THE SILENCE BEFORE THE STORM...
The ruins stood in eerie stillness.
No gods. No war.
Just the weight of something unfinished.
The once-majestic temple, now reduced to fractured stone and ash, lay in quiet mourning beneath the ashen sky. The celestial battles that had once shaken these grounds were over, their echoes fading into oblivion. And yet, the air remained thick with something unseen—an invisible tension clinging to the shattered columns, as if the world itself held its breath.
Elias sat on a crumbling pillar, his hands clasped together, staring at the broken world around him. The wind whispered through the ruins, carrying the scent of stone and something older—something ancient that had never truly left.
Seraphina stood a few feet away, watching him—waiting.
She had seen him like this before. Silent. Withdrawn. A man who had once carried fire in his veins, now lost in the remnants of something he refused to name.
A few paces behind her, Varian leaned against a fallen statue, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. He, too, sensed the tension but knew better than to interfere. This was a war of words—a battle that could not be fought with swords.
It had been hours since the last whisper.
But the absence of a voice didn't mean the absence of a presence.
Elias knew this.
He could feel it.
The throne was still out there. Waiting. Watching. And no matter how long he stood in defiance, it would not wait forever.
SERAPHINA'S LAST PLEA....
The silence stretched between them like an unspoken truth neither was willing to face.
Seraphina finally broke it
"Tell me you're not considering it."
Elias didn't look at her. "Considering what?"
She stepped closer, her boots crunching against scattered debris. The ruins had seen centuries of war, yet nothing in them compared to the storm raging between them now.
"You know what."
Her voice was steady—strong, even—but Elias could hear what lay beneath it.
A tremor. A plea. A raw, unspoken fear.
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "It's not that simple."
Seraphina's fists clenched at her sides. "It is. You don't have to answer it. You don't have to—"
Her voice broke, just slightly.
She swallowed hard before continuing, softer this time.
"You don't have to leave."
Elias closed his eyes.
"Seraphina…"
Why did she have to say it like that?
Like it was a choice between her and everything else?
Like she already knew the answer?
THE BURDEN OF A KING...
The wind picked up, sending dust spiraling between them. Elias leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the ground as if it held answers he couldn't yet voice.
"Do you know what I am?"
Seraphina frowned. "You're Elias. That should be enough."
Elias flinched.
Because for a moment—he wished it were true.
"It's not."
Seraphina's breath hitched. "Why not?"
Elias lifted his gaze to hers.
For the first time, she saw it—the weight in his eyes, the burden he had been carrying alone. It was not just war or loss. It was something deeper.
Something inevitable.
"Because something is waiting for me," he said.
Something I was never meant to escape.
The words hung between them, unshaken by the wind, solid as the ruins beneath their feet.
Seraphina took a step forward, her expression shifting from frustration to something gentler. She reached out as if she could take the weight from his shoulders, hold it for just a moment.
"But you did escape it," she whispered.
Elias let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head. "Did I?"
Because even now, the whispers were returning. Faint. Insidious. Crawling into the spaces between his thoughts
"You hear us now, don't you?"
Elias's jaw tightened.
Not now. Not yet.
VARIAN SPEAKS...
Varian finally pushed off from where he was standing, stepping forward.
"Then let it wait."
Elias's gaze snapped to him.
Varian's expression remained unreadable, but his tone was firm, edged with something dangerously close to anger.
"You talk like you have no choice, but that's a lie. You do. You always have."
Elias smirked, though there was no humor in it. "And if I told you that I already made my choice a long time ago?"
Varian didn't blink. "Then I'd call you a fool."
Seraphina inhaled sharply, but she didn't stop him.
Because for once, Varian was saying the words she wasn't strong enough to.
Elias stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. "You think it's that easy? That I can just ignore it?"
"I think," Varian said evenly, "that you're letting yourself believe you're already lost."
Elias looked away.
Because deep down, he feared Varian was right.
THE FINAL QUESTION..
Elias stood, turning his back to them.
Looking beyond the ruins.
Beyond the broken world.
Beyond something neither of them could see.
"You're both afraid of what happens if I go."
Seraphina's voice was quiet, but firm. "I'm afraid of what happens if you don't come back."
Elias hesitated.
That was the part that scared him too.
Because he wasn't sure if he could.
The whispers were growing again, their words curling like smoke around his thoughts.
"Come back to us, King."
He clenched his fists.
Promising answers. Power. Purpose.
But at what cost?
The throne was waiting.
The past was waiting.
The choice was waiting.
He turned back to them, his expression unreadable.
Then he asked the only question that mattered.
"If I asked you to trust me—would you?"
Seraphina's lips parted slightly, her eyes searching his.
She could see the war inside him. The struggle between the man she knew and the force trying to claim him.
And yet—
Her answer was immediate.
"Always."
THE UNANSWERED CHOICE....
The moment stretched between them, longer than time itself.
Elias held her gaze, as if memorizing the way she said it. The way her voice didn't waver
But trust was a fragile thing.
And some choices, once made, could never be undone.
The whispers grew stronger.
The ruins seemed to pulse beneath his feet.
And far, far away, the golden halls of a forgotten kingdom stirred.
The throne remained empty.
Waiting.
Elias took a breath—
And made his choice.