"Unfortunate child…"
Lyanna's voice broke the silence..
"Last question."
Last question? Lyanna slowly lifted her head and looked toward Malveris.
The moment Malveris saw it, a strange smile curved on his lips. Step by step, she began to approach her. Each of Malveris's footsteps carried an oppressive, terrifying weight like the ground itself was bowing beneath her.
Yet Lyanna did not retreat from her place. She only lowered her head and stood silently, unmoving.
Malveris came right up to her face. Gently, she placed her right hand beneath Lyanna's chin. Then, with firm pressure, she lifted her face upward and locked her eyes with hers.
Lyanna's gaze… utterly void. No emotion remained within those eyes, as if even feeling itself had been erased. At that sight, Eryndara Malveris let out a strange, amused smile and spoke in a low voice , almost like a verdict rather than a question.
"Lyanna… what a strange girl you are. You commit injustice even against yourself."
"Let me ask you something."
"You are given two paths. The first white, like paradise itself, beautiful beyond imagination, and it is the desire of your heart… the wish of your own soul."
"And the second path… black, filled with endless darkness. A place where no road can ever be found again. A path born from the unnatural cravings of your corrupted mind."
"Now tell me yourself."
"Which path will you choose, if you truly think for yourself… and your own will?"
The moment Malveris finished speaking, she stood still, staring directly at Lyanna. Her words lingered in the air like an unsolved curse, an unanswered question carved into reality itself. And she waited ...waiting for Lyanna's answer.
For a moment, Lyanna remained silent. Then she gently removed Malveris's hand from beneath her chin. Slowly, she raised her eyes and met his gaze directly.
And then she spoke calmly, as if she had already seen through everything from the very beginning.
"As far as I understand… I think you already know what answer I would give to this question."
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"To put it simply… you did not ask this question for my sake. You asked because of something hidden within yourself."
She paused.
"Anyway, my answer is that I will walk the path of black darkness, and not because my unnatural mind commands me to…"
She slowly lifted her gaze toward the endless black around them.
"It is because only within darkness does a human being discover their true reflection."
Her voice was quiet, yet every word carried unsettling clarity.
"When there is light in front of us, we believe we see everything clearly. Perhaps that is what humans think… and that is their greatest mistake."
"What the eyes accept as truth is merely what they are allowed to see. Yet hidden beneath that visible surface may exist thousands of unseen meanings things ordinary sight could never perceive."
"That is why I have chosen the path of darkness."
Her eyes sharpened faintly.
"Because only in darkness does the so called sixth sense of the human mind begin to awaken more than the eyes themselves."
Lyanna took a slow breath."Even without seeing, you begin to feel everything around you far more deeply."
"Think about it yourself. When we stand in darkness, the world becomes silent. Empty. Still. And yet… even the faintest sound from far away becomes noticeable. We can sense where it comes from. We can feel its existence."
"But under endless light?"
A faint smile touched her lips."The result becomes entirely different."
"In overwhelming light, your attention remains trapped by what stands directly before your eyes. You stop sensing what lies farther away. Every illuminated road appears peaceful, beautiful, safe… and eventually you become confused. You no longer know which path is real and which merely pretends to be...
You drown in your own hesitation. And meanwhile, every shining road deceives you with comforting illusions."
Her voice lowered into something colder.
"But the black path of darkness is different..
There… false illusions lose their beauty...
You begin to understand what is true and what is false as long as you continue trusting your own existence."
"And that… is my answer, Great Eryndara Malveris."
Silence followed.
Malveris remained silent, staring at her without blinking. The surrounding atmosphere itself felt as if it had frozen in time. Even the faint wind that had been passing through the space seemed to hesitate.
A light strand of hair slowly slipped across Malveris's face with the breeze.
One of her eyes was pale, almost lifeless devoid of visible emotion. Yet the other, hidden behind his hair, felt completely different. As if something far deeper was concealed beneath it. The exposed side of her face carried an almost ethereal, eerie beauty like a statue carved from sorrow itself. Her visible eye was a muted brown, calm on the surface, yet it did not reflect ordinary life.The skin there resembled that of an older woman, worn and fragile, as though time itself had scarred it unevenly.
It felt restrained… like something that had stopped expressing emotion long ago.
Lyanna looked at her once and stayed still.
Then slowly ....Eryndara Malveris smiled.
A faint curve. Neither warm nor cruel. Something in between, like a truth that refused to become either mercy or punishment."Lyanna…You truly are aware, aren't you?"
You understand that the deeper you go into a cave… the harder it becomes to return to the surface."
"The deeper you descend into a cave, the harder it becomes to return to the surface. And I believe…" her smile deepened slightly, "you have already seen the deepest limit of that cave one that no one else has ever reached… or perhaps, no one has ever returned from."
The air grew heavier.
Malveris slowly raised one of her hands, as if summoning something unseen from the void.
The gesture was subtle but the world reacted instantly.
Lyanna turned back at once. And what she saw made her breath stall.
A swarm of grotesque insects countless, twisted, and unnatural were rushing toward her direction. Their forms were not merely disgusting… they were wrong, as if they existed only to erase the concept of human existence itself.
Each of them looked like a failed creation of nature, born with the sole purpose of devouring life and leaving nothing behind.
For a brief moment, Lyanna's eyes sharpened.. she looked toward Malveris.
Not with defiance… but with a silent plea buried deep beneath her composure. A thought flickered through her mind , I don't want to vanish like this… not in this way.
But the moment that thought surfaced
Malveris snapped her fingers.
A single, quiet gesture.
Everything stopped.
Lyanna's body stiffened. Her vision blurred. Her eyelids slowly grew heavy against her will, as if her consciousness was being pulled away from her like a thread being cut.
And then
Darkness swallowed her.
---
When she regained awareness, time itself felt uncertain.
Lyanna opened her eyes slowly… and found herself somewhere else.
A confined room.
Not truly a room , it felt more like a prison carved out of brutality itself. Three sides were made of raw brick walls, rough and cold, with no sign of comfort or humanity. In front of her stood thick iron rods forming a gate-like barrier, reinforced with heavy metal locks. Between the bars, small glass fragments were embedded ensuring that even touching the outside world with bare hands was impossible.
A single candle burned faintly in front of her.
Its weak flame flickered like a dying breath, casting unstable shadows across the filthy ground.
The air was heavy with the stench of damp earth and decay.
Lyanna tried to move. She stopped immediately.
Her body was bound thick, twisted vines wrapped around her limbs, tightly restricting her movement. The vines were not ordinary; they were alive with faint thorns, small but sharp enough to tear skin if she resisted. Every slight motion sent a warning pain through her body.
Her hands Locked in old, rusted handcuffs above her head.
And So old they looked almost forgotten by time itself.
Lyanna's fingers moved instinctively, trying to break free..
But the metal did not yield.
---
Suddenly
Clap. Clap. Clap.
A slow, deliberate round of applause echoed from the other side. Lyanna's head lifted immediately. Outside the iron bars stood Sylvara. Beside her stood a girl Lyanna had never seen before.
She looked young .. almost delicate but something about her presence was unsettlingly composed. Her hair was short, but thick and messy, falling naturally around her face. She wore a dull moss-green outfit , loose pajama-like trousers and a matching blouse, simple yet strangely fitting in this place of captivity.
Her skin tone was soft brown, warm in contrast to the cold surroundings.
But her eyes…
her eyes were sharp.
Deep brown, almost glowing with intensity, narrowed in a way that felt both curious and dangerous at the same time. They didn't just observe , they analyzed.
And Sylvara… stood beside her like someone familiar with chaos . Behind them, more figures gathered.
Men with unfamiliar faces. Some smiling faintly, others expressionless. All of them watching Lyanna as if she were not a person but an object of interest.
One of the men stepped forward.
He carried a key.
Without hesitation, he inserted it into the iron-barred, prison-like door and turned it..
Sylvara did not enter.. She only stood there, watching calmly, as if whatever was happening held no need for her participation. Her gaze drifted toward the surrounding men, and a faint, unreadable smile formed on her lips.
That smile alone changed the atmosphere.
The men's eyes shifted. Not toward Sylvara anymore but toward Lyanna..
Four men entered the room from behind, stepping inside without hesitation. Their presence filled the confined space immediately, as if the air itself had become heavier. But Lyanna's eyes did not move toward them.
She was still looking at Sylvara.
As if trying to understand whether any of this was even real or just another layer of manipulation placed over her perception.
Then
One of the men spoke...
"This one…" he said slowly, voice low and rough, "looks quite lively."
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with thick black hair falling heavily over his forehead. His presence carried weight physical and psychological. He looked at Lyanna with a slow, evaluating gaze, as if assessing livestock rather than a human being.
A faint smirk formed on his lips. His eyes lingered on her.
"Very… fresh."
The man stepped forward, his hand rising to Lyanna's chin.
He tilted her head back with a sickeningly gentle grip, a gesture that drew hushed, lecherous titters from the three men lingering in the shadows behind him.
Without breaking eye contact, the man leaned in until his breath ghosted over her skin. Then, he dragged his tongue across her cheek.
Lyanna's world froze. The wet, invasive trail left behind was a cold wake-up call.
From the predatory glints in the eyes of the onlookers, the gravity of her predicament settled into her bones like ice.
When the dark tide of filth rises to drown you, Lyanna thought, her mind hardening into a blade, the only way to survive is to become the lightning that strikes from within the storm.
The man's hand shifted, his fingers tracing the outline of her lips. Lyanna did not flinch. Instead, she locked her gaze onto his and parted her lips ever so slightly.
A rasping, triumphant laugh escaped the man's throat. He leaned in again, tasting her cheek once more.
"You certainly know the drill, don't you?" he mocked, his voice thick with arrogance.
One by one, he slid his fingers into her mouth. Lyanna began to suckle them, her eyes fixed on him, seemingly submissive. Yet, her peripheral vision was wide open. She saw the men behind him, their hands fumbling with their trousers in anticipation.
She saw Sylvara, watching the spectacle with a twisted, entertained smirk. And she saw the crowd strangers clapping and cheering for her degradation.
But then, she saw him
Among the jeering crowd stood a young boy. He wasn't clapping. His thick, dark hair shadowed a face that looked far too young for this cruelty, and his eyes shimmered with unshed tears. When he realized Lyanna had spotted him, he moved.
He didn't speak. Instead, he shoved his own hand into his mouth and bit down with feral intensity, drawing a sharp spray of blood from his finger.
Lyanna's heart hammered against her ribs. She understood the signal instantly. The chilling realization that this boy a mere child was suggesting the very same desperate, violent gambit she had been contemplating herself sent a shiver through her soul.
*Is this the only way?* she questioned for a fleeting second. *In this den of monsters, must I become one too?*
She looked back at the man in front of her. There was no more time for doubt.
Lyanna leaned forward, drawing his fingers deeper into her mouth than before, acting the part of the broken prize until the very last second. Then, she channeled every ounce of her bottled rage and desperation into her jaw.
**CRACK.**
With the force of a predator snapping bone, she bit down.
The man's smug expression shattered into a mask of pure agony. A guttural, soul-piercing scream ripped from his lungs. Three of his fingers were severed instantly, falling to the dirt like discarded scraps, while the remaining two hung by threads of mangled sinew.
Blood sprayed, hot and metallic, coating Lyanna's face. The man collapsed to the ground, clutching his ruined, pulsing stump, his screams echoing off the cold walls as he writhed in the filth.
Lyanna spat the gore from her mouth, her eyes burning with a dark, newfound clarity. The lightning had struck.
Such a horrifying scene unfolded before everyone's eyes. For a moment, silence swallowed the entire space.
Shock rippled through the crowd. One by one, their gazes shifted until all eyes inevitably landed on Lyanna.
Blood stained the corner of her lips. The crimson trace on her face made the scene even more unsettling. Yet she remained completely composed, as if nothing in front of her had any meaning at all, as if the chaos unfolding around her was nothing more than distant wind passing by.
Seeing this, Sylvara stepped inside the room.
Without hesitation, she struck Lyanna hard across the cheek . The sound of the slap echoed sharply through the confined space.
Grabbing Lyanna by the chin, she pulled her face closer, her grip firm and filled with contempt.
"You filthy disgrace...." Sylvara's voice cut through the air like steel. "You should have been put to death long ago"
With that, she violently shoved Lyanna backward.
Lyanna's head struck the wall with a dull impact, and blood slowly began to trickle down. The pain was real, undeniable but even then, her expression did not change. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed her eyes.
Sylvara, in her rage, brought forth the burning rod she had retrieved from the flames earlier. The weapon of fire itself glowed faintly, casting a trembling light across the room. Lyanna watched it approach, yet her body could not respond. Her wrists were tightly bound in iron handcuffs, sealing every possibility of resistance. Her body, restrained by thick vines and thorns, refused to obey her will. Every attempt to struggle only tightened the pain across her skin.
The only thing she could do was struggle, her body repeatedly hitting against the wall in a desperate attempt to break free.
Lyanna tried to move but she couldn't. She slammed her body against the wall again and again desperately trying to break free. But nothing changed.The restraints did not even loosen.
a thought passed through her mind. So this is it….
There would be no escape here. Not through strength. Not through resistance. Not through will alone.
Everything happening before her eyes was under someone else's design.
Under the will of Eryndara Malveris.
Lyanna did not know whether what she was witnessing was truth or illusion. Whether this entire reality was real… or merely a constructed nightmare meant to break her.
But one thing she understood with absolute clarity. It was continuing right in front of her eyes. And she had no control over it.
When Sylvara stepped forward, holding the burning iron rod pulled straight from the flames, Lyanna's eyes instinctively locked onto the boy standing there.
The boy noticed it instantly. He tried to close his eyes tightly, as if silently pleading.
His lips moved without sound, forming words Lyanna could not hear from this distance. He seemed to be trying to communicate something desperately, without voice, without permission from the surrounding cruelty. Only through faint movements of his mouth did he attempt to convey meaning.
But Lyanna, in her current state, could not understand it. Not clearly. Not fully. Everything felt distant fragmented, distorted, as if reality itself was refusing to align.
At the same time, Sylvara kept muttering to herself, almost irritated, as if arguing with unseen thoughts. Her grip on the burning rod tightened. The heat shimmered in the air around it. And just as she raised it....ready to strike
The man's earlier expression returned in Lyanna's mind.
Without fully knowing why… Lyanna closed her eyes.
---
Darkness.
Everything turned into darkness.
No sound. No pain. No breath.
Only void.
---
Then—
"NO—!"
A sharp scream tore through the silence.
Lyanna's eyes snapped open.
Her pupils shifted violently, adjusting to the sudden return of reality.
And what she saw… broke the stillness of her expression.
Her gaze trembled. Her eyes began to move erratically, as if something within them had been disturbed ...something that should not exist within human vision.
And then , From the center of her pupil…
Something emerged.
A CENTIPEDE
Slow. Twisting. Crawling outward from within her eye itself, as if her vision had become a gateway for something unnatural.
It moved across the surface of her eye, coiling and turning within the reflection of her own sight.
.....