Fel's eyes narrowed at Valen, her wings stiff with tension. The two of them stood in the heart of the forest, the trees around them towering like ancient guardians. The air was thick with the scent of moss and earth, but the stillness between them felt more oppressive than anything else.
"Do you even realize what you've done?" Fel's voice was low but filled with restrained fury.
Valen looked at her, his expression a mixture of apathy and irritation. "I'm not the one who destroyed a whole clan, Fel. Don't start lecturing me."
Fel's fists clenched, her nails digging into her palm. "Don't you act like this isn't your fault," she snapped. "you tricked her into doing things she couldn't control."
Valen's lips twisted into a sarcastic smile. "She chose it. No one forced her. I gave her a chance, and she took it."
Fel shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "You're deluded if you think you did her a favor."
"She wanted power, and she got it. She also wanted revenge. It's not my fault she couldn't handle it." Valen's tone was casual, almost dismissive, but beneath it, there was an edge of frustration.
"Revenge? can you hear yourself?, Valen!" Fel took a step forward, her wings barely fluttering.
Valen didn't flinch. "I can hear myself just fine. If you're upset about it, go yell at her. She made her own choices."
Fel was momentarily taken aback, but her anger flared back up almost immediately. "You really don't care, do you?" she growled. "You used her and then just…."
Valen didn't even bother responding. He was already bored with the argument, but there was a subtle shift in the air around them, something Fel noticed right away. He paused, his gaze going distant as if listening to something in the wind.
Fel took a step toward him. "What is it?"
"I can't feel it anymore," Valen said, his voice much quieter now, but there was a coldness in it that made Fel pause.
Fel raised an eyebrow. "Feel what?"
"Her. Lyrelle." He glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "She's gone."
For a split second, Fel's heart stopped. The words didn't make sense. She took a step back, eyes widening in disbelief. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
Valen's face remained impassive as he crossed his arms. "She's dead, Fel. It looks like the knights of the star killed her."
The world seemed to shift beneath her feet. Her stomach churned, and for a brief moment, Fel felt something like a punch to the gut. Lyrelle was dead? The same Lyrelle who had wandered into the forest, seeking her own form of strength, and who had trusted them both? Gone. Just like that.
"What… how?" Fel's voice was barely above a whisper, disbelief still clouding her thoughts.
Valen's eyes narrowed, the nonchalance in his tone returning. "I don't know. But I do know this, someone got to her before I could even notice."
Fel didn't respond right away. Her mind raced, her wings twitching in agitation as she processed what he was saying. Lyrelle had been given power, yes, but she hadn't deserved to die. Not like that. The thought of someone. anyone. ending her life without even a shred of understanding made her blood boil. It didn't matter that Lyrelle had done terrible things. no one deserved to be taken down so mercilessly.
Valen watched Fel as her expression shifted from disbelief to quiet anger. He didn't care about Lyrelle's death. He had already moved on. It was just one more casualty in a game he never really got invested in. But Fel? She wasn't so quick to dismiss it.
Fel's fists clenched again, her nails digging into her palm so deeply that she could feel the sharp pain. She stepped forward, her voice shaking with a mixture of fury and disbelief. "How could you... how could you be so heartless? You used her, Valen. You didn't even care."
Valen didn't flinch. "I didn't make her destroy everything she cared about, Fel. If anything, I gave her an opportunity to feel like she mattered. That's more than most people get."
Fel was breathing heavily now, her anger simmering beneath the surface. She had never understood Valen fully, but this. this was beyond comprehension. How could someone be so detached from the consequences of their actions?
"You're a monster," she spat.
Valen's eyes flashed, but his expression didn't change. "And you're naive."
Fel's heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to lash out, to do something. anything. to make him see how wrong he was. But before she could act, the air around them shifted again. This time, it wasn't just tension. It was something heavier.
She realized, with a shock, that Valen wasn't just indifferent. he was surprised. His voice, when it came, was softer, almost hesitant. "I don't understand… How could she have been killed so easily?"
Fel froze, her anger momentarily forgotten. "What do you mean?"
"She drank my blood," Valen said, his voice low and troubled. "She was bound to me. She shouldn't have been able to die so easily."
Fel's breath hitched. She hadn't considered that. "She was tied to you by blood…"
"Exactly. That's why it doesn't make sense. She was basically my vessel. I never thought someone could just… take her down."
Fel stood there for a moment, absorbing the revelation. She had no answers, but Valen's confusion mirrored her own. Lyrelle had been strong. She had been powerful. too powerful to simply be erased without a fight.
Before she could speak again, Valen's voice broke through her thoughts. "The knights of the star must have had something to do with it."
Fel glanced at him, her eyes narrowing. "Knights of the star?" She had heard of them before. Righteous, seemingly unstoppable warriors who carried out judgment on those who disrupted the balance. But the idea that they had wiped out Lyrelle, someone tied to Valen himself, was too much to wrap her head around.
"Don't look at me like that," Valen said, his voice edging toward a sneer. "You're pissed at me for what happened. But Lyrelle's death? It wasn't my doing."
Fel opened her mouth to retort, but then she stopped. She wasn't angry anymore. not at him. The pieces were falling into place, and her anger, though still sharp, felt more distant now. She was just… tired. Just Tired.
Valen looked at her for a long moment before he spoke again, his tone almost curious. "What will you do now, Fel?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure." She took a deep breath. "You'll pay for this one day, Valen. Whether you believe it or not."
Valen didn't respond, instead turning away with a wave of his hand. He didn't care, and that was what irked her most. She was left standing there, staring at his back, uncertain about everything and yet feeling like she had just begun to understand the consequences of trusting him.
Fel's wings fluttered, and she turned her gaze to the forest around them. The woods felt even quieter now, the trees whispering secrets in a language she couldn't understand. She felt something shift in the air. a presence, perhaps, or maybe it was just her mind playing tricks. But something in her heart told her that the story was far from over.
Elsewhere...
The pyre crackled as the flames consumed Lyrelle's body, her ashes rising into the sky like a final, fleeting prayer. The knights of the star stood in a quiet, solemn circle around the fire, their leader, Captain Elion Astris, watching with a heavy heart.
"May the gods guide you," Elion whispered, his voice filled with a sorrow he rarely allowed himself to show. His gaze remained fixed on the fire.
Elion had seen many battles, faced countless enemies, but even as he watched the destruction of the Verdant Root Clan and the burning of Lyrelle, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. She had gone mad, yes, but she had been a person too. And he couldn't help but wonder if there had been another way.
As the flames began to fade, Elion closed his eyes and muttered a silent prayer for peace... something the world had denied Lyrelle in the end.
"May you find the peace you never had in life," Elion said, his voice soft but resolute.