Kyros – Present Day
As I left my daughter's room, Alphonso and his personal unit saluted before returning to their posts. I continued down the corridor toward my throne room — my seat of power.
Her words replayed in my mind again and again. My anger had dulled when I saw her crying earlier, replaced by pity and restraint.But now? Now the fire returned.
"Fucking pigs," I growled under my breath.
The staff who passed me in the halls froze, paling at the sight of my expression. I could feel the air trembling faintly around me; even suppressed, my aura leaked through in waves.
Red robes. A flame emblem.
Vaelgrim.
The same family Elenora came from. Only they used that symbol.
Why? Why would they attack her — their own blood? Was it because she defied them? Because she refused to crawl back after leaving me?Or because she thought she could live free from both our shadows — and they couldn't bear that loss of control?
I exhaled slowly, forcing calm into my voice, even as rage churned beneath the surface.If one of them survived, then they must have known about Aurora. But if she ended up in that orphanage… perhaps fate itself hid her. A cruel mercy, but mercy nonetheless.
By the time I reached the towering double doors of the throne room, my thoughts had sharpened into a single, cold edge. I entered.
The vast chamber was silent. My steps echoed against the polished marble until I stopped before the throne — my throne. For a moment, I just looked at it.
Was it worth it? All of it — the blood, the solitude, the endless climb?
I once believed I didn't need anyone. Emotion only clouded judgment, I told myself. No one had been there for me when I clawed my way up from nothing. Isolation was strength. Detachment was armour.
But then she appeared.
Elenora.
That damn woman breached my walls as easily as a sword through silk. She made me feel again. She made me care.And when she left… I buried that part of myself all over again.
Maybe if I'd listened. Maybe if I'd changed. Perhaps—
The faint ripple of mana behind me broke my thoughts. I didn't turn.
"Diablo," I said.
He bowed deeply. "I have done as ordered, Your Excellency. The people know. The city is in an uproar — quite amusing, really, how mortals gossip. I also fulfilled your other requests."
"Good." I kept my eyes on the throne. "I have new information about those responsible for Aurora's suffering. Mobilize the Shadows and verify it."
He straightened slightly. "Understood. What are we looking for?"
"Red robes," I said evenly. "A flame emblem."
The silence that followed told me enough. Even without turning, I could sense his shock.
"The Vaelgrims," he murmured. "I did not see that coming."
I finally looked over my shoulder. "Indeed. If it is them…"
My aura flared, raw and violent, shaking the pillars and splintering cracks through the marble walls. "…then I'll burn their entire fucking bloodline to ash."
The air thrummed with barely-contained power.
Diablo paled but didn't move — awe, not fear, glimmering in his eyes. Finally, he thought, the ice monster's heart stirs again. That woman truly was something.
"Get it done," I ordered coldly. "Quickly."
He bowed once more and vanished in a blur of shadow.
The hall fell silent again. I turned back toward the throne. The steps leading up to it felt steeper than they ever had before. When I finally sat, the weight of it pressed down harder than any crown.
And then, unbidden, an old memory surfaced — one I'd buried deep but could never quite kill.
Six Years Ago — Throne Room
The throne room had looked very different then — all gilded marble and new ambition. The great windows overlooked what would become Luminosity, still half-built, crawling with workers and magi-tech machines that shimmered under the morning sun.
I had been standing before the glass, goblet in hand, watching the city take shape — my city, my legacy.
The double doors opened with a low creak. Elenora stepped inside.
Average in height, yes — but nothing else about her was ordinary. Her hair, white as moonlight, cascaded in elegant waves. Her crimson eyes were soft, serene, and impossibly deep — eyes that could soothe storms or ignite them. She moved with quiet grace, her silken gown whispering against the polished floor.
"Watching your power grow again?" she said lightly. "Because being a Great Mage isn't enough — now you want a piece of the world itself."
Her tone was calm, but the bite was unmistakable. I didn't rise to it — not outwardly. Only the slight tightening of my grip on the goblet betrayed me.
"Elenora," I said, turning halfway toward her, "must we have this conversation again? You know my path. My purpose. You chose to walk beside me knowing that."
She approached, eyes glinting with sorrow. "And after seven years, I'm asking if you've lost sight of what that path is doing to you."
Her hand reached for mine, gentle but firm. "This ambition of yours… it's consuming you, Kyros. Please, listen to me."
I shook my head, pulling away, turning back to the window. "That—" I gestured toward the sprawling city below "—is power. Legacy. The foundation of everything I've fought for. I've hit my limit in cultivation for now, so I'll build elsewhere — through influence, through empire. You know I don't stagnate."
My voice hardened. "You're the one who showed me I could love, that I wasn't just the monster they painted me as. But I can't abandon the path that defines me. The change you ask for would destroy me."
Elenora's eyes dulled with pain. Her hand drifted unconsciously to her stomach, though I didn't notice at the time.
"Kyros," she whispered, voice trembling, "I loved you knowing what you were. I thought I could keep you from being swallowed by it. You saved me once — from my family, from their control. But now I see… you can't save yourself."
She swallowed back tears. "I can't stand by and watch you consume what's left of your soul. Goodbye, Kyros."
Her steps echoed as she turned and walked away. The doors slammed shut behind her with a sound like judgment itself.
For a long time, I stood there motionless, staring out the window, the glass reflecting a stranger's face.
"She left me?" I whispered.
Then —
BANG!
The windows shattered, shards scattering like rain.
"FUCK!"
My aura burst uncontrolled before I forced it back down. My hands trembled.
"Fine," I hissed. "Leave, if that's what you want. I don't need anyone. I was fine before you, and I'll be fine after. Damn idealistic woman."
But even as I said it, the lie burned in my chest like acid.