Elara hesitated — just long enough for Cale's mask to crack. His hand tightened around the handle of a glowing dagger.
Before she could move, he stabbed it into her side.
She looked at him in disbelief — the boy she had trusted her whole life, her closest friend, a person she felt admiration for, now a stranger with her blood on his hands.
The locket pulsed once — as if it remembered.
Elara collapsed to her knees, her vision almost blur. The cold night pressed against her wounds, and every heartbeat felt like fire.
Her trembling hand reached for the dagger still buried in her side, painted with her own blood.
"C… Cale…" she whispered, disbelief shattering into raw pain.
But Cale's eyes were unreadable, his expression hard as stone.
"You were never meant to hold it," he said. "You're too sentimental, too weak. it was wrong to choose you."
Behind him, Mira staggered forward, clutching her bleeding arm trying to shield her.
"Run, Elara!" she shouted hoarsely. "He'll take the locket—!"
Before she could finish, another blade flashed.
Cale turned and drove his sword through her chest.
The forest froze.
"Mira!" Elara screamed — her voice broke, but Mira's faint smile stopped her breath.
"I told you…" she gasped, falling on the ground. "He's… the one…"
Her body went still.
Something inside Elara snapped — a thread that once told her to mercy.
The locket on her chest started glowing with light bursting like molten gold. The air trembled; even the stars seemed to be scared.
Cale took a step back. "No—"
But the words never left his mouth.
The forest exploded with power. The ground split beneath her feet, roots twisting like serpents. The sky turned white as if the moon itself screamed.
Elara rose slowly, her hair moving around her face.
Her eyes glowed faintly — with silver blending in violet.
When she spoke, her voice was both hers and not hers.
"You betrayed me… and you killed her."
She raised her hand, and light—no, revenge—filled like a storm. The spell ripped through the air tearing through every pursuer who still breathed. Their cries vanished into dust and silence.
When it was over, Elara stood alone among the ashes.
As she remembered her master's word to not use her magic but felt like what she did was right not wrong but feeling sorry for not following his order.
The glow faded. The locket dimmed again.
Her body moved.
"I… did it, " she murmured, her voice distant, almost childlike. "But… it hurts…"
The last thing she felt was the locket's warmth spreading across her chest, wrapping her like a fading heartbeat.
Then — darkness.
Wind.
Soft, cool wind brushed against her face.
Elara's eyes fluttered open. The scent of wet soil and flowers filled her lungs.
She blinked, bit confused — the forest was gone.
Above her stretched a golden sky, unfamiliar and vast.
Birds with glowing wings moved in the sky. Strange towers glowed faintly in the distance.
She sat up with effort, her hands shaking.
Her wound was gone. Her clothes were different — a flowing silk robe embroidered with beautiful patterns she didn't recognize.
"What… is this place?" she whispered.
Before she could stand, a voice rang out sharply.
"Lady Elara! You shouldn't be outside alone!"
Two soldiers rushed toward her, clad in silver armor with the crest of a dragon.
They knelt before her, eyes full of respect — and confusion.
"Your father, the General, will be furious if he finds out you wandered again," one said gently.
The General?
Elara's heart pounded.
She looked down at her reflection in a nearby pond — the girl looked almost like her with the same blue eyes — it wasn't her.
The locket still rested around her neck, gleaming faintly.
It pulsed once.
As if it remembered.
And in that moment, Elara knew — she hadn't escaped death.
She had crossed into another world.