. His head tilted slightly in acknowledgment, but his eyes stayed hidden beneath the scarf's shadow.
Then she beckoned me forward.
I stepped closer, my heart beating strangely fast. Something about him gnawed at me. Something familiar. The angle of his shoulders. The way his gaze, though hidden, felt like it burned straight into me.
And then, before Elira could open her mouth, the word slipped out of mine.
"…Kael?"
The scarfed boy stilled. Slowly, with deliberate hands, he pulled the cloth down from his face.
I froze.
It wasn't Kael. But gods, he could have been. The same sharp cheekbones. The same dark hair that curled at the edges. Even the same depth in his eyes, though colder, more restrained.
But there were differences too. His skin carried pale scars, fine lines etched like whispers of battles survived. His build was leaner, more controlled, every movement efficient, stripped of Kael's wild fire.
I couldn't breathe. For a moment, it was like staring at a ghost wearing Kael's mask.
Elira's voice snapped the tension. "This is not Kael, Auren. His name is Cidd."
Cidd. The name tasted foreign, but it clung.
"He'll be your new partner," she continued. "The Chancellor himself assigned him. From tomorrow onward, the two of you will work together. On missions."
"Missions?" I repeated numbly.
"Yes. Tasks from the Chancellor. Dangerous ones. Ones you won't survive alone." Her lips curved slightly, almost mocking. "Not that you'd last long anyway."
I barely heard her. My eyes stayed locked on Cidd.
He stared back. Silent. Not a word, not a twitch of expression. His stillness was more unsettling than hostility would have been.
Elira nudged. "He doesn't speak much. But when he does… people remember. He has a way of saying things. Simple words that carve themselves into you like lessons you can't ignore."
Then—of all things—she laughed. Just a faint chuckle, her mouth barely moving, but it startled me more than anything else tonight. I had never heard her laugh.
I looked between them. "So… he's my partner?"
Cidd extended his hand. His fingers were strong, calloused, but not crushing when they wrapped around mine. His grip was firm—final, as though binding a promise.
Then, without a word, he turned. His robe shifted like smoke, his figure swallowed by the darker hallways of the castle. He didn't even wait for us to follow. He simply… vanished into the blackness.
Elira let out a faint sigh, as though this was typical. Then she turned to me. "Come. You need rest."
She guided me through a narrow staircase, the torches flickering, casting long shadows that seemed alive. My thoughts refused to settle. Cidd's face. The way it mirrored Kael's. The girl with amber eyes. The mark. The green-clothed savior. All of it tangled in my chest like barbed wire.
Finally, Elira stopped at a carved oak door. She pushed it open.
"This will be your room now. Until the Chancellor decides otherwise."
The chamber inside was bare. A bed, a desk, a single window overlooking the silent courtyard. Too quiet. Too still. Like a cage decorated to look like freedom.
Elira's hand lingered on the doorframe. Her eyes flickered once—hesitant, almost soft—but she buried it quickly.
"Rest, Auren. Tomorrow, you begin."
And just like that, she was gone, leaving me in the hollow quiet of my new prison.
I sat on the bed, staring at the stone wall, every nerve alive with unease.
Kael. Cidd. The mark. Elira's silence.
So many shadows.
And I couldn't shake the feeling that tomorrow, those shadows would start moving.