Unrivaled in another world

[: Caelira POV :]

The world was torn apart.

Light swallowed everything—sky, earth, blood, even the sound of Daniel's scream.

And then...there was only silence.

No more blades, no more chains and no more Revan.

Just... wind.

Gentle, warm, and painfully familiar.

My body stumbled, knees hitting soft earth before I even realised.

''Grass? Flowers?''

The faint scent of moonlilies, and the lullaby of waterfalls in the distance.

No… It couldn't be...

I stumbled forward, breath hitching in my throat.

I knew this place.

Knew it with the bone-deep familiarity of a child who once ran barefoot through glades and whispered to the trees.

"Elvenwood?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the breeze. "I'm… back at the Elf Continent?"

My vision blurred, not with magic—but with tears.

I stood slowly, hands trembling, as I turned to take in the sight around me.

The glowing trees.

The twilight sky. The silver blossoms that only bloom in the heart of my homeland.

This was real.

I was home.

And yet, my heart felt heavier than ever.

Because he wasn't here.

"Daniel…?" she whispered. "Daniel, where are you…?"

His name left my lips in a whisper. A prayer. A plea.

But only the wind answered.

I dropped to my knees.

And this time, I didn't rise.

Tears fell freely.

There was no one to see.

No one to judge.

No guards.

Only a woman who had been saved once again… and lost the one who saved her.

I clutched my chest, where my heart beat so violently it hurt.

The image of him, his trembling body standing against Velroth's wrath, his eyes filled with defiance and fear, with pain and protection, burned in my mind.

He saved me.

Even when I was nothing but a slave.

Even when I had given up on being saved.

And now... he was gone.

I didn't know where.

I didn't even know if he was alive.

"Why...?" My voice cracked. "Why do you keep saving me?"

I slammed my fist into the ground.

"I was supposed to protect you. You foolish boy…"

My voice faded into sobs, muffled against the grass and soil.

"If it weren't for you…" I whispered, trembling, "I would've taken my life long ago. I would've ended it all before the shame drowned me. But you—"

"…But you didn't let me. You wouldn't let me. Even when you were scared, even when your body was broken, you saved me."

I closed my eyes tightly.

"I don't care what this body bears. I don't care about the shame or the whispers. You are the reason I survived, Daniel."

"I swear by the spirits of the forest, by the crown I once wore… I will find you."

I stared into the twilight sky above.

"And I will destroy the Velroth name for what they did to us. To you."

I lay there, like a broken statue among wildflowers, until a flicker of movement ahead pulled me from despair.

A golden light broke through the treeline, and the sound of armour—familiar armour—rang through the clearing.

My head lifted slowly.

Elven Royal Guards. Six of them.

Then—

A figure stepped past them, and my heart nearly stopped.

"—M-Mother!?"

I blinked. My vision blurred with disbelief.

Silver hair braided in royal weave.

Eyes were violet, filled with tears.

The girl who once sat on my lap, too afraid to address the court.

Now a Queen.

"A-Aeriwen...?"

The crown tilted as she ran toward me, forgetting decorum, forgetting dignity.

She threw herself into my arms.

"You're really here!? You're alive!?" she sobbed. "We searched for you for decades! I—why didn't you come back!? We thought we lost you forever!"

I wrapped my arms around her, holding her as tightly as my broken soul would allow.

"I know, my little star. I know…" I whispered into her hair. "There's so much I wanted to say. So much I couldn't."

But the moment didn't last.

"Mother...what happened to your face...?" She questioned but afterwards, her gaze fell to my wrist.

Her embrace stiffened and it all came down upon her, and she understood what happened.

She saw it—the glowing, cursed mark still burned into my skin.

The Slave Seal.

"A-Are… is that—?"

She pulled away, voice trembling with disbelief.

"…Is that what I think it is?"

I didn't answer.

I didn't have to.

"NO!"

Her voice shattered into the trees, raw with fury.

"They enslaved you!? You!? The Empress of the Elven Realm!? My mother!?"

Energy flared around her in jagged arcs, lightning forming in her palms.

"I'LL SLAUGHTER THEM. I'LL WIPE THEM OFF THE FACE OF THE—"

I reached up, gently cupping her cheek.

"Aeriwen," I said, quietly but firmly.

She froze.

"I know this rage. I live with it. But not now."

"But—Mother—"

"There's something I need you to do. Something only you can do."

I raised my wrist.

"I need you to unseal this. I need to be free."

"…Free to do what?" she asked, voice shaking.

"To go back for him," I whispered. "To find the boy who saved me. The boy who stood between death and his friends when no one else would."

Aeriwen's eyes searched mine.

Her lips parted, and I knew she wanted to ask questions, but no words came.

"I owe him everything," I continued. "My dignity, my life… my will to keep breathing."

She stared in silence.

And then, she nodded.

"…Then I'll help you rise, Mother."

She stepped back, lifting her hands, light gathering between her palms like the heartbeat of the forest itself.

''I'll help them remember why you were the Empress mother, and I will find whoever did this to you and remove their very names from this world!''

And I closed my eyes and was not in pain.But for a purpose.

Because the next time I stood beneath this sky...

I would not be wearing chains.

I would be holding a blade against Velroth's neck. 

[: Rika POV :]

The world had twisted and the sky shredded into a thousand fragments, each piece a sliver of pain, and then, I smelled it. 

The scent of fur, earth, and pine flooded my senses, grounding me as the weight of reality returned.

I stumbled, my knees threatening to give out under the dizzying disorientation, but the soft earth of the Beast Continent was beneath my feet.

"…I'm… back?" My voice was unsteady as I blinked, trying to piece together the fragments of my shattered mind.

I looked around, and it was the Beast Continent.

A land of towering mountains, wild, untamed forests, and deep caverns—the place that had always felt like home.

The air was thick with the scent of wet fur, the calls of distant creatures echoing through the trees.

I could feel the pulse of life around me—unbroken, thriving in a way that my own soul seemed to be. But still, a heavy dread clung to my chest, like a weight I couldn't shake off.

"Daniel…" My voice cracked, low and shaky. "Where are you?"

My heart pounded in my chest as my mind replayed the images of him—the trembling, determined boy who had stood by my side, always with the resolve to protect us, even when he had nothing left to give.

My brother.

My little brother.

The one I had sworn to protect.

And now he was gone.

The thought of him—alone, somewhere in the void, with Velroth's wrath bearing down on him—wrenched my heart. I had always protected him, stood in front of him when danger approached, but now… I was far away, lost in my own homeland with no idea if he was alive or dead.

Tears welled in my eyes. I sank to my knees, my fingers gripping the ground as I sobbed.

"Please… Please be safe, Daniel…" My voice was strained, the words barely leaving my lips as my chest constricted with sorrow.

No. I couldn't let myself break. Not yet.

But the anger? That was already seething beneath the surface, bubbling like a storm ready to destroy everything in its path.

My fists clenched.

"The Velroth family…" I whispered, my voice thick with the venom that would grow into vengeance. "And the slave merchants."

I was not just angry. I was enraged. I was furious. For Daniel. For myself. For all the pain they had caused.

And yet, as the world around me blurred with fury, a sudden disruption in the air, like a heavy breath being exhaled, caught my attention.

I looked up just as figures began emerging from the shadows of the trees—royal guards in majestic armour, bearing the sigil of the Beast Kingdom.

My heart lurched, and before I could process the scene, a cry of disbelief and joy rang out through the air.

"Rika!"

The voice I had longed to hear.

A figure rushed toward me, her features a blend of motherly concern and royal command.

My heart froze, and I took in the sight of her, my mother, Liora.

The crown of the royal family adorned her head, and her eyes, once filled with youthful innocence, now held the weight of years of rulership.

I gasped, breathless with emotion.

"Mother…" My voice barely made it out, and before I could say anything else, she was there—her arms wrapping tightly around me, pulling me into an embrace so tight it almost knocked the air out of my lungs.

"You're back! You're really back!" Mother's voice cracked as she held me, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Where did you go? We've searched for you for so long! I thought I lost you forever! I—I thought you were dead!"

I stood frozen for a moment, not knowing what to say.

My emotions swirled together—guilt, sorrow, relief—all blending into one chaotic mess.

My mother, the queen, had been waiting, hoping, searching for me all this time.

But where was Daniel? What had happened to him?

''Didn't I tell you not to go out on your own!?'' My mother scolded, at the same time, she cried because her daughter was finally found and safe. 

"I'm so sorry, Mother…" I whispered through my tears, clutching my mother just as tightly. 

Mother pulled back slightly, her eyes scanning my face.

But when her gaze dropped to my wrist and my missing fingers, it all changed.

Her eyes widened in shock, and then in fury.

The Seal of Slavery glowed darkly under the sunlight.

"What happened to your fingers...?" Mother whispered, her voice trembling with anger. "No, no, no…not you, Rika…ot you..."

I winced at the intensity of her fury.

I had always hated being seen as a symbol, a princess bound by expectations.

But now, in my mother's eyes, I saw the same helplessness I had felt when I was forced into a slave.

"They dared?" Mother's voice broke as her hands balled into fists.

"They enslaved my daughter!? The princess of the Beast Kingdom? The one who was supposed to protect this kingdom!? Who dared!?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, not knowing how to calm her down. Her power was undeniable, and I could feel the weight of her fury pressing on me.

"This seal…" Mother's voice cracked, her hands trembling with fury.

"If your father finds this—" She stopped herself, her chest heaving with anger.

"He will not show mercy. You know how he is. He will declare war on the Human Empire. He will not let this pass."

"Mother… please…" I whispered with my voice trembling. "Please don't let this start a war. I just want to find Daniel. We need to find him. This… this doesn't matter."

''Daniel...who is he?'' My mother questioned.

''He's the one who had saved me, and he's the one who had teleported back to this place,'' I said, but I knew my mother wouldn't believe me.

''Please, mother...I know it's hard to believe...but he's the one who kept saving me and now...I don't know if he's even alive!'' I pleaded. 

Mother eyes softened for a moment, and she took a step back, wiping the tears from my face.

''Alright Rika. I'm not that cruel to even harm the one who had saved you. Don't worry, with me and your father, there's no way we can't find him''

But there was no time to mourn, no time to cry.

''As for the one who had caused this...Don't worry my dear, I and your father will have a little visit to the Human Empire soon enough...'' My mother smiled wickedly, 

Don't worry Daniel, soon enough I will find you and I will protect you this time.