He paused.
"I rember completely killing you all," he continued calmly. "How did you survive?"
I blinked, unable to comprehend what he was talking about. There was no madness in his eyes, no distortion in his voice that would suggest confusion or delusion. He spoke with absolute certainty, as though he were recalling an event that had already been settled long ago.
"What do you an?" The question left my mouth before I could restrain it.
"I an what I said," he replied without hesitation. "I erased your entire lineage. How did you survive? I can sll your blood. You belong to the main lineage, don't you? Who is your father? And more than that, where am I?"
Irritation surfaced on his face as he rubbed his forehead again. His wings shifted behind him, their feathers rustling softly against the still air of the hall.
But my mind was no longer focused on his frustration.
It was focused on what he had said.
My lineage.
The word lingered in my thoughts, heavy with implication.
What was he talking about?
I had never seen him before. I had never heard his na spoken outside the fragnted visions granted by the book. And yet he spoke as though he had personally stood before my ancestors and ended them with his own hands.
'What is going on here?' the question echoed within .
I forced myself to remain calm, suppressing the instinctive tension rising within my Essence. Reacting blindly would gain nothing. Understanding him would.
"What do you rember last?" I asked, my voice steady despite the storm of questions forming in my mind. If he truly believed what he was saying, then his mory itself might reveal the truth behind his presence here.
He did not answer imdiately.
His gaze shifted away from , unfocused, as though searching inward rather than outward. His wings lowered slightly, their rigid tension easing as he closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Then he spoke.
"I was in a fight," he said slowly, his voice quieter now, less certain. "I was winning, then…"
His eyes narrowed sharply, and in that instant, his entire presence shifted. The calm composure that had defined him monts ago fractured, replaced by sothing far colder.
His aura surged outward. It expanded with undeniable weight, pressing against the hall in silent dominance. His wings flexed behind him, their movent restrained.
"Then I was betrayed."
The words were not spoken with anger. They were spoken with clarity.
His gaze sharpened as it returned to , studying now with renewed intensity, as though my presence had taken on entirely new aning within the context of what he rembered.
"You…" he said slowly. "You should not exist."
"You are mistaken," I replied evenly. "You don't know ."
He studied for a long mont without speaking. His red eyes did not flicker or shift as he observed , searching through my face as though expecting to find sothing familiar hidden beneath it. Then he chuckled softly, the sound low and devoid of humor.
"I may not know you," he said, "but I know the blood flowing within you. That is enough to erase you."
He raised his hand slowly.
My perception sharpened instantly. Essence surged through my channels, stabilizing and ready. My laws churned beneath the surface, waiting for release. Every instinct warned that even the smallest gesture from him could carry consequences I did not yet understand.
But he did not attack. He simply extended his finger toward .
A faint yellow glow ford at its tip.
It was subtle, almost harmless in appearance, yet the mont it appeared, sothing inside reacted.
My blood stopped.
The flow within my veins halted completely, frozen in place as though ti itself had been suspended within my body. The sensation was imdiate and unnatural. My muscles tensed involuntarily.
Then the blood began to glow.
The yellow light spread through my veins, illuminating them from within. I could see it beneath my skin, thin lines of radiance tracing across my arms, my neck, my chest. The glow intensified, responding not to my will, but to his.
Theras chuckled again.
This ti, the smile on his face was different.
Wild.
Not uncontrolled, but unrestrained, as though he had just confird sothing he had expected to find.
"See?" he said softly. "I told you."
His gaze remained fixed on , his eyes burning with certainty.
"I can sll that blood from another planet."
He lowered his hand.
The glow faded instantly.
My blood resud its flow, restoring the natural balance within my body as though nothing had happened. But the effect lingered in my mind, the violation undeniable. He had not touched . He had not imposed force through Essence or law in any conventional sense. He had simply pointed at , and my body had obeyed him.
"Now," he continued, his voice calm again, "who is your father, kid… and where am I?"
That was enough. Enough for even to accept what I had been resisting.
He knew my lineage. He recognized sothing within my blood that connected to a past I did not yet fully understand. The certainty in his voice was not guesswork. It was mory.
I decided to see how much he truly rembered, and how much of what he claid was certainty rather than instinct.
"My father's na was Julius Ironhart," I said.
Theras tilted his head slightly, his red eyes narrowing as he searched through his mory. There was no imdiate reaction, no flash of recognition, only quiet evaluation as he asured the na against whatever fragnts he still possessed.
"Don't recall that," he said after a mont. "Who is Julius's father?"
"I don't know," I replied instantly.
His expression hardened.
"What do you an?"
"I an what I said. I don't know my grandfather."
It was the truth. I had never t him. Never even heard his na spoken with certainty. In our family, there had always been silence around that part of our lineage, as though it belonged to a past no one wished to revisit. My grandmother had been the only elder whose presence had shaped my childhood.
More irritation surfaced on Theras's face.
His fingers twitched slightly at his side, his wings shifting in restrained agitation.
"And where am I?" he asked again.
I shook my head slowly.
"I don't know," I answered. "It's a ruin of so kind. That is all I've discovered so far."
He blinked once, his gaze drifting away from as though attempting to confirm my words through his own senses. Then he raised his hand to the side, extending his fingers outward into the empty air.
The hall reacted instantly.
User Comments
0 comments from readers