Elira stared at her friend with a dazed expression. “No, Lys. That’s every creature’s right.
“But the truth is, the universe didn’t give me that right.” Lysandra rose from her bench. “It’s getting late. You should go home, El. If my father sees you here, you’ll get scolded again for supposedly setting a bad example for me.”
“Your dad can be ridiculously paranoid sometimes. Since when are friends not even allowed to hang out?” Elira grumbled as she stood.
“He’s just being careful.”
“There’s a fine line between being careful and being possessive, Lys. But whatever. Take care, okay? I’ll come back tomorrow. I’ll bring your favorite mooncakes.” Elira waved from a distance, not daring to come closer for a hug.
“Thanks, El.”
Lysandra waved back until Elira disappeared behind the garden gate. Her smile vanished at once. Loneliness wrapped itself tightly around her again.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the palace corridor. Lysandra had just returned from the garden when she immediately tensed. She knew that rhythm all too well. Aetherion.
The hall doors stood wide open. Her father stood there, towering over her with an intimidating aura of authority. His ceremonial white-and-gold robes swept across the floor. His face was stern, without even the faintest smile.
“Where have you been?” Aetherion asked coldly.
“In the garden, Dad. I met Elira for a little while,” Lysandra answered, lowering her gaze. About thirteen feet separated them.
“How many times have I told you? Limit your interactions with everyone, including Elira. I don’t want anything going wrong.”
“We were just talking, Dad. We kept our distance. No one got hurt,” Lysandra replied, trying to defend herself.
“Maybe no one did today. But what about tomorrow? Who knows? Elira is careless. What if she trips and falls onto you? What happens then? She could die, Lysandra. And the entire Divine Realm would blame you!” Aetherion’s voice rose, echoing off the walls of the hall.
Lysandra clenched her fists. “I’m always careful! I never let my guard down. Why do you always treat me like I’m a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment?!”
“Because you are a ticking time bomb!” Aetherion shouted.
Silence instantly descended over the hall. The words had slipped out, sharp and devastating. Lysandra stared at her father with tears welling in her eyes, her chest heaving as she held back a sob.
Aetherion looked slightly startled by his own words, but his jaw remained clenched. He did not take them back.
“So… you think I’m dangerous?” Lysandra’s voice trembled violently. “You think I’m a threat to this family?”
“I’m being rational, Lysandra. Your curse is deadly. As the leader of the Divine Realm, I have to ensure the safety of all our people, and that includes making sure you remain under strict supervision.”
“The people’s safety, or your reputation?” Lysandra shot back.
Aetherion narrowed his eyes. “Watch your mouth.”
“You’re ashamed to have a daughter like me, aren’t you? You keep me locked up in this palace not just to protect me, but because you’re ashamed! You don’t want the other gods laughing at the Great Sky God for having a daughter who carries death!”
“ENOUGH!” Aetherion slammed his fist into the nearby marble pillar, cracking it. His voice thundered through the hall. “I’m doing this for your own good! There are plenty of people out there looking for our family’s weakness. If you go outside, if you let your guard down, they’ll use you! You know nothing about the dangers out there!”
“And you know nothing about the dangers in here!” Lysandra shouted back, tears now streaming down her face. “I’m dying slowly in here, Dad! Every day I wake up, I wish I could just die so this curse would disappear. Have you ever asked how I feel? Have you ever once looked at me as your daughter, instead of as a political responsibility?”
Aetherion fell silent. He looked at his daughter, but the emotional distance between them was far greater than the physical distance. A distance built from fear, secrets, and lies Lysandra knew nothing about.
“Starting tomorrow, you are forbidden from leaving the palace’s east wing. More guards will be stationed there. No one is allowed to visit you, including Elira,” Aetherion declared unilaterally, his tone final and indisputable.
“You can’t do that!” Lysandra cried in disbelief. “That’s the same as putting me in solitary confinement!”
“I can, and I’ve already made my decision. This is for the good of everyone. Go to your room now, Lysandra.”
“No! I’m not your prisoner!”
“Go, or I’ll drag you there with binding magic!” Aetherion threatened sharply.
Lysandra stared at her father, feeling as if her heart had shattered into pieces. The man before her was no longer a father in her eyes, but a cruel prison warden. Without saying another word, Lysandra turned and ran toward her room, ignoring her mother’s cries as she happened to step out of her own room and witness the argument.
The night grew later. The Divine Realm palace was silent. Lysandra stood on the balcony of her room, gazing at the expanse of silver clouds covering the land below. The cold night wind pierced her skin, but it was no colder than her frozen heart.
Her father’s punishment that afternoon had been the final straw. Isolation in the east wing. No Elira. No one at all. Only walls, a roof, and suffocating loneliness. She felt like a bird in a golden cage whose feathers were slowly being plucked one by one.
She touched her own shoulder, hugging herself because there was no one else who could do it.
“I can’t keep living like this,” she whispered to the night wind. “I’m going to go insane. If I stay here, my soul and mind will die before this curse kills anyone.”
Lysandra lowered her gaze to her divine wings. Beautiful silver wings she rarely used because her father had forbidden her from flying. Those wings were the only symbol of freedom she possessed.
“Dad says it’s dangerous out there. But is anything more dangerous than losing my mind to loneliness?”
A powerful urge suddenly rose in her chest. A rebellion she had buried deep inside for hundreds of years out of respect and obedience to her parents. But today, that respect had shattered along with her father’s harsh words.
“I just want some fresh air. I just want to fly free, without anyone watching me, without walls trapping me.”
Lysandra climbed onto the balcony railing. Her eyes fixed sharply on the edge of the sky, toward the Divine Realm border she had never visited. Her father had always forbidden her from approaching that area. Whatever was out there, Lysandra didn’t care. She only wanted to get as far away from this prison as possible—and she wanted to leave tonight.
With one deep breath, Lysandra spread her silver wings and leaped from the balcony. She beat her wings powerfully, shooting through the night air. The fierce wind struck her face, giving her an intoxicating taste of freedom. For the first time in her life, she felt alive.
She flew higher and higher, leaving the magnificent palace filled with suffering behind her. She didn’t look back. She knew the guards would soon realize she was gone, and her father would be furious. But right now, Lysandra didn’t care.
The cold night air swept away her tears. She streaked toward the border, passing over a sea of clouds glowing blue beneath the moonlight.
But her euphoria lasted only a moment.
As Lysandra approached the border—the final boundary of the Divine Realm’s protected territory—the air temperature suddenly plunged unnaturally. The clouds, which had been pale blue and white, turned a deep gray. The wind that had caressed her face now felt like icy needles stabbing into her skin.
Lysandra slowed her wingbeats, confused. “What’s going on? The air around the border shouldn’t be like this.”
Suddenly, hoarse whispers echoing from every direction filled her ears. They did not come from a single mouth, but from dozens, hundreds of invisible mouths.
“Goddess… pure blood… life…”
Lysandra frantically looked right and left. From behind the dense black clouds, dark shadows began to emerge. Their forms were shapeless, like smoke that had solidified, and their glowing red eyes stared at Lysandra with ravenous hunger.
“Curious spirits?” Lysandra gasped. She had read about them in the library, but she had never imagined they would dare approach the Divine Realm border directly.
“Prey… we’re hungry…”
Before Lysandra could react, one of the black spirits shot forward with lightning speed and slammed hard into her body.
“Argh!” Lysandra screamed in pain. The attack pierced through her magical defenses instantly. An unbearable cold burned across her shoulder.
A swarm of other spirits quickly followed, charging at Lysandra like a horde of angry bees. They slashed, clawed, and drained the life energy from the goddess’s body. Lysandra tried to cast a shield of light, but panic shattered her concentration. Her silver light flickered for only a moment before being swallowed by the mass of black smoke.
A razor-sharp black claw brutally slashed across her right silver wing.
The sound of tearing came with Lysandra’s piercing scream. Silvery blood sprayed through the air. Her right wing lost all function. Lysandra’s balance completely failed in midair.
“Fall… into nothingness…” the spirits whispered as they watched their prey lose her lift.
Amid the blinding pain and flowing blood, Lysandra looked down. There were no clouds to support her, only a yawning abyss of darkness. The place most feared by the entire divine clan.
The Forbidden Forest.
Gravity cruelly seized her small body. Lysandra plunged through the thick black mist, losing consciousness as her body was completely swallowed by the shadows of the enormous trees below.