Elarion found the door behind the cabin of that mad man and reached the basement through stairs. He walked down the stairs, calm, controlled, unhurried but not slow.
It was dark and rotting place---The basement stank of rust and rot.
Rows of cages lined the walls.
Children, too many. Some alive. Many not.
The living ones whimpered, hollow-eyed. Chains dug into their wrists. Elarion shattered their bindings one by one.
But instead of gratitude, they begged him: "Kill us."
He knew it, from the time he first entered and saw their conditions.
The experiments had not only drained them physically but also mentally. They were now, nothing more than holllow bodies with no soul.
Could I have saved them, if I was faster.
But what's the use of thinking that and blaming yourself??
Can I change anything? No
The only thing I can do for them is, grant them their wish.
Grant them their wish to die.
And he did. Where mercy was needed, he granted it without hesitation.
He raised his blade towards them, the blade reflecting their expression on one side— Joy, and then his— Understanding,
on the other side of the shining blade.
He killed them all ina flash, a quick death was better than countless years of torture.
---
The whole collor covered with blood and bodies of children— Smiling. Elarion stepped forward closing their eyes.
The basement became silent, but there was one soubd— Faint.
---
In the farthest corner was her.
A girl.
She sat unmoving. Blonde hair tangled with dirt.
Unlike the others, she wasn't chained by the neck or wrists. Her chains were thinner, almost symbolic.
Her face was scarred — thin, fading lines along her cheekbones, her jaw. Not deep.Not fresh. But there.
Unlike the others, she didn't cry. She didn't beg.
Her golden eyes—sharp, predatory, yet strangely hollow—watched him with detached calm.
While other children cried or screamed, Larianess sat completely still. Her legs tucked beneath her, spine straight, head tilted slightly like she was studying him.
She wasn't broken. But she wasn't whole either.
Elarion crouched in front of her. His voice dropped low.
"Do you want to die too?"
She said nothing.
His hand brushed her hair back, revealing her face fully. Those yellow eyes didn't even blink.
He recognized her. Leoriness.
The scars made her look older than she was—twelve years old, maybe thirteen.
But the scars wouldn't last. He knew that.
His palm hovered over her cheek, fingers glowing faintly with pale blue light.
A healing pulse.
Minor injuries faded slowly, the angry red cuts cooling down to pale skin beneath. But even with his power, some wounds would take time.
Her body wasn't normal—faster recovery, just like his. Not fully like him, but similar. It confirmed what Larian already suspected:
She wasn't just some random girl.
She was Leoriness.
A noble child marked by her golden eyes—a symbol of her bloodline.
Someone he'd once called a friend, long before either of them ended up like this.
Still, he didn't force her to speak. Didn't demand answers.
With quiet patience, he simply lifted her in his arms. Her thin body barely weighed anything.
Her head rested against his shoulder as he carried her from the dark, broken place—out into air that smelled of trees and life again.
For the first time, she closed her eyes.
Without forcing her to speak, he broke her chains and carried her out. Her body was weightless. But her presence was heavy with memory.
---
Elarian's Memory: past life
Back then, she had told him everything.
In a burning city, standing side by side, Larianess had spoken in a voice stripped of warmth:
> "When I was a child... I don't remember how long. My family left me or maybe didn't. I was kidnapped. Turned into a thing."
> "The lab caught fire. Maybe someone set it. I woke up in the middle of it. And I walked out. Alone."
She had pulled back her mask then, revealing a burned face. Half her skin ruined by flame.
> " Even my healing power couldn't heal this burnt from that dark substance, but I survived "
> "The others burned. The scientists. The children. I survived."
> " I had lost all my memory, my golden eye represent royalty, but it's all a coincidence, ....maybe"
She said the last words to slow to catch but Elarion did.
No tears. No shaking. Only silence.
They had been alike. Both puppets. Both broken. That was why they had trusted each other without words.
And now, seeing her again, face unburned in this life, still silent, he understood.
She wasn't fine. But she was still herself.
---
Elarion took her out of the building,he opened the door on the end of the corridor, children were typically stored at.
They moved past everything, Leoriness just watched how he moved so calmly and effortlessly fast.
She felt safe.
She leaned more on Elarion's shoulder and closed her eyes.
For the first time, she felt like no danger will approach her, not here, not with him.