The moon was high in the sky over Eldoria, illuminating the palace windows with a silver pull of molten silk. The halls were silent, but silence always masked danger, and Cassiel could sense it breathing down her neck.
Cool air rushed through the window she sat next to, yet it did nothing to extinguish the fire inside her. Night was heavy yet clear, and she could feel The Veilborn whisp past her ears. The prophecy is no longer what you believe it to be.
She could feel hot rage consume her, for someone had altered fate themselves. Tomorrow's world was far more sinister than dreamt up, and Lord Malrik, he was... He was in the middle of it all.
A soft knock drew her attention, causing her heart to race, but the voice was familiar. "Enter." She directed, knowing they were already inside.
Pulling the door carefully open, Arden cautiously walked inside, eyes of mingling blue hues scrutinizing her. Unlike her, his expression was tense and foreboding, the remains of his routine patrol still clung to him.
"You mentioned that we needed to discuss something," he said. "What is it?"
Cassiel waited just a moment before recounting the entire story: the secret corridor, the Veilborn's caution, and the discovery of the prophecy's corruption. She looked at Arden and he was quiet, not responding to anything. Yet she could tell that something about him grew harder when she said Lord Malrik.
"I knew he was a threat," Arden said, voice like steel. "But I did not think that he was capable of bending fate to his will." He gazed away as if lost in thought, his hands pressed against the sides of the table. "If this is true, then everything we have been preparing for becomes futile. We have been operating within a framework that does not exist."
Cassiel had stood from her seat. "Then we create a new framework."
Arden breathed out as his fingers brushed over his jaw. "But you make it sound easy."
"It is." She moved nearer, her pitch stronger but calmer. "We stop allowing ourselves to be treated like puppets. We dig into what Malrik has done, and we reverse it."
A grim smile danced across Arden's face for a moment. "You did always have a rebellious side," he said as a hint of an amused smile formed on his thin lips.
"Look who's talking." Cassiel raised a brow.
After an almost approving look, he added, "Now I feel like a very simple question is in order. Where do we go from here?"
The city lying below looked like a sleeping giant, completely unaware of the trouble that was looming around it. Cassiel turned to the window and glanced at the city. "The Veilborn have told me that we are quickly running out of time. If we take too long, it's possible we will not be able to resist the impulse to fight back." Brushing her fingers against Arden's made her focus back in time.
His hands shook her from deep thought.
"Then we don't wait."
Somewhat of a plan had begun to cross her mind, some uncertainty with a touch of confidence, but before she could come forth, a loud noise interrupted her.
There was a loud banging at the door.
And then the shadows completely engulfed them.
Cassiel's world became dizzying as she was pulled out of the room with tremendous force. She began to turn in diagonal directions, feeling a sharp pain in her throat as she caught sight of Arden attempting to break free from dark, bare strangers. Their enemies were moving with superhuman agility, and their shapes were merging with the blackness around them as though they were more shadow than meat.
A cloth was pressed against her mouth. Bitter-smelling herbs flooded her nostrils.
No –
The realm in which she existed slanted. Her thinking was obscured by a nebulous mist that surrounded her. It was as though Arden lived fathoms deep within a vast pond and his voice was faintly audible.
'Cassiel –'
And then, everything was consumed by darkness.
When she became aware of everything, white was present everywhere in sight. My body felt light and free; however, my mind felt heavy. But once I felt the snapping cold of iron resting against my wrists, it fully snapped me into attention.
Chains.
She blinked awake in her cell, lit by a single flickering torch. The air was pungent with aged writing materials and damp blood. The stone walls filled with moisture expanded as she began to breathe.
In front of her was Arden, suspended in the air while bound by iron shackles, his hair concealing his face.
She took a deep breath and said, "Arden."
At hearing his name, his head weakly lifted, revealing a split lip and a deep cut decorating his temple. Despite the sharp pain he must be enduring, he turned to her, "You're awake."
Pretending to smile helped ease the evident pain on his face. "You really think those shackles are going to let you go free?"
"Where are we?" She exclaimed with a sense of panic rising in her throat.
He took a deep, controlled breath. "In a palace prison."
As he spoke, chills traveled deep within her body.
From the hallway, footsteps became louder and louder. Suddenly the door burst open, revealing Lord Malrik. Cassiel could only gasp in awe.
His exquisitely designed stone robes were draped over him, and his glittering golden eyes, which landed on Cassiel and evoked the phantom she had always imagined, danced.
"What good are these three dragons if I cannot use their power?" He sighed, full of wonder. "I was just about to make a wager on when you were going to begin question-raising."
Cassiel clenched her hands into form fists. "This is your doing. You created the prophecy."
"Aah," Malrik stated as if his lips had drawn out, "So, the veil born has finally shown himself to you." He turned his head left and right in a pondering motion. "Let me ask, Cassiel, did he tell you the reason as to why I have done so?"
She refused to blink. "To achieve your own goals. To bend yon. To gain power over fate."
"You've truly wounded me, my dear." Malrik began to laugh. "You are under the understanding that destiny is some miracle as pure as snow, needing to be preserved." He began walking towards her, filled the gap wider and started shadowboxing. "Dare I claim that it possesses tossing blades that any blunder has executed?"
His gaze grew deeper. "And I have simply sat there, ensuring that it fell into the gatherings."
With her head resting on her neck, "This vastly helps," he whispered while punding his heart to the chest on claim. "With the correct arms, who is recommended to select that?"
The expression on the face of Malrik bust forth. The skin he possessed stretched thin. "Passed is not worthless after all."
With concern, Ardens voice was rough. "What comes next? We can put people in chains. Free them from within us."
"It would have been more beneficial had you worked with me. Now, it is evident to me that the two of you are far too bullheaded for your own well-being." He signaled his guard. "Bring them to the lower levels. We shall now see how long their rebellion continues."
The guards moved forward.
Cassiel's heart rate accelerated, but as her arms were forcefully gripped, she made a last attempt to look at Malrik right in the eyes.
"You will live to regret this," she vowed.
Malrik just smiled.
"I highly doubt it."
That is when the darkness took them once again.