Lady vieller pov
I had forgotten what the sun looked like.
Down here in the dungeon, there was only darkness. Cold, thick, suffocating darkness. The kind that wraps itself around your bones and stays there. My body was thin literally just skin over brittle bones and hunger gnawed at my insides like rats on rotting bread.
I used to be Lady Vieller of House Vieller. I wore silk gowns and drank from gold goblets. Now, I lay curled in a corner, my dress in tatters, my lips cracked, and my stomach hollow. The smell of mold and decay filled the air. I didn't even flinch anymore when the rats brushed past my feet.
They said we would be executed.
For what? Loyalty?
My house had served the royal family of Gorisimo for centuries and we would have continued to do so if that traitor Carlos hadn't spilled their blood. My family had been loyal to Queen Miralda, and for that, we were dragged from our estate and thrown into this hole.
He killed the princess and the rest of the royal family.
I was ready for death. I prayed for it. Anything to escape the silence. The emptiness. The waiting.
Then tonight,everything changed.
At first, I thought I was dreaming. I heard shouting. The clash of swords. Screams. Footsteps pounding against stone. A battle? Down here?
I crawled to the farthest corner of my cell, pressing my body into the wall, hoping and praying that if death had come, it would be quick. I shut my eyes tightly. My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear the approaching footsteps.
They stopped outside my cell door.
I didn't dare move.
Then came the sound of keys, slow and deliberate. The lock turned, and the heavy door creaked open. I opened one eye.
A guard stood there. Or at least, I thought it was a guard. He wore the armor of the royal palace,but his eyes… his eyes were glowing. Like purple moonlight trapped in a storm.
He stepped inside, and I crawled back further. Was this death?
"Lady Vieller," the guard said, and the voice made my breath catch in my throat.
A woman's voice.
Clear. Familiar.
She removed her helmet slowly, revealing a face I had not seen in years.
It couldn't be.
"It is I," she said, her voice soft but firm. "Princess Aeris."
I blinked. My mind was slow. Confused. "P-Princess…? That's impossible. You… you died."
She knelt beside me, and even in the dim light, I could see the truth. Those eyes. That voice. That presence.
"It's me," she said again. "But we don't have much time. You need to follow me."
"Am I dreaming?" I whispered.
"No," she replied. "This is real. But if you want to live, you must come with me now."
I didn't understand. My legs barely worked, but I forced myself up, using the wall for support. My body trembled with every movement.
She reached out to steady me, and I stared at her,this ghost, this miracle. She looked different, stronger. Her eyes fierce like she carried something powerful within her.
We stepped into the hallway. The dungeon was in chaos,some guards lay unconscious on the ground, others bound and gagged. I didn't ask how.
Princess Aeris led me through twisting paths of stone, deeper and deeper into the lower levels. I remembered whispers of hidden tunnels beneath the palace, but no one I knew had ever seen them.
Finally, she stopped in front of a thick iron grate. She pushed it aside with surprising strength and pointed into the darkness beyond.
"There's a passage," she said. "It leads out of the palace and into the slums."
I turned to her, dazed. "Why are you helping me?"
She looked at me then, and in her eyes I saw pain. Deep and endless.
"Because you were loyal," she said. "Because you believed in my mother. And because I need people I can trust."
Tears filled my eyes. No one had said that word to me in so long….trust.
"Follow this tunnel," she continued. "When you reach the slums, ask for a woman named Mira. She will bring you to me,she must not know what happened"
I took a shaky step into the tunnel, then looked back. "But… what about you?"
She pulled the helmet back over her head, hiding her glowing eyes once more. "I must return before they notice I'm gone,Im going to use another passage to get to where you are heading"
"Princess…"i don't understand,
She looked at me one last time.
"I'm not a princess anymore," she said quietly. "But I'll make them remember who I was."
Then she turned and vanished into the shadows.
I stood there for a long moment, my heart thudding in my chest. My fingers brushed against the damp stone wall as I slowly walked forward into the unknown.
I didn't know what I would find.
But for the first time in months, I had something I'd lost
Hope.