Darkness gave way slowly.
There was no pain, but it was like a memory from the past.
Elyndra stood beneath silver trees swaying in a wind that no longer existed. Pale leaves drifted soundlessly through the air beneath a twilight sky untouched by smoke or fire. The royal gardens of Avanriel stretched around her exactly as they had before the war… Before her crown, before the court, and the hidden intentions.
While reminiscing about the old, innocent memories of the royal garden, footsteps approached behind her.
Turning around, she froze.
Her father stood there.
Not as she remembered him at the end, clad in bloodied armor, but as he had once been. He was calm, composed, untouched by exhaustion. His blonde hair shifted gently in the wind, and his presence carried the same impossible steadiness that had once held the realm together.
For a moment, she could only stare.
Not as she remembered him at the end, clad in bloodied armor, but as he had once been. He was calm, composed, untouched by exhaustion. His blonde hair shifted gently in the wind, and his presence carried the same impossible steadiness that had once held the realm together.
For a moment, she could only stare.
“…Father?”
His gaze softened slightly.
“You look tired, Elyndra.”
Something in her chest tightened painfully.
“I… have failed…” Her voice almost broke beneath the weight of the words.
“…the court is breaking apart. The great houses are already moving… and soon, they’ll drag the realm into another war.”
Her hands trembled faintly at her sides as she lowered her gaze.
“I don’t know what to do…”
For a moment, only the wind answered.
Her father stepped forward and stood beside her, his eyes lifting toward the twilight sky above. The stars shimmered faintly between drifting silver leaves, distant and cold.
“The peace after the war was always fragile,” he said quietly.
“Not because the realm was weak… but because fear remained.”
His gaze drifted toward the distant gardens stretching beyond the trees.
“Fear does not disappear when war ends… it only waits.”
Elyndra’s expression tightened. Her father continued.
“The fear of losing influence in a changing court.” His voice remained steady, carrying the same quiet certainty she remembered as a child. “And when fear takes root among the great houses… conflict soon follows.”
Elyndra lowered her gaze.
“I couldn’t stop it.”
“You were never meant to stop it alone.”
Her hands clenched slightly tighter.
“Then what was I supposed to do?”
A faint sadness touched his expression.
“Lead them.”
The single word lingered quietly between them.
Elyndra shook her head weakly. “They never truly accepted me.”
“No,” he agreed softly. “Because you kept searching for acceptance from the wrong people.”
The wind stirred through the silver trees, carrying drifting leaves between them.
“The realm was never sustained by the great houses alone,” he said. “It survives because of its people. The soldiers standing watch along broken borders. The families are rebuilding villages after the war. The ordinary lives that continue long after nobles finish arguing over power.”
The words settled heavily within her chest.
“The houses fear losing influence,” he continued quietly. “But the people fear something far simpler.”
His gaze met hers.
“They fear losing tomorrow.”
Silence followed.
The twilight around them began to blur faintly at the edges. Silver leaves dissolved slowly into drifting fragments of light, scattering into the wind like fading memories.
Elyndra noticed immediately.
“…Father?”
“Avanriel needs you.” His form was already beginning to fade.
The world around her trembled faintly. The dream was beginning to break apart.
His voice felt distant now, carried away with the wind.
“So stand, Elyndra.”
"Father! I…"
can't… don't leave me…
━━━━━━━━━━━
Pain around her temple returned instantly as her consciousness slowly rose from its long slumber.
Pressure crushed against her chest as sensation came flooding back into her body. Her breathing staggered painfully, every nerve igniting beneath waves of numbness and exhaustion.
The silver gardens vanished. Sterile white light bled faintly through her closed eyelids. Elyndra’s fingers twitched weakly against the surface beneath her.
She felt something warm trailing slowly along the side of her face,
Her own tears.
A strained breath escaped her lips. and slowly,
She began to wake.
“…Seems like a sad dream.”
The voice was calm, unfamiliar, and strangely gentle.
Elyndra’s vision blurred at first, pale light bleeding across her eyes as consciousness returned in fragments. The ceiling above her curved like polished ivory wood, faint lines running through it like the veins of a living tree. Soft white light glowed from within the walls themselves, illuminating the room without flame or crystal.
She turned her head weakly toward the voice.
The woman standing beside her looked almost unreal.
Long whitish-blue hair flowed past her waist in soft waves, faintly shimmering beneath the pale light around them. Two dark horns curved back from her temples, black and smooth like polished obsidian.
Her eyes stood out the most.
Whitish-blue, the same cold shade as her hair, luminous beneath the pale glow of the chamber. Their pupils were narrow vertical slits. It was draconic, sharp, quietly predatory. They watched Elyndra with unsettling calm, as though measuring every movement and breath with impossible precision.
The woman wore unfamiliar white and dark garments fitted neatly against her slender figure. Black scales covered parts of her hands and forearms, glossy beneath the light like finely polished armor. Despite the woman's draconic traits, her movements were graceful and controlled, every action smooth and deliberate. It was different from the beasts that burned kingdoms.
Elyndra forced herself to look beyond her.
In addition, the room itself felt impossible.
It resembled the inside of a living tree, curved wooden walls flowing seamlessly together, smooth like naturally grown ivory bark. Yet strange metal and glowing glass objects were embedded throughout the chamber, humming softly with an unfamiliar energy. Vines and roots intertwined subtly along parts of the walls, but beside them rested smooth silver instruments and floating pale screens filled with symbols she couldn’t understand.
Nature and something unnatural are woven together into a single space.
An elven sanctuary twisted into something foreign.
Everything about it felt something else entirely.
The horned woman tilted her head slightly, pale strands of hair shifting over one shoulder.
“You’re awake earlier than expected,” she said softly.
Elyndra tried to move, but her body felt numb all over, as though it no longer fully belonged to her.
“Careful,” the woman warned gently as she moved closer to support her. One scaled hand rested lightly against Elyndra’s shoulder while the other steadied her arm with surprising softness, careful and controlled, as though she already understood exactly how fragile sudden movement could feel after waking. Despite the dark scales covering her fingers and hands, her touch was warm and steadying rather than threatening.
“Your body has just recovered from severe trauma,” she continued softly. “It may take a few minutes… or hours… before your reflexes fully return.”
At the same time, the memories returned all at once.
The court.
The cliff.
The fall.
Fear tightened inside her chest.
“…Where…” Her voice came out weak and rough. “Where am I…?”
The horned woman was silent for a brief moment before offering a faint smile.
“Somewhere safe,” she answered quietly.
Elyndra’s breathing slowed unevenly.
“How long… have I been…?”
“Sixteen days,” the woman replied. “Based on the records.”
The number alone made her chest tighten.
And somehow, that answer only made the room feel even stranger.
What Elyndra didn’t know was that the woman standing before her had only been born two days ago. Yet despite that impossible truth, her movements, speech, and understanding of medicine were refined to an unnatural degree, as though the knowledge had been deliberately placed within her from the very moment of her creation.
Furthermore, sixteen days were enough time for the court to move on without her. Enough time for rumors to spread, for alliances to shift, and for the great houses to seize control of the silence she had left behind.
The crown was possibly no longer hers. Elyndra felt hopeless and alone, being left behind by the world she once belonged to.
Lost in thought, a soft sound echoed near the entrance.
Elyndra turned weakly toward it just as another figure stepped into the chamber.
This woman was taller than the first.
Long black hair flowed behind her like dark silk, contrasting sharply against the pale glow of the room. Her eyes were a deep crystalline blue, strikingly close to Elyndra’s own in color, yet colder somehow. More inhuman.
Unlike an elf’s eyes, her pupils were narrow slits, distinctly draconic, sharper and more predatory beneath the calmness in her gaze. Combined with the faint black scales visible along parts of her neck and hands, she looked less like a noblewoman and more like a creature wearing elegance as naturally as skin.
She carried several containers in her arms, steam faintly rising from one of them.
“Hana,” she said calmly, her voice lower and steadier than the other woman’s, “I brought food for the patient. And yours as well.”
The horned woman beside Elyndra brightened immediately.
“Yes! Thank you, Vice Commander Kyndris! My work will end late, but I wanted to try it already."
Vice… Commander?
The title alone made Elyndra tense faintly beneath the blankets.
Kyndris’ gaze shifted toward her then.
Sharp blue draconic eyes met Elyndra’s own for the first time.
“She’s awake,” Kyndris noted calmly.
“Yup!” Hana answered brightly, almost cheerfully. “A little earlier than expected, too.”
For a brief moment, the room fell completely silent.
Then Hana moved first.
With smooth, practiced motions, Hana prepared the food Kyndris had brought, arranging it carefully onto a small tray before placing it on the table near Elyndra. Warm bread rested beside a bowl filled with green stew, faint steam rising softly into the air. Beside it sat a wooden-like cup filled with water, its smooth surface unlike any material Elyndra recognized. The unfamiliar meal carried a strangely comforting scent through the chamber.
“The Commander will see you soon,” Kyndris said as she gestured lightly toward the tray.
“Take your time and eat,” she added softly.
“We’ll wait in the other room.”
As Kyndris turned to leave with Hana, she thought about Hana’s suggestion.
Moments earlier,
A holographic call between her and Hana surfaced. It was originally meant to ask about the patient’s condition.
‘Sometimes, the best way for someone to recover isn’t through medicine or treatment alone, but through something warm enough to remind them they’re still alive.’
Kyndris had looked at her strangely after hearing that.
‘Is that true?’
Hana simply shrugged.
‘Dunno. It’s what the Commander said, though.’
‘When did he say that?’
‘During the opening of the new restaurant yesterday.’ Hana tilted her head. ‘Wait… where were you back then?’
‘I was outside the base picking herbs,’ Kyndris replied after a brief pause. ‘For the restaurant.’
‘Oh… so you missed it.’
‘I guess I did.’
The memory passed quietly through Kyndris’ mind as she walked away from the chamber.
In the end, she only hoped the patient would like the food.
Soon after, the two women turned and left the chamber.
As Kyndris moved, Elyndra noticed the weapon strapped across her back.
Her body stiffened instinctively. It looked similar to the weapon she had seen in the court gardens, the one carried by the strange figure.
And yet…
These women spoke fluent Elvish.
The realization unsettled her even more.
Who were they?
And what connection did they have to the figure from the gardens?
Before Elyndra could gather her thoughts further, the doorway sealed smoothly behind them, and silence settled over the room once more.
Elyndra remained still for several long moments.
She noticed the unfamiliar clothing draped over her body. The fabric was soft and strangely smooth against her skin, far lighter than the layered silks and royal garments she was accustomed to. Pale in color, simple in design, it resembled no attire from Avanriel or any neighboring kingdom she knew.
Then her gaze slowly lowered toward the tray beside her.
The food looked simple enough, yet nothing about it felt familiar. The bread was softer and paler than the kind served within Avanriel. The green stew carried herbs and scents she couldn’t identify. Even the cup looked strange, smooth like polished wood yet too seamless to have been carved normally.
Stand, Elyndra.
Her father’s voice echoed faintly through her mind.
Even if it had only been a dream.
Elyndra slowly reached toward the tray and tore off a small piece of bread.
Slowly, she took a bite.
The warmth spread across her tongue first, soft and unfamiliar.
It was then… her tears fell.
Silent at first. Then harder.
The betrayal still hurt when she finally allowed herself to confront it.
The memory of that final moment at the cliff’s edge remained painfully clear, the certainty in their eyes, the absence of hesitation as they cast her aside like something already discarded.
The worst part was knowing that she could do nothing in return… No power, no magic… nothing.
Elyndra lowered her head slightly as tears slipped quietly down her face.
The weight of the kingdom had always felt too heavy for her to bear. The court, the great houses, the endless expectations placed upon her shoulders, it had all slowly worn her down.
However, she still had to stand. Because she was the royal blood of Avanriel.
And whether she wished for it or not…
The realm was still her responsibility.
And yet, while crying, another emotion surfaced.
It was small and unexpected.
“…It tastes good…”
The words escaped her softly, almost sounding confused.
For a brief moment, the warmth of the bread and stew cut through the heaviness in her chest.
For some reason, that only made her cry harder.