Lyria's POV
"Don't you dare die on me!"
I pressed harder on Kael's chest, my hands soaked in his silver blood. It felt wrong—too cold, too thick, like liquid metal. His face had gone completely white, and his lips were turning blue.
Think, Lyria, think!
My mind raced. In my fragmented memories, I'd seen myself healing people. I was a goddess, wasn't I? Goddesses could heal. They could save lives. I just needed to remember how.
I closed my eyes and tried to feel for any power inside me. Anything. A spark, a warmth, something that could help him. But there was nothing except the hollow ache where my voice used to be.
Hot tears ran down my face. This wasn't fair. Kael had saved me twice. He was dying because he protected me. And I couldn't do anything to save him back.
"Please," I begged silently, pressing my forehead against his chest. "Please don't leave me alone here."
Then I felt it.
A pulse. Faint, but there. His heart was still beating.
My head snapped up. Kael's chest rose slightly—barely enough to see, but it moved. He was alive. Barely alive, but not dead yet.
I needed help. But who could help a dying god?
I looked around frantically. We were in some kind of entrance hall made of black stone that seemed to absorb light. Tall pillars stretched up into darkness. The air was so quiet it hurt my ears. Everything felt empty and cold and—
Wait.
In the corner of my vision, I saw something move. A shadow that was darker than the others. It slid along the wall like oil, then slowly formed into a shape. A person shape.
"Master is injured," a voice whispered from the shadow. It didn't sound quite human—more like wind through dead leaves.
I jumped back, putting myself between the shadow and Kael. My hands shook, but I raised them in fists. I might be weak and voiceless, but I wouldn't let anything hurt him.
The shadow rippled, and I got the strangest feeling it was... amused?
"Protective. Good. Master chose well." The shadow shifted again and formed into a clearer shape—a woman made entirely of darkness, with glowing white eyes. "I am Nyx, servant of this realm. You must be the lost goddess who makes Master's heart beat again."
I blinked. His heart beating again? What did that mean?
"No time for questions. Master is dying from iron poisoning." Nyx glided closer, her form flowing like smoke. "You must heal him."
I shook my head frantically and pointed to my throat. I can't! I wanted to scream. I don't know how!
"You know," Nyx said firmly. "Your body remembers even if your mind doesn't. Place your hands on his heart. Close your eyes. Think of every kind thing he did for you. Your power responds to emotion, goddess of songs. Sing to him with your heart, even if your throat cannot."
Sing with my heart?
I looked down at Kael. His breathing was getting shallower. Silver blood still leaked from the wound in his chest. If I didn't try something, he would die.
I knelt beside him and placed both hands over his heart. It beat weakly under my palms—slow, irregular, fading. I closed my eyes and thought about him.
The way he'd appeared in the temple when I was about to die. The gentleness in his voice when he said my name. How he'd stood between me and the hunters without hesitation. The sadness in his silver eyes that matched the sadness in my own.
Please live, I thought as hard as I could. Please don't leave me.
Something warm sparked in my chest. It grew warmer, spreading through my body like sunlight. My hands started to tingle, then burn. Golden light leaked between my fingers—I could see it even with my eyes closed.
The light poured into Kael's chest, flowing like water into cracks. I felt his heart stutter under my hands, then beat stronger. Once. Twice. Three times.
"Yes!" Nyx hissed. "More! Give him more!"
I pushed everything I had into the light. The warmth in my chest grew so hot it hurt, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. Not until—
Kael's hand suddenly grabbed my wrist.
My eyes flew open. He was staring up at me with wide silver eyes. His chest heaved as he sucked in a deep breath. The wound was closing, the skin knitting back together before my eyes.
"You..." he gasped. "You healed me. How did you—"
Then his eyes rolled back and he went limp again.
"Master!" Nyx rushed forward. "He lives, but barely. The healing took too much from both of you."
She was right. The world spun around me. That warm feeling in my chest was gone, replaced by a hollow exhaustion that made my whole body feel like lead. I swayed and nearly fell over.
Nyx caught me with shadow-arms that felt surprisingly solid. "You need rest. And food. And answers." She lifted both me and Kael like we weighed nothing. "Come. I'll take you to Master's chambers."
I wanted to protest, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. Healing Kael had drained something vital from me. As Nyx carried us through the dark palace, I caught glimpses of strange things—rooms that led to nowhere, windows that showed stars that weren't real stars, hallways that bent in impossible directions.
Finally, Nyx pushed open a massive door. Inside was a bedroom bigger than my entire temple. A huge bed stood in the center, covered in black silk. Nyx laid Kael on it, then set me down in a chair beside the bed.
"Rest," she ordered. "When Master wakes, there is much to discuss."
"Wait," I signed desperately. "What happened to him? Why did healing him drain me so much? What is this place?"
Nyx's white eyes studied me. "This is the Silent Realm, the space between life and death, sound and silence, everything and nothing. Master Kael has ruled here alone for five thousand years. As for why healing him drained you..." She paused. "Your powers were sealed, goddess. Using them breaks the seal little by little. It is painful. It will get worse before it gets better."
My heart sank. Worse? That had almost killed me!
"But there is hope," Nyx continued. "The more you use your power, the weaker the seal becomes. Eventually, it will shatter completely. Then you will remember everything. Including why your sister fears you so much."
Before I could ask more, Nyx melted back into shadows and disappeared.
I was alone with an unconscious god in a realm between worlds.
Perfect.
I looked at Kael. His face was peaceful now, the color returning to his cheeks. I reached out and gently touched his hand. It was still cold, but not as cold as before. His fingers twitched at my touch.
"Thank you for saving me," I whispered without sound. "I promise I'll figure out how to save you back."
I leaned back in the chair, planning to rest for just a minute. But exhaustion dragged me down like a stone in deep water. My eyes closed. I drifted off into darkness.
And I dreamed.
But this wasn't a normal dream. This was a memory—sharp and clear and real.
I stood in a golden temple surrounded by thousands of people. They were all singing, their voices rising in harmony. And I was singing with them—my voice soaring above theirs, pure and powerful and beautiful.
"Lady Lyria!" they called out. "Goddess of songs! Hear our prayers!"
I smiled and raised my hands. Light poured from my palms, healing the sick, comforting the sad, bringing joy to the suffering. This was my purpose. This was what I was made for.
Then the scene shifted. I was in a dark room, arguing with my sister Selene.
"You can't tell anyone," she hissed, grabbing my arm. "If the mortals know what we've been doing—"
"What YOU'VE been doing!" I shot back. "Stealing souls? Harvesting them for power? Selene, that's murder! I have to tell the others. I have to stop this!"
Her eyes turned cold. "Then you leave me no choice, sister."
She snapped her fingers. Hands grabbed me from behind—
I jerked awake with my heart pounding.
But I wasn't in the chair anymore.
I was standing in the middle of Kael's bedroom, my hands pressed against a massive bookshelf. Books lay scattered at my feet like I'd been searching for something. My fingers gripped an old leather journal I didn't remember picking up.
How did I get here? I'd been sitting in the chair. I'd fallen asleep. How—
Then I looked at the journal in my hands and my blood turned to ice.
On the cover, written in silver ink that glowed faintly, were four words:
Property of Lyria the Melodious
This was MY journal. From before I fell. Before I lost everything.
My hands shook as I opened it. The first page was covered in my own handwriting—elegant script that I somehow still recognized.
"If you're reading this, sister, then I'm already dead. But before you kill me, you should know: I hid it where you'll never find it. The one thing you want most. The one thing that proves what you've done."
"I hid your secret, Selene. And when I wake up, whenever that is, I'm going to use it to destroy you."
The journal fell from my numb fingers.
A secret. I'd hidden some kind of evidence against Selene. Something important enough that she'd rather kill me than risk me revealing it.
But where did I hide it? What was it?
Behind me, Kael groaned. I spun around and saw him sitting up in bed, looking at me with confused silver eyes.
"Lyria? How did you—" He stopped mid-sentence, staring at something behind me.
I turned and froze.
The wall behind the bookshelf was glowing. No—not glowing. Opening. The stone was sliding apart to reveal a hidden passage. Cold air rushed out, carrying with it a smell I recognized but couldn't name.
And from deep inside the passage came a sound.
Singing.
Someone was singing in a voice that sounded exactly like the one I'd lost.
My voice was calling to me from inside the darkness.