Blood and Gold (A Cursed Bond - Part One)

Emberfell, once known as the Jewel of the Southern Seat, with its lush orange trees spread around the big fortress city and crimson flags, hung over the ancient walls with the sigil of a 'red dragon head'. The city was lively with peasants living in and out of it, their waves of laughter could very well be considered as them being happy with their lord and House Leonhart, who has protected them for centuries, even on their decline.

The sun was beginning to set over the sprawling castle, casting long shadows across the manicured gardens and ancient stone walls. Lyra stood by the tall windows of her private chambers, watching the orange hues slowly darken to a dusky purple. The castle, so grand and filled with luxury, now felt suffocating. The looming decision she had made weighed heavily on her heart, twisting it with fear, hope, and something that resembled dread.

Behind her, the soft rustle of wings stirred the air.

Lyra's heart pounded as she stared across the room at Valeria, her chest tightening with a mix of awe and fear. Her golden hair cascaded down her back like liquid sunlight. The faint glow of her presence, though dulled since her awakening, still filled the room with a warmth that felt both comforting and unnatural. She was wearing one of the gowns that Lyra gave to her, it was white with silver threads, with her sleek beauty, it looked perfect on her.

A word in old tongue that tasted of lightning and frost rolled from Valeria's tongue. Her wings, iridescent and vast, folded into her skin like water seeping into sand.

For months, they had spent nearly every waking moment together. Lyra had nursed Valeria back from the edge of death, her body slowly mending as the remnants of her magic, coaxed by Lyra's efforts, seeped back into her being. In return, Valeria had shared her past—her knowledge, her loss, and the unbearable weight of a century spent longing for something she could never have again.

"Servants whisper about you," Lyra said, breaking the weighted silence. "Says you're a blessing of the Light. Others call you a curse of the Darkness."

Valeria's lips curved in a smile that held no warmth. "What do you believe, Lyra?"

"I believe..." Lyra's fingers clutched the fabric of her gown. "I believe you're someone who has lost his way in this world."

Valeria's strand from her hair falls as she moved closer. "You've given me shelter, protection, healing. A debt—"

"Don't." Lyra's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't speak to me of debts when I can see how each breath pains you. How you wake screaming that name each night."

Valeria flinched as if struck. Outside, a cloud passed over the sun, plunging the room into shadow. "You know nothing of him."

"Then tell me, please." Lyra stepped forward, close enough to feel the unnatural warmth radiating from Valeria's skin. "Tell me of the bond that haunts your nights. Tell me of the man who left such a void in your heart that decades haven't filled it."

"Einar." The name fell from Valeria's lips like a prayer, like a curse. She pressed a hand to the window, and frost bloomed beneath her fingers. "Einar of Emberheart. He was... he was dawn after endless night. He was the sword that protected our people. He fought battles with shadows for years, it left a trace in his heart, like a seed growing slowly. No one is pure, everyone has a demon inside them that wakes when they least expect it. He has bested that demon inside him, even before we ever met. But..."

"What happened?" Lyra's voice softened to barely a whisper.

"Some feared his power. They turned people against him. Called him a monster, a demon, and a betrayer. But still, he fought for them. Still, he bled for them. Until—" Her voice broke, and the temperature in the room plummeted.

"Until?"

"Until they turned on me." Valeria's eyes flashed with rage. "They would have burned me alive for loving him. And so, he... he gave everything. His titles, his honor... even his life—to save those who had condemned us both."

The silence that followed was heavy, and suffocating. Lyra's fingers tightened around Valeria's hand, her heart aching for the woman who had been left behind, who had suffered so much for love.

"I'm so sorry," Lyra whispered, her voice trembling. There was nothing else she could say. No words could ever heal a wound like that.

Valeria's eyes, filled with centuries of sorrow, suddenly flickered with something else—hope, faint but unmistakable. "There might be a way..." she said softly, almost too quietly for Lyra to hear.

Lyra froze, her breath catching in her throat. "A way?" she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper. "What do you mean?"

For a long moment, Valeria said nothing, her fingers trembling as if she were afraid to even speak the words aloud. Then, finally, she met Lyra's gaze, her voice barely more than a breath. "I still have his heart," she confessed. "It still beats, trapped within a relic that halts time. If I could find a newborn, untouched by the world's energy... I could bind his soul to the child. He could return."

Lyra's breath caught in her throat, her pulse quickening. A newborn untouched by energy? It was almost impossible. It flowed through every living being like blood. But before she could fully comprehend the enormity of what Valeria had just told her, a realization struck her, one that sent chills through her entire being.

***

Almost a year passed, and Lyra's bond with Valeria grew deeper. Their shared moments were no longer just about healing; they had grown into friends. Valeria taught her the old tongue, and what she called it was the language of Drakons: Drak'thul, and with that, some lost words of magic that can be performed by humans with old blood. Aeron stood beside her as her personal knight and only friend and much more, his connection to Lyra had grown far beyond what they had imagined. Lyra was with child, Aeron's child.

One evening, Lyra stood before Valeria in the castle's quite garden, the cool air pressing against her skin. Her hand instinctively moved to rest on her belly, feeling the steady pulse of life within her. Her child... untouched, untainted by the world's energy. The answer to Valeria's longing, her suffering.

The air around them seemed to still, thick with the weight of what was left unsaid. And in that silence, Lyra made her choice.

She met Valeria's gaze, her voice steady but filled with emotion. "I want you to perform that ritual on my child."

Valeria recoiled. "Lyra, no," she said, her voice laced with horror. "You don't know what you're asking. The risks are too great. Even I don't know—"

"Let me do this, for you," Lyra interrupted, her eyes fierce with determination. "I've seen how you suffer. I've heard your cries in the night. If there's a chance to make this right, I would do it."

"Risks of failure will be unparalleled, Lyra."

"They will be mine to bear." Lyra seized Valeria's hands, ignoring the trembling that shot through her bones. "You spoke of debt and wishes? Then fulfill my wish. Let me give birth to him."

"It could kill the child," Valeria whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks. "It could tear apart his weak body with his powerful soul."

"My old blood will protect him; I'll protect him," Lyra whispered, her voice cracking with the weight of the promise. "I'll seal his magic, give him time to grow amongst humans, adjust with his memories. He'll have a normal life..."

The last light of day faded from the windows, leaving them in darkness broken only by the faint glow of Valeria's presence. In the garden below, a nightingale began to sing, its melody a counterpoint to their ragged breathing.

"You would trust me with this?" Valeria's voice trembled. "After everything I've told you? I'm a failure who could not even keep one promise."

"I trust you because of everything you've told me." Lyra squeezed her hands. "Now, tell me what must be done."

The nightingale's song faded, and in its place, destiny held its breath.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke, the enormity of the decision pressing down on both of them like a heavy fog. Finally, Valeria nodded, her tears falling silently, and the weight of destiny settled between them.

***

The Shallow Ruins had never felt so alive, so charged with magic, as they did that night. It was as if the very stones around them remembered, the ancient symbols carved into the walls humming with a power long forgotten. The secret chamber, deep beneath the earth, held an eerie quiet, broken only by the rhythmic pulse of the box hovering above Valeria.

Valeria's hands trembled as she approached the relic. Her wings curled inward as if trying to shield her from what must come next. "I haven't... I haven't touched it since that day."

The box was the artifact, with veins of deep crimson running through it. It pulsed with a rhythm that echoed through the stones. Valeria pressed her palm against its surface, and the chamber filled with a keening note, like metal stressed to breaking.

"Valeria?" Lyra stepped back, her spine pressing against the cold stone. "What's happening?"

"He knows." Valeria's voice cracked. "Even after all this time, he knows my touch."

Valeria whispered words in old tongue. "Dren'khar vel'shar, Thar'vrae zhol zhal'drok. Kor'ithul vor draesh'vok, Zhol nakar drae'shal."

The relic's surface rippled like disturbed water as cracks appeared on it. Lightning spilled through them, red as dawn, red as blood.

Then the relic shattered.

Suspended in the air where the box had been, his's heart beats. It was perfectly preserved, neither dead nor truly alive, covered in runes that spiraled across its surface like a language written in starlight. The markings pulsed with each beat, sending waves of force through the chamber that made the ancient stones groan.

"Lord protect us." Lyra's legs buckled as she placed her hand over her heart. The power emanating from the floating heart felt wrong, too wild, too ancient, like staring into a storm that could swallow worlds. "What manner of magic is this?"

"I don't know." Valeria reached for the heart with shaking hands. "I've never understood these runes. They were there when she..." Her voice failed. "When she cut it from his chest."

The moment Valeria's fingers touched the heart, bolts of red lightning exploded outward. Stones cracked. Dust rained from above. Lyra threw her arms up as debris pelted her skin.

"Stay back!" Valeria's wings spread wide, trying to contain the surge of magic. "He fights the touch of the living. Even mine."

But Lyra couldn't look away. The runes on the heart were moving, flowing like liquid metal across its surface. Each beat sent another wave of force through the chamber, and with it came whispers, fragments of a language that made her ears bleed.

"I can't..." Lyra pressed herself against the wall, terror clawing at her throat. "Valeria, I can't do this. That power... it's fighting the nature of magic itself. It's something dark."

"Lyra." Valeria cradled the heart, tears falling freely now. "My love may not be natural. What they did to him was not right. But this..." She looked down at the beating heart in her hands, at the runes that danced across its surface. "This is not his truth. This only shows his sufferings and his pain."

Another pulse rocked the chamber. A crack splits the stone slab from end to end.

"But those runes," Lyra forced herself to step forward, though every instinct screamed at her to run. "You truly don't know their purpose?"

Valeria shook her head. "They were there even before we first met. He once told me these markings burned into his heart, to protect him from the curse." Her wings shuddered. "Perhaps they're for relief from that curse. Perhaps he was born with those. Or perhaps..." She looked up, her eyes full of terrible fear. "Perhaps they're the curse itself..."

The heart's rhythm changed, becoming stronger and more insistent. Then one of the runes blazed brighter than others, and its whispers grew clearer. Still incomprehensible, they seemed familiar to Valeria's ears, like they had been placed there just for this moment by someone.

"It's time." Valeria moved toward the cracked stone slab. "Lie down, Lyra. Let us see if your courage matches your compassion."

Lyra forced her trembling legs to move. Each step closer to the slab felt like walking through deep water. The heart's power pressed against her skin, trying to push her back, to keep her away.

"If..." She swallowed hard as she lay on the cold stone. "If something goes wrong—"

"Then I would have failed them twice." Valeria held the heart above Lyra's chest. "And this time, there will be no another chance."

The runes on the heart flared, their light painting Valeria's tears of blood. In that moment, Lyra saw not the powerful being who had survived centuries, but simply a woman trying to reclaim something precious that had been stolen by the flow of time.

"Tell him of me," Valeria whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "When he's old enough to understand. Tell him..." She pressed her lips to the heart, one final kiss. "I kept it beating. All these years, I kept it beating."

The heart's rhythm surged, and the ritual began.

***

Lyra lay still on the cold slab of stone, her breath shallow, her fingers trembling as they brushed the cool surface. The air around her felt thick, almost liquid, with the weight of the magic pressing down from all sides. It was overwhelming, and suffocating, but she had no choice but to endure it. Above her, the heart, its glow throbbing like a heartbeat, in time with the old words that flowed from Valeria's lips.

Valeria stood at the head of the stone slab, her eyes fixed on the heart, her voice strong despite the tremble in her hands. The incantation spilled from her in a language that rang the same as the old tongue she used before, but it felt sweet as a song of power and time, of lost love and bound destinies. The chamber seemed to resonate with her words, the red glow from the runes on the heart intensifying as the magic responded to her voice.

Each word felt like it carried the weight of the past, pulling at the air, filling the space with a force neither of them fully understood. Lyra clenched her jaw, trying to hold steady, but the pressure was building, the weight of the magic pulling at her very soul.

The heart above her began to pulse faster, its beat growing stronger, filling the chamber with a rhythm that echoed through her chest. Lyra felt the energy shift around her womb, the life inside her stirring in response to the ancient magic. It was a strange sensation—intense yet intimate, like she could feel not just her own heartbeat but something more, something... other.

A sharp pain shot through her, and her hands flew to her chest as the pulse of the heart intensified. Her breathing quickened, the pressure mounting, but she gritted her teeth and pressed on. This was for him... for the child, for the future. She had come this far; she wouldn't turn back now.

Valeria's voice rose above the mounting tension, her chant reaching its peak. The light in the chamber grew brighter, the runes on the walls pulsating like they were alive. The heart flickered violently, its glow growing unstable as the magic surged toward its final moments.

And then, in a burst of blinding light, the artifact vanished.

The force of the ritual hit them both like a tidal wave. Valeria stumbled backward, collapsing to the ground, her wings trembling as she struggled to steady herself. Lyra felt the surge of power slam into her chest, forcing her eyes shut as her body absorbed the remnants of the old magic. She gasped, her breath catching in her throat as the heartbeat within her—Einar's heartbeat—merged with her own.

A searing pain tore through her chest, and she winced, clenching her fists against the slab as a dark trident-tip rune burned itself into her skin just above her heart. The pain faded quickly, leaving behind only a faint glow as the rune settled into her flesh, a mark that would never fade.

It was done.

Lyra lay still, her chest rising and falling rapidly as the weight of the ritual finally lifted. Her limbs felt heavy, too exhausted to move, but she needed to know. She needed to be sure.

"Is it... done?" she rasped, her voice barely above a whisper.

Valeria, still kneeling on the ground, her face pale and streaked with tears, nodded slowly. Her body trembled, her wings limp at her sides as she fought to regain her strength.

Lyra pressed a hand to her belly, feeling the new power that coursed through her child's veins. "And his memories?"

"In dreams at first, in his childhood. Then in waking moments. When he begins to remember, when the memories start to surface... You must tell him everything. Help him understand what he once was. What he must become again." Valeria met Lyra's gaze. "But you must remember, Lyra... raise him with love. Keep him away from anger, from hatred, from darkness. If he succumbs to that... it won't just be your family that suffers." Her eyes glistened with tears. "It will be all of us."

Despite the exhaustion that weighed her down, Lyra managed a faint smile. "I promise," she said softly, her voice filled with a deep resolve. "I'll give him all the love in the world and keep him away from darkness."

Valeria pushed herself up from the ground, though her legs wobbled beneath her. She moved closer to Lyra, her hand trembling as she reached out and placed it over the dark rune that now marked her chest. Her touch was gentle, filled with both gratitude and grief. "Thank you," Valeria whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "For everything. You've given me... more than I could have ever hoped for."

Lyra closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of Valeria's hand against her skin. Her mind, though heavy with fatigue, drifted toward the future—the life that now grew within her, carrying not just her child but the soul of a man long thought lost. She had given them both a chance at life, at redemption, but the burden was great, and the path ahead was uncertain.

As exhaustion finally overtook her, Lyra's thoughts began to blur. She knew, deep down, that the world would come for him one day. The power that now stirred within her child would not remain hidden forever. The darkness that had torn Valeria and Einar apart once before would surely rise again. And when they did, she would be ready.

The chamber fell silent, the faint glow of the runes beginning to fade as the ancient magic settled into the earth once more. Lyra's breathing slowed, her body sinking into the cold stone as sleep claimed her.

And in the quiet of the Shallow Ruins, the echoes of a forgotten love story began to stir once more, waiting for the day they would be remembered.