The dream came like fire, soft at first then violent.
Elyria stood in a field of ash where the stars bled above her. Shadows stood like smoke at the edge of her vision, each whispering her name in a language she did not know but somehow understood.
In the center of it all stood a gate, taller than a mountain, made of bones. It quivered when she neared it. With recognition.
A voice echoed behind it, ancient and genderless. "Remember."
She touched the gate.
And it screamed.
Elyria woke up gasping, sweat clinging to her skin. Her sheets were tangled around her legs, her body was heated that the stones beneath her feet cracked when she stumbled from her bed.
The room was glowing again.
The sigil in her wrist blazed hot.
Something was coming.
Something might already be here.
A scream shattered the silence.
It wasn't hers.
Outside her chamber, the sound of breaking stone and demonic roars thundered through the palace corridors. Elyria threw open her door to find two guards Kaelith's elite lying in pieces. One was still twitching. The other was missing a head.
And standing over them.
A Winged demon, skeletal, ink-black feathers that looked old. Its face was a mask of bone, and its eyes burned with a hunger not just for flesh, but something deeper.
It turned to her, slow and deliberate.
Then it smiled.
Not with its mouth but with its soul.
"There you Are, Princess," it rasped.
Elyria's body reacted before her mind did.
In a swift pace, she bent down and took a staff wielded by one of the deceased guard and pointed at the demon, and a wave of dark energy ripped across the hall from her hand, slamming into the demon and hurling it back against the opposite wall.
During one of their usual arguments, kaelith had shown her how to use it. But for the wrong reasons, she wanted to run away.
But it had little impact.
The wall cracked. The demon did not.
It straightened.
"You are the one," it said. "You were supposed to be hidden."
"Well, I guess am not," she spat.
"HAELITH." She screamed at her highest, even though not much was left.
The demon's wings snapped open with a sound like tearing silk. "His not here."
Then it came forward.
Kaelith was already running when he felt the surge of Elyria's seal slam through the wards.
He knew something was wrong.
The demon's power had broken through the defenses of the palace itself.
He found her in the corridor—barefoot, glowing, cornered.
And facing death.
The winged demon raised a clawed hand, reaching for her face, its fingers made of bones.
Kaelith didn't hesitate.
He called His blade to him.
It appeared in his grip, his soul-forged weapon, serrated and burning red.
He threw it.
It pierced the demon's wings, pinning it to the wall like a nailed insect. It shrieked, twisting violently, wings thrashing.
Kaelith was already there. Already on it.
The battle was not elegant. It was savage.
Kaelith fought like a storm—no wasted movements, no mercy. The demon clawed at his chest, slicing through leather and flesh alike. Kaelith welcomed it, snarling, driving his blade into its ribs..
"Who sent you?" he roared.
The demon laughed, even as Kaelith ripped it's other wings from its spine.
"Too late, Prince. She is awakening."
Kaelith stabbed the thing in the mouth, then tore upward. Bone split. Flame burst from its skull.
A Roar. And then—silence.
Elyria stood trembling, blood Staining her skin, her arms lit with golden veins. She hadn't moved during the fight. Couldn't.
Kaelith turned to her, chest pounding. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, dazed. "No. But… it knew me."
Kaelith wiped his blade on the demon's severed feathers. "And now it's dead."
She wrapped her arms around herself.
Kaelith stepped closer. "There are only a few ancient Houses with access to winged assassins."
"House Zareth?" she asked bitterly.
"Or worse."
Their eyes locked.
And for a moment longer than a heartbeat neither of them spoke.
Then Elyria said, "I saw something. In my dream. A gate. Made of bone. And something behind it… it called to me."
Kaelith's expression tightened. "i don't think that was a dream."
She looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," he said grimly, "you're not just bonded to old power. You're tied to something that's powerful."
"Let me guess, you?"
With a smirk "I am the demon lord after all."
We then walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go clean up. Let's talk later."
---
They burned the demon's body in the furnace chamber below the palace. Kaelith watched the flames while Elyria sat on a bench, arms wrapped around her knees.
It was Kaelith who broke the silence.
"You did well."
She looked at him. "I froze."
"You held it off long enough for me to get there."
"I could've died."
"But you didn't." He looked over. "I was there."
"Yeah," she said. "Like a good little saviour."
His lips twitched. "You'd rather I let the thing extract your soul?"
"I'd rather you stop pretending you didn't enjoy saving me."
"I don't," he said. "I'd rather nothing happened to you, elyria."
She raised an eyebrow.
"But I enjoyed you screaming my Name," he added with a wink.
"HAELITH, HAELITH." he imitated her.
She scoffed, blushing. "You're impossible."
"You're glowing again," he said, voice dropping.
She blinked. "I am?"
He nodded. "It's getting stronger. Whatever is in you… it wants out."
She looked back at the fire. "Then we better find out what it is. Before the next one comes."
"We'll Check for Answers." He Said in a soft tone, one meant to reassure her.