The rain kept falling, but Elira no longer felt the cold.
She stood in front of the stranger—this fighter with a wound on his side and thunder in his voice—and for the first time in years, she didn't feel alone.
"Who are you?" she asked again, quieter now.
He looked over his shoulder, listening. The sound of boots was fading in the distance. The guards had lost her, for now.
"I'm no one important," he said. "Not anymore."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I've got," he muttered, pressing a hand against his bleeding side. "Now are you coming, or are you planning to sing them all to sleep when they find you again?"
Elira hesitated. Her head said run. Her heart said trust him. And something deeper—something ancient—whispered, this is fate.
She took his hand.
His grip was warm, firm. Not the grip of a stranger. The grip of someone who'd catch you if you fell.
They slipped into the back alleys, weaving through the underbelly of the capital. Elira kept close, watching how easily he moved despite the blood and pain. Like someone who'd fought through worse.
He didn't ask about her voice. Or the glow.
He didn't flinch when her hand brushed his.
And when they reached a rusted iron door in the side of an abandoned tavern, he knocked once, twice, then held up his hand like a signal.
The door opened.
Torchlight flickered inside. A stairway led down.
He turned to her. "Welcome to the place where the unwanted survive."
Elira stepped in.
Down Below:
The air was thick with smoke and metal. A deep hum of voices echoed. Fighters, gamblers, people with scars and secrets.
An underground arena. A hidden world.
"You live here?" she asked.
"I fight here."
"What do they call you?"
He paused. Then with a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes:
"The Ghost."
She laughed—just a little. "Sounds like something out of a story."
"Funny. You sound like the beginning of one."
Later That Night:
He patched up his wound while she sat on a crate, humming softly. Her voice still carried that strange, glowing warmth — even in the quiet.
"You're not scared of me?" he asked.
"No," she said. "I think you're the only one not scared of me."
They looked at each other for a long second.
In that moment, two broken pieces of different worlds… finally began to fit.