The night after Eryndor's name slipped from her lips felt like a cage.
The survivors of the City of Ash no longer looked at Lianna with fear and awe. The balance had broken. Now their gazes burned with something darker: suspicion. Resentment.
She felt it in the way shutters slammed when she walked past, in the way whispered prayers turned to curses. Once, a child's hand had reached toward her glow with wonder. Now even the children hid.
Kael moved like a storm around her, his shadows restless. He didn't speak unless forced. His silence pressed heavier than threats. Auren, on the other hand, never left her side, his voice steady and calm even as his silver eyes betrayed unease.
Lianna knew it was because of the name.
Eryndor.
It haunted every breath she took. She whispered it to herself in the quiet, feeling it echo like a thread pulling her forward, like a promise she had no right to claim.
But Kael's warning thundered in her mind. If he's real, the world will burn.
And still… her heart had whispered back to him.
---
On the second day, when the ash-winds rose, the survivors finally acted.
The thin man who had spoken before returned—this time not alone. He brought nearly a dozen others, carrying crude weapons, torches that smoked acrid in the dim light.
Kael stepped between them and Lianna instantly, shadows coiling like serpents.
"You will not touch her." His voice was ice.
The man spat into the dust. "We've lived hidden for years, kept ourselves alive in the dark. Then she comes—glowing—dragging shadows with her. You call that salvation? I call it a curse!"
"She saved you," Auren said sharply, his silver glow flaring faintly. "Without her, the corrupted bearer would have torn you all apart."
"She brought it here!" the man roared back. His hand shook on the torch, but his eyes blazed with conviction. "Every shadow for miles felt that flare! Do you think we'll survive another wave? How many children must die before you admit she's the beacon calling them?"
The crowd murmured agreement. Faces twisted with fear.
Lianna's throat constricted. She wanted to scream that she hadn't asked for any of this—that she didn't want this cursed bond. But her wrist betrayed her, glowing faintly under her sleeve. The light pulsed like a heartbeat, undeniable.
The man jabbed a finger at it. "There! Proof enough. She'll doom us all. We must drive her out—or kill her before the shadows claim us!"
Torches lifted. Voices rose. The crowd pressed closer.
Lianna's chest locked. Kill her? For something she didn't choose?
Kael's shadows surged violently, spears of black coiling outward, making the crowd stagger back in terror. His storm-gray eyes burned with lethal promise. "Touch her, and I will drown this city in shadow."
The man faltered, but desperation twisted his features. "Monster!"
"Enough!" Lianna cried, stepping forward. Her wrist flared with light, cutting through shadow and torch alike. The crowd shrank, shielding their eyes.
Her voice shook, but she forced it steady. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to be your savior either. But don't you dare call me a monster—I never asked for this!"
Silence fell.
Her wrist burned hotter, her glow spilling brighter than before. And in that searing pulse, the whisper returned—stronger, clearer.
You are not a curse. You are my vow.
Her knees nearly buckled. She heard his voice as though he stood beside her. Golden eyes in her mind, fierce, unwavering.
Do not bend to their fear, little flame. You are mine.
Her lips parted, trembling. "Eryndor…"
The crowd gasped at the name. Some dropped their torches, murmuring in terror. Others shouted, voices rising hysterical.
"The Forgotten King!"
"She speaks his name!"
"She's calling him—she'll unleash him on us all!"
Panic exploded.
Stones flew. Someone hurled a blade. Kael's shadows snapped up to deflect it, snarling. Auren pulled her back, shielding her with his glow.
But the damage was done. The crowd turned violent, fear spilling into rage.
Lianna's power flared again, wild, uncontrollable. Light seared through her veins, spilling across the ruined square. Shadows recoiled—but so did the people.
"Stop!" she screamed. "Please, stop!"
Her plea was swallowed by chaos.
---
They barely escaped.
Kael tore a path through the mob, his shadows forming a barrier that scattered stone and torch alike. Auren half-carried her when her legs faltered, his silver eyes blazing. Survivors shrieked curses, some even prayed, others screamed for blood.
By the time they ducked into the skeletal remains of an old temple, Lianna was trembling so violently she couldn't speak.
Her mark glowed fiercely, refusing to dim.
Auren pressed his hands gently over hers, murmuring calming words. "Steady, Lianna. Breathe. Don't let their fear anchor you."
But Kael's voice cut like thunder. "You spoke his name."
Lianna's head snapped up. His storm-gray eyes locked on her, fierce and unyielding. "Do you even understand what you've done?"
Her voice broke. "I didn't mean to—I just—he was there—"
Kael's shadows surged dangerously. "Every time you call him, he grows stronger. And if he breaks free—"
"Enough," Auren snapped, his glow flaring. "Shaming her won't change what's already happening. The bond has chosen. Denying it will not undo it."
"Then she should be prepared to burn," Kael spat.
Lianna's chest ached, tears spilling hot. "Stop it! Both of you! I don't understand any of this—and you refuse to tell me! Who is Eryndor? Why do you fear him so much?"
Neither answered.
The silence cut deeper than knives.
Finally, Auren's voice came low, reluctant. "Eryndor… was once a king. The last bond-bearer the world ever knew."
Lianna froze. "A king?"
"A tyrant," Kael growled. "A destroyer. He wielded the bond to shatter kingdoms, to bend fate itself. The world nearly ended because of him."
Her heart pounded. "Then why does he call to me?"
Kael's storm-gray gaze darkened. "Because the bond remembers. And because you are tied to him."
Her stomach lurched, bile rising. Tied to… a tyrant?
But the whisper surged again, defiant, tender.
I was never your enemy. Do not let them twist my name.
Tears blurred her vision. "You're lying," she whispered, not sure to whom.
Kael's expression was iron, Auren's full of quiet sorrow. Neither offered her the comfort she desperately needed.
---
That night, Lianna dreamt of fire.
She stood in a hall of black stone, flames flickering along the walls. A throne rose at the far end, and upon it sat a figure cloaked in shadow and gold.
Eryndor.
His crown gleamed, his golden eyes burned like twin suns. When he rose, the fire bent toward him, as though the world itself obeyed his command.
Yet when he approached her, his voice was low, almost gentle.
"You fear me."
Lianna's breath shook. "They say you destroyed everything. That you'll burn the world again."
He stopped before her, close enough that the heat of his presence washed over her skin. His eyes locked on hers, unwavering.
"I burned only what sought to chain me. To chain us." His hand hovered near her wrist, not touching, but the bond seared with his nearness. "You are not their weapon. You are mine. And I am yours."
Her heart thundered. "Why me? Why now?"
A shadow of sorrow crossed his golden gaze. "Because the world has forgotten what it means to be chosen. And because fate has finally grown tired of silence."
The flames roared higher.
Lianna jolted awake, sweat soaking her skin, her mark blazing so hot it lit the ruined temple.
Kael and Auren stirred instantly—Kael's shadows rose, Auren's glow flared. Both stared at her wrist with alarm.
"What happened?" Auren demanded.
Her lips trembled. "He was there. Again. He… he spoke to me."
Kael's jaw locked. "And?"
Her voice broke as tears filled her eyes. "And I don't think he's a monster."
The silence that followed was heavier than ash.
Outside, the wind howled through the ruins. The survivors' whispers gathered like a storm.
And far away, in the depths of shadow, golden eyes opened.
---