Every creature watched her in silence, eyes glimmering with a fragile spark of hope.
Lyanna held in her hand an object that resembled a pen sleek, ancient, and oddly alive.
But just as she was about to sign her name on the page, something struck a force faster than lightning and the pen was torn from her grasp, clattering to the ground.
The air froze.
A heavy silence spread.
Lyanna's heartbeat quickened. Lightning speed… that glow… that can only be him.
Vaelith.
Lyanna's heart whispered a name
Vaelith.
Her eyes darted to him.
He stood there tall, regal, his very presence commanding the space around him.
He wore a robe of white laced with green, elegant and royal. A golden mask concealed his face, leaving only his piercing emerald eyes visible eyes that shimmered with both power and sorrow .
Lyanna's thoughts spiraled.
The last time I saw him was in that cursed palace…
Since then, his image never left my mind.
When I met Zaryth, I thought he was the one trying to kill me and Vaelith the one trying to save me.
Somewhere in the chaos… I let this stranger steal a place in my heart.
Wait why am I thinking like this?
Before she could untangle her thoughts, a deep, echoing voice boomed from beyond,
"I never expected you to come. I thought you'd prefer to stay where you belong. So tell me why are you here?"
the voice said, calm yet cold.
"I thought you preferred staying where you now belong...
Then the tone shifted sharp, dangerous.
"Or have you grown bold enough to interfere with my work?"
The presence radiated fury. It was aimed not at Lyanna but at Vaelith.
Vaelith's reply was smooth, defiant.
>"Did I interfere? Or did you forget your own rules? No one can take a Tursom without the permission of the previous bearer. If that's true, tell me whose mistake is this, mine or yours?"
The unseen voice laughed a sound so chilling it shook the walls, a low and terrifying sound that echoed through the chamber.
"You said it yourself. It requires the permission of the previous Tursom. Are you sure your predecessor or your former tursom hasn't already granted it?"
Vaelith fell silent, Vaelith's eyes darkened, then muttered,
"Never. I would know."
Then, his voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
"And as long as I live, you won't take it."
A smirk curved behind his mask.
"Because I know how this works ,I do."
The unseen voice laughed again, louder this time a sound like cracking thunder.
"Do you? Moron ..You trusted the wrong soul, and now your mercy will be your eternal curse. And because of that, you'll be bound here forever while your pity, your mercy… will destroy you."
"Enough!" Vaelith snapped, his tone suddenly raw. He pressed a hand to his temple as if resisting a scream that clawed at his mind.
Lyanna stood frozen, wide-eyed. She couldn't understand what was happening who these beings were, what "tursom " meant, or why she was caught between them.
His eyes locked onto Lyanna's, who stood frozen, lost in a chaos she couldn't understand a pure soul caught in forces beyond her knowing.
In a heartbeat, Vaelith stepped closer so close their faces were barely an inch apart.
"If you want to live," he whispered, voice ragged,
"come with me."
Before she could reply, he took her hand his grip firm but trembling and pulled her into a run , through shadows and screams of the wailing creatures left behind.
---
Lyanna barely knew what was happening. She had thought the creatures were monsters, maybe Vaelith was one too but then why did his touch feel human? and if so, how was he free ?Why did his voice sound… afraid?
Then she remembered the word whispered earlier tursom.
What does it mean…?
Hand in hand, they ran through the darkness. Lyanna glanced at him that golden mask, the mystery he carried, the quiet strength beneath it .
As they ran through the shadows, the cries of the creatures rose behind them a sound of heartbreak and despair, like the death of a thousand hopes.
When she looked back, she saw the creatures crying broken souls who had waited for freedom that never came.
Their cries pierced the air like shattered glass.
Through her blur of motion, Lyanna's eyes caught a glimpse a creature trapped inside a glass like cell, its form molten and broken, as if it had been imprisoned for centuries.
a creature half consumed by lava, imprisoned within a small cell like space, as if trapped there for centuries.
Its hope had died long ago.
In that moment she realized these were the beings she had seen in her visions, when she read the forbidden spell.
Vaelith looked tense, his energy fading. Lyanna's heart tightened.
Finally, when the screaming faded behind them and the darkness thinned, Vaelith stopped.
He turned to her, his mask reflecting the faint light.
"Do you trust me?"
Lyanna hesitated . she couldn't speak. How could she? He was a stranger and yet, something about him felt achingly familiar.
She lowered her eyes, silent.
Vaelith chuckled softly.
" I really am a moron ," he said. "Expecting trust from someone who barely knows me…"
Then, to her surprise, He chuckled lightly
"A moron that's what I am."
Lyanna looked up. "No… you're not. I don't know why, I feel like I can trust you. I do but….. I don't think you're bad."
Then, almost blurting, she added,
"But… why do you hide your face behind that mask? It feels like the real face beneath it isn't something I'm meant to see."
Vaelith tilted his head. "You think I'm ugly?"
Lyanna frowned.
"Maybe you are," she teased. "But that's okay. I'm not exactly beautiful either. So you can stop worrying about how you look. I don't judge people by face "
Vaelith let out a quiet laugh.the sound soft and genuine this time.
"Wrong." he said
"Wrong?" Lyanna frowned , "What do you mean?"
Vaelith repeated. "Everything you said ..
"I mean," he said softly, "you're the beautiful one here even if you don't see it. And my face?"
He chuckled again, his voice full of mischief.
"It's not ugly. It's too beautiful. Dangerous, even. Girls fall for me too easily. it's too beautiful , beautiful enough to make any girl fall for me. so I keep it hidden "
He lightly tapped her cheek with his gloved finger.
"Huh?" Lyanna blinked, blushing slightly.
"Never mind. Come on," he said, turning away. "There's a place we need to go."
And so, hand in hand, a stranger and a girl stepped together into what would become the beginning of something neither of them could yet name.