Episode ------26
Rain fell in sheets, drumming like war drums against stone and steel. In the ruin's fractured hall, Ayan and Lina stood side by side — breath ragged, hearts hammering in fierce, fearful sync.
Across from them, Revan's men closed in. Shadows moved through ruined archways, blades glinting wetly under flickering lightning. Revan himself stayed still, watching — cold, calculating, a viper ready to strike only when sure of the kill.
Ayan tightened his grip on the sword, ignoring the pain tearing through his ribs. The cut still bled, soaking the cloth that clung to him. Darkness threatened the edges of his vision, but Lina's presence anchored him, a fragile lifeline in a sea of blood.
"Stay behind me," he hissed under his breath.
"No," Lina whispered, voice steady despite the terror in her eyes. "I told you. Together."
---
The first man lunged, blade sweeping for Ayan's side. Ayan met him head-on, steel clashing in a flash of sparks. Pain ripped through his body, but he forced himself to twist, sword biting deep into flesh.
The man staggered back, clutching his stomach — and collapsed.
Another attacker moved for Lina, knife gleaming in the half-light. Lina flinched but swung the iron rod with desperate strength. The blow glanced off the man's shoulder, not enough to fell him — but enough to draw Ayan's gaze.
Ayan's sword swept in an arc, catching the attacker across the back. Blood sprayed, mixing with rain on cracked marble.
Lina's chest heaved, fear sharp and alive in her veins, but her grip on the rod stayed firm. The memory of Revan's voice — that cold, amused certainty — burned in her mind. She wouldn't let him be right.
---
Revan stepped forward, slow, deliberate. Rain trickled down the deep scars on his cheek, eyes like a winter storm. "So this is what you've become, Ayan," he drawled. "A wounded dog, hiding behind a girl's courage."
Ayan's breath rattled in his chest. "She's braver than any man who follows you," he spat.
Revan's smile was all knives. "Then let's see if love keeps your heart beating when your blood stops flowing."
---
At a flick of Revan's hand, two more men moved in, blades raised.
Ayan blocked the first, steel screeching against steel, but the effort tore a ragged cry from his throat. Lina's heart lurched at the sound.
The second man lunged at Lina. She stumbled, fear catching in her lungs — but managed to parry with the rod. The impact jolted her bones, pain blooming across her wrists.
"Lina!" Ayan roared, voice ragged with terror.
"I'm fine!" she shouted back, though her breath came sharp and fast.
The attacker snarled and advanced again — but this time Lina didn't back away. She swung the rod low, catching the man across the knee. He cursed, stumbling forward — and Ayan's sword found his throat.
Blood spilled across broken stone. For a breath, only rain and thunder spoke.
---
But the last attacker was still standing. He raised his blade for a killing blow toward Ayan — pain had slowed him, made him vulnerable.
Lina moved, faster than thought, rod crashing into the attacker's wrist. The knife clattered onto marble. Before the man could recover, Ayan buried his sword into the man's chest.
The attacker fell, breath gurgling into silence.
---
Lina gasped, chest heaving, every bone trembling. Blood mixed with rain, soaking into the ruin's ancient stones.
Revan watched, eyes narrowed, amusement fading into something colder. "You surprise me, girl," he said, voice quiet, dangerous. "But courage dies like everything else."
Ayan took a step forward, blade dripping crimson, chest rising and falling in labored breaths. "You'll have to go through me first."
Revan's gaze turned iron. "You forget who taught you to kill, boy."
---
Lightning split the sky, shadows dancing across broken columns. For a breath, Lina saw them as reflections of each other — teacher and student, bound by blood spilled long ago.
Revan drew his own blade, longer, black steel glinting with cruel beauty.
"Don't watch," Ayan whispered to Lina, pain and dread in every syllable.
"I won't look away," she breathed, voice shaking but resolute.
---
They clashed.
Steel screamed against steel, sparks fleeing into darkness. Revan moved like water over stone, each blow precise, remorseless. Ayan fought with raw desperation — pain slowing him, but rage sharpening his edge.
Blood flew, rain washing it across marble. Ayan's wound tore wider; he stumbled, barely catching Revan's next strike.
"Ayan!" Lina cried, voice raw, powerless to help.
Revan pressed the attack, blade flashing toward Ayan's heart. At the last heartbeat, Ayan twisted, steel biting into Revan's side.
Revan hissed, eyes burning with fury. "Still learning to bite," he snarled.
---
Ayan staggered, sword trembling in his grip. "And you've forgotten to fear," he rasped, voice ragged.
Revan lunged, blade sweeping low. Ayan blocked, but strength fled his limbs. Revan's blade grazed his ribs, fresh blood spilling.
Pain blinded Ayan — darkness crowded his vision.
In that heartbeat, Lina moved.
She threw herself forward, rod swinging wild and desperate. It struck Revan's arm, enough to slow the killing blow.
Revan snarled, hand snapping out, backhanding her across the face. Lina fell to the marble, breath ripped from her lungs, pain exploding behind her eyes.
"Lina!" Ayan roared — voice raw, broken, furious.
---
Revan turned back to finish it.
But something changed in Ayan's gaze.
A darkness — something deeper, older, buried under years of guilt and blood.
He rose, pain forgotten, blade lifting. In a blur, he moved faster than Revan could follow.
Steel bit deep into Revan's shoulder, twisting free before the older man could react. Another strike — savage, desperate — found Revan's side.
Blood fountained in the rain.
Revan staggered back, eyes wide, shock cracking his mask of cold cruelty.
"Ayan," he rasped, breath failing, "you—"
Ayan's sword swept once more. Revan fell, blade slipping from his fingers, eyes frozen in disbelief.
---
Silence returned, heavy and wet.
Ayan stood over Revan's body, chest heaving, blood dripping from blade and wound alike. His shoulders shook — not just with exhaustion, but something darker. The face he wore in that moment wasn't the man Lina knew.
It was the face of the man he used to be.
---
"Ayan…" Lina's voice cracked, soft, terrified.
His gaze lifted to her — raw, haunted, as if waking from a nightmare.
"Lina," he rasped, voice breaking. The sword slipped from his hand, clattering to the marble.
She crawled to him, tears mixing with rain and blood. "I'm here," she whispered.
"I almost lost you," he gasped, voice shaking. "I almost lost myself."
"You didn't," she breathed, cupping his bruised cheek. "You found your way back."
---
They knelt together in the ruin, broken bodies and bruised hearts, rain falling gentle now — as if the storm itself had exhausted its rage.
For the first time, Ayan let the darkness show. And Lina did not look away.
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Teaser for Episode 27:
As dawn breaks, Lina faces what it truly means to love a man with blood on his hands — and Ayan must decide if redemption is even possible when your past keeps breathing.