The day began like any other in the secluded estate of the Thalor family. The golden morning light bathed the gardens, warming the dew laden grass and illuminating the ivy that climbed the tall stone walls. Birds chirped, oblivious to the weight of history contained within these grounds. For many, this estate would have been paradise a refuge from the world. But for, Elysia it was nothing more than a beautifully adorned cage.
Seated by the wide arched window of her chamber, Elysia traced the intricate patterns of her mother's family crest etched into the glass. It was a habit she had formed over the years, one that brought her a strange sense of calm. The crest a phoenix rising from a tide of waves seemed to carry with it the weight of centuries of royal legacy, of duty and destiny. Today, however, even that small comfort couldn't quiet her restless thoughts.
The dreams had returned, more vivid than ever.
She could still feel the phantom sensations clawing at the edges of her mind the icy chill of crimson tides washing over her feet, the metallic scent of blood mingling with the salt of the sea air. And then there was the voice, deep and resonant, calling her name with an urgency that made her chest tighten even now. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced, a dream that felt too real to dismiss.
",Elysia" it had whispered, her name laced with sorrow and something darker something that sent a shiver down her spine.
"Elysia?"
The sudden voice jolted her from her thoughts. She turned to find Isolde standing in the doorway, a tray of breakfast in her hands. The chambermaid had served the Thalor family for years, and though her position was formal, there was an unspoken understanding between her and Elysia . Isolde wasn't just a servant; she was a confidante, a quiet presence that kept loneliness at bay.
"You seem lost in thought this morning," Isolde said, setting the tray down on a small table near the window.
"I suppose I am," Elysia replied, offering a faint smile. "It's nothing, really. Just...the dreams again."
Isolde's brows knitted together as she arranged the plates and utensils. "The same ones?"
Elysia hesitated, then nodded. "The same, but stronger. I can't shake the feeling that they mean something, Isolde. It's as if they're trying to tell me something I can't quite understand."
"Dreams are strange things," Isolde said, her tone cautious. "Sometimes they're just dreams. Sometimes...they're more."
There was a pause, heavy with unspoken words. Elysia studied Isolde's face, searching for clues, but the chambermaid avoided her gaze. It wasn't the first time Isolde had seemed hesitant to speak freely, and Elysia knew better than to press her.
Instead, she focused on the meal before her simple fare of bread, fruit, and cheese. She nibbled absentmindedly, her thoughts drifting once more. The dreams weren't the only thing troubling her. There were the whispers too, faint and fleeting, carried on the lips of servants who didn't think she could hear them.
They spoke of a name. A name that sent ripples of unease through the estate.
"Elric."
She had heard it countless times in the quiet moments when the estate seemed to breathe its secrets. It was a name that belonged to no one she knew, yet it felt inexplicably familiar. Her parents had always been careful to keep her isolated, sheltered from the rumors and politics of the court, but even they couldn't shield her from everything.
Isolde's voice broke the silence again. "Have you thought about speaking to the King or Queen about your dreams?"
Elysia let out a bitter laugh. "And say what? That I'm haunted by visions of crimson tides and shadowy figures? That I hear the voice of someone I've never met? My parents wouldn't listen. They never do."
Isolde's expression softened. "They care about you, my lady. In their own way."
"Do they?" Elysia's tone sharpened, though she didn't intend for it to. She sighed, setting down her bread. "All my life, I've been kept here, hidden away like some fragile artifact. They say it's for my protection, but protection from what? The world? The court? Myself? I don't even know who I am beyond these walls."
Isolde opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, a distant sound caught their attention a low rumble, almost imperceptible, like thunder rolling across the horizon. Elara's gaze snapped to the window, her heart quickening. The sky was clear, the sun bright. There was no storm.
"Elysia?" Isolde asked cautiously, noticing the change in her demeanor.
But Elysia didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on the horizon, where a faint shimmer of light seemed to ripple through the air. It was subtle, almost easy to dismiss, but it tugged at something deep within her a memory from her dreams, a sense of foreboding that made her blood run cold.
"Do you see that?" she whispered.
Isolde joined her by the window, squinting at the distance. "See what?"
Elysia hesitated. The shimmer was gone, leaving only the serene landscape of the gardens and hills. She shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing."
But it wasn't nothing. She knew that much. The dreams, the whispers, the name it was all connected. And whatever it was, it was growing stronger.
Elysia's hands trembled as she leaned against the cold frame of the window. The shimmer, brief as it had been, clung to her thoughts like a phantom. It was a flicker of something she couldn't explain, something that whispered in the same language as her dreams. The estate had always felt safe quiet, sheltered, untouched by the chaos she read about in history scrolls. But now, for the first time, Elysia sensed that the walls of her world were paper thin, fragile against whatever was waiting beyond them.
"You're pale, my lady," Isolde said, her brow furrowed. "Perhaps you should rest. These dreams they're taking too much from you."
Elysia shook her head and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. "No. Rest won't stop them."
Her voice faltered as she spoke, her determination wavering under the weight of uncertainty. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now. For weeks, she had endured the haunting visions the blood streaked tides, the shadowed figure and the relentless whisper of a name. And now the shimmer in the distance, gone in the blink of an eye, felt like a thread connecting all the pieces together.
"I need to know what's happening to me," she said softly, almost to herself.
Isolde moved closer, her fingers brushing the fabric of Elysia's sleeve. "My lady, the world beyond these walls is dangerous. The King and Queen have their reasons for keeping you here. They only want what's best for you."
Elysia laughed bitterly and turned to face her. "Do they? Or do they simply want to keep their secrets hidden? All my life, I've been confined to this estate, told what I can and cannot learn. What I can and cannot do. They've hidden something from me, Isolde. And I think it has to do with these dreams."
Isolde's lips parted as if she wanted to respond, but she hesitated. Her gaze flickered toward the door, and Elara could tell that the chambermaid was weighing her next words carefully. The silence stretched long between them, heavy with unspoken truths.
"You've heard something, haven't you?" Elysia pressed, her voice firmer now. "Tell me."
Isolde's expression was pained as she lowered her voice. "Servants talk. You know that. We hear things we're not meant to hear. Names. Places. Secrets that belong to the King and Queen. I never thought it was my place to repeat them."
Elara stepped closer, her heart pounding. "Then repeat them now. Please, Isolde. If you know something, I need to hear it."
The chambermaid's hands twisted nervously in the folds of her apron, her gaze darting to the window as though afraid someone might overhear their conversation. Finally, she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.
"They say your brother lives."
Elysia froze, the words hitting her like a physical blow. She had heard whispers of a name Elric, always tied to the prophecy but she had dismissed them as idle speculation. Her parents had told her that her twin had died before he could draw his first breath, taken by illness that left her as the sole heir to the Thalor lineage. But now, standing in the quiet chamber, Isolde's words cracked that certainty like glass under pressure.
"They say the King ordered his exile," Isolde continued, her voice trembling. "That he was...dangerous. Touched by darkness."
Elysia's knees threatened to buckle, and she clutched the edge of the desk for support. "Exile," she whispered. "Dangerous. Why would they keep this from me?"
"I don't know," Isolde admitted. "All I know is that the prophecy frightens them. It always has. They've done everything they can to control it."
Elysia felt her chest tighten as she processed Isolde's words. She had spent her life in shadows, sheltered from the whispers of the court and the secrets of her bloodline. And now, with Isolde's revelation, the whispers seemed closer than ever. Her dreams, her visions they weren't just fragments of imagination. They were pieces of a truth that had been deliberately hidden from her.
She turned back to the window, her gaze fixed on the hills beyond the estate. "If he's alive, then he's out there somewhere. And if the dreams are right, he's tied to whatever's coming."
"My lady, no," Isolde said, alarm flashing across her face. "You can't leave. The King and Queen would..."
"The King and Queen have lied to me," Elysia said sharply, her voice steadier now. "They've kept me here because they fear what I might find. But I can't stay hidden forever. Not if the prophecy has already begun."
The wind outside picked up, rustling the leaves in the garden and carrying the faint scent of rain through the open window. Elysia straightened, her resolve hardening as she turned to face Isolde.
"I have to leave," she said. "I have to find him."
The air between them grew heavy, the weight of Elysia's words hanging unspoken. Isolde's face paled, her hands twisting the fabric of her apron as if willing the moment to dissolve. But Elysia's resolve only deepened, her heart steadying with each beat. For so long, she had let herself be caged, but the bars around her were beginning to rust, and she was ready to break free.
"You don't understand," Isolde finally whispered, her voice barely audible. "If you leave, if you even speak of this...everything will change. You'll be exposed."
"Exposed to what?" Elysia asked sharply. "To the truth? To the world I've been hidden from? If my parents won't tell me what they've done, I'll find the answers myself."
Isolde hesitated, her eyes darting to the closed door as if fearful it might swing open at any moment. Her voice lowered further, trembling with urgency. "The King and Queen...they've kept this estate hidden for a reason. There are things they don't want you to see, things even I don't fully understand. But I do know this: if you leave, if you start digging into the secrets of your family, you'll uncover things that cannot be undone."
Elysia stared at her, a faint chill running down her spine. She should have felt fear, but instead, there was only a quiet determination, a fire that had been smoldering for years and now threatened to consume her. Her dreams, her visions, the whispers of her twin—they were no longer just fragments of mystery. They were pieces of a puzzle she was finally beginning to put together.
She stepped closer to Isolde, her voice steady. "You said the servants know things. Whispers, secrets. If there's anything else you've heard anything at all I need you to tell me."
For a moment, Isolde seemed torn, her loyalty stretched between the princess she served and the duty she felt to protect her. Finally, she sighed, her shoulders slumping as if the weight of her silence had become too much to bear.
"There's a place," Isolde said quietly. "The east wing of the estate. It's been locked for years, ever since I came to serve here. No one goes there not the King, not the Queen, not even the servants. But I've heard things, my lady. Strange sounds, shadows where there shouldn't be. If you're looking for answers, perhaps you should start there."
Elysia's breath caught. The east wing. She had always assumed it was abandoned, a forgotten part of the estate left to decay. But now, hearing Isolde's words, it felt like the center of the storm brewing around her.
"Why would they keep it locked?" Elysia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Isolde shook her head. "I don't know. But I've heard the others call it the Shadow Wing. They say it's cursed."
Elysia's mind raced, the pieces of the puzzle shifting into place. If the east wing held the secrets her parents had been hiding, then that was where she would begin. She couldn't leave the estate at least not yet. Not until she uncovered the truth of what lay within the Shadow Wing.
The faint shimmer she had seen earlier flickered in her mind, as though calling her forward. Whatever was happening her dreams, the prophecy, the whispers of her brother it all felt tied to this moment, to this decision. She could feel it in her chest, an unshakable pull toward the answers she had been denied for so long.
"I'll start there," Elysia said finally, her voice firm. "I'll find out what they've been hiding."
Isolde's eyes widened, panic flashing across her face. "No, my lady. If they find out"
"They won't," Elysia interrupted, her tone resolute. "They've kept me in the dark long enough, Isolde. If there's something in the Shadow Wing, I need to see it for myself."
The chambermaid opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Elysia's eyes silenced her. There was no doubt, no hesitation. The princess had made up her mind.
The wind outside howled, rattling the window panes as if echoing the storm building within Elysia's heart. She turned back to the window, her gaze fixed on the horizon where the shimmer had once flickered. The path ahead was uncertain, shrouded in shadow and danger, but for the first time in her life, she felt ready to step into it.
Behind her, Isolde's voice broke through the silence, trembling with quiet fear. "Be careful, my lady. Once you start searching for the truth, you may not like what you find."
Elysia didn't turn around. Her eyes remained fixed on the distant hills, her mind set on the east wing and the secrets it promised to reveal. "I'd rather know the truth than live in the dark."
And with that, the decision was made. The Shadow Wing awaited her, and with it, the beginning of a journey that would change everything.