Iftia: Lyx Palace, Rowan's Bedchamber

• Rowan •

His eyes peeled open as he stared into the shimmering ornate fabric draped across to form a canopy directly above his bed. A weird sensation fuzzed in his chest when he finally woke up form this long, dreamless night. At first thought, he would have assumed to feel well-rested, but he felt empty and infuriated instead. 

Propping himself up on one elbow, he realised that it's still dark out there though the urge to sleep had already left him. So, he walked out of his bedchamber and headed towards the study. 

"You're up." Ilias was the first person he saw since the uncomfortable rest he had on this night.

"You don't normally greet me like this," he frowned, wondering why the nagging feeling in his chest had been intensified by Ilias' unusual greeting.

"I thought it was appropriate when you had been asleep for three days straight and this is the first time in days I've seen you up and around," Ilias responded.

"Three days?" His voice was raised higher than he intended.

"Yes, it had been three days," Ilias said.

Burying his head in his palm, he rubbed on his temples. He tried to recollect on what had happened but his memories seemed to be fragment with the only thing he could remember was Tristan being brought back to the palace, heavily injured. He quickly inquired, "Is Tristan okay?"

"He's recovering," Ilias replied.

"Fill me in, what happened to him?" Rowan felt a dull ache pounding in his head when he tried to dig in deeper to remember what happened to Tristan. "Why is he severely injured?"

Ilias remained silent for a moment before he told him about the situation, "Tristan was ambushed by the Queen's people."

"Unacceptable," he seethed, clenching onto his fist. "Look into it."

"Yes," Ilias stared at him with wide eyes, as though surprised by his request.

"What is it, Ilias?" he frowned in slight annoyance.

"Ro, did you not recall anything else?" Ilias asked, sounding grave.

"What else do I need to know?" he asked, unsure why Ilias was looking towards him with such complicated expression on his face.

"N-No." Ilias averted his eyes away and bowed slightly. "I'll go look into the matter right away."

Exhaling a sigh, Rowan gestured for him to leave the office.

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Iftia: Lyx Palace, Knight's Holdings

• Ilias •

Elianna, do you mean to not remind Rowan of you because he would forget you entirely?

If yes, where have you gone?

A moment ago, he had only wanted to test Rowan by asking him if he recalled anything else. Turns out, he had really forgotten everything about Elianna. Even when he made up the story for Tristan's injury, simply hoping that Rowan would correct him for the absurd information, it didn't work. Rowan totally bought the story and more so told him to investigate further into it. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he had to find a way to back his story up. 

Once he reached back to the knight's holdings, he pushed through the heavy door and found everyone gathered at the common area. They have settled around and the tension hasn't ceased since the day they came back from Thethia. Ilias heaved a sigh, comforted by the fact that, at the very least, Rowan would be spared from the shattering torture of the truth. Forgetting may have been a silver lining in the midst of this harrowing loss. 

Kaylon was the first to shoot up from his seat as he pestered him, "How's Ro?" 

"Finally awake," he responded simple, before heaving out another disheartened sigh. "He hadn't mentioned Elianna at all. I think his memories of her were really wiped clean." 

"Not even Thunder?" Alec asked. 

"He didn't even remember how Tristan got injured." Ilias faced Alec and gave a wry smile. "How's the both of them?" 

"To say they are fine would be an understatement." Kaylon's shoulder slumped forward dejectedly. "Nothing serious on their injuries, but they refused to leave their chambers." 

'Let me check on Tristan first." Ilias turned around and left the common area. Walking down the well-lit hallway, he made a turn at the end of the aisle to reach Tristan's room. Carefully pushing on his door, he entered and saw the boy sitting by the window as the cold winter breeze blew from the window and filled the room with freezing gloom.

"You know that the cold won't do you any good," Ilias reprimanded, making his way in. 

"What happened to her?" Tristan asked, his voice was barely audible.

"We can only hope that she's alive somewhere," Ilias sighed.

"It's all because of me—" Tristan's voice broke.

"Tris, there's something I need to tell you." Ilias held his head down and avoided facing Tristan.

"Tell me," Tristan tensed, suddenly apprehensive.

"Rowan couldn't remember anything related to Elianna and the last thing she told us was to never mention of her to him," he explained. "Since that was the last thing she had requested of us, we swore on our knighthood that we shall comply as to honour her." 

"What?" Tristan inhaled sharply.

"I'm sure it was part of the resurrection ritual."

"Then, she should've done that for all of us," Tristan joked, but nothing about what was shared felt light-hearted.

"Yes, she should've," Ilias plastered on a smile.

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Location Unknown

• Elianna •

A sudden chill that hit her woke her up immediately. Weakly pushing herself up, she forced her eyelids to open but she couldn't see anything except for the perpetual darkness in front of her. She thought that she had cast her shadows unknowingly when she passed out so she clenched her fingers together to withdraw them but she felt nothing. She had not cast her shadows at all. The fraught silence had amplified her pounding heartbeat and when she tried blinking a few times, nothing came to sight. Then, she remembered her deal with the Goddess.

I will give up all the light in my life.

An ache pierced through her heart when she realised the meaning behind those words. It would mean that she had to live without never seeing light again. Even when she was well acquainted with the dark, the absence of sight had inevitably brought despair to her. Shaking her head to clear herself from the sadness that burned at the back of her eyes, she placed a hand on her abdomen and whispered, "Don't you worry, little one. I'll protect you." 

Her other hand reached out to the ground ahead of her and realised that she had been lying on sand all along. Her hand sunk into the soft sand, in a familiar way that she recalled how sand would feel against her skin the first time she encountered it. Taking a deep breath, a distinctive scent of dust, creosote and sage wafted into her nose and she knew that she was back in the garden in Meissa Palace of Rivia. Pushing herself up to stand, she relied on the sound of chilly wind and her previous memory of this place to navigate through the garden. Unexpectedly, there was a loud clattering sound of metal clanking and a sudden surprised scream of a lady.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Elianna turned towards the sound, though she still felt that it was difficult to accurately navigate her way without her sight.

"L-Lady E-Elianna?"

A familiar voice stammered in fright and Elianna gasped in response, "Kiran?"

"L-Lady Elianna, w-why are you here?" Kiran approached her and held onto her arm. She turned her arm around and rolled the fabric to reveal her arm. "W-What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Elianna replied, with sadness in her tone. "Could I trouble you with something?"

"P-Please let me know how I can help," Kiran sounded frantic.

"Please bring me to the Second Princess, Her Highness." 

※