Amelia turned sharply, her heart racing. "I—thought I saw someone. Outside."
Sophie frowned and came closer to the window. "Someone? It's just the wind, maybe a reflection. You look really pale, Amelia."
Amelia hesitated. The figure was gone. The space where it stood looked perfectly ordinary — trees, leaves, sunlight.
"Yeah," Amelia said quietly. "Maybe just my imagination."
Sophie smiled faintly. "You've barely eaten anything since morning. Come on, I will make some tea and there should be some snacks in the kitchen to eat."
Amelia forced a small nod and followed her toward the table — but her eyes lingered on the window a moment longer.
Outside, the wind moved through the trees.
And deep within the forest , something glowed faintly — like silver eyes watching from afar.
After some time.....
The forest at night was silent — too silent.
No crickets, no movement of leaves, only the faint hum of the magic.
Silver mist crawled between the twisted trees until it gathered near a black river. From the mist, a forms began to take shape — a woman with long silver hair and eyes like still water, and she came near a man dressed in blue and gray cloak ,his face half-hidden beneath a hood.
The woman's voice was soft when she spoke. "You're being restless, Sorcerer."
He didn't turn to her immediately. His gaze stayed fixed on the river, where faint glow of light moved across the surface — illusions from the Dark Lord's magic. " why are we even here for this " he said quietly. "To deceive an innocent girl. To make her trust us. You call that a mission?"
The woman smiled faintly, her expression unreadable. "We are not here to question him. We are here to serve him. The girl must walk willingly to the edge of the forest — and you, of all people, should understand obedience."
His jaw tightened. "Obedience," he repeated bitterly. "A word used by those who never had to do anything against their wishes ."
He finally turned toward her. In the dim light, his eyes held something she hadn't seen in long time— grief.
The silver-haired woman tilted her head. "You still carry their memory, don't you? The family you lost."
A flicker of darkness passed over his face. "Don't speak of them," he said sharply. "They were killed by the same darkness we serve."
"And yet you still have to serve it." Her smile deepened, almost looking kind. "Strange, how pain shapes loyalty."
The Sorcerer looked away again, the faint mark on his wrist glowing black — a reminder of his bond, his curse, his silence. "I don't serve him," he murmured. "I just do things to survive."
For a moment, silence stretched between
them — only the soft echo of flowing water filling the space.
Then, the woman spoke again. "What will you do when you meet her?"
He hesitated, then said, "Exactly what he wants. I will earn her trust. Protect her when the time comes. And when she no longer sees me as a stranger—"
His voice faltered for a second.
"I will lead her to him."
The woman's silver eyes glowed . "You sound uncertain."
"I am," he replied. "Because she doesn't deserve what's waiting for her."
The woman moved closer, her form flickering slightly, light bending around her. "That is why you'll fail, Sorcerer. Mercy is a weakness. Remember your curse ."
He didn't answer, only turned his gaze back toward the faint lights far beyond the forest — where Amelia's house stood under the rising moon.
After a while, the silver-haired woman began to dissolve into mist again. "We will begin tomorrow," she said. "The girl is young, curious, lonely — she will come to us. I will take the form she will trust the most."
"And me?" he asked quietly.
"You will come later," she replied. "When the time is right, when she needs someone to
protect her. You'll be her savior first… and her end later."
Her figure vanished into silver mist, leaving only the Sorcerer by the riverbank.
He stood there for a long time, staring at his reflection — though he felt like the water showed him not his face, but the face of a younger man, smiling, freely. A memory of who he once was before the darkness claimed him.
He closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Amelia," he whispered. "But fate doesn't offer choices to the cursed."
The wind shifted, carrying the faint trace of magic — "Go."
And with that, he vanished into the mist, leaving only sparks where he once stood.