Eclipsed Souls

The Secrets of Aetheris

The battle with the shadowed figure had left them both exhausted, but Darius refused to rest. They had to keep moving. The forest loomed around them, its ancient trees whispering in the hush of the wind. Moonlight barely filtered through the thick canopy, casting eerie silver patterns across the damp earth. Every step felt heavier, the weight of what had just transpired pressing against Darius’s chest like an iron vice.

His pulse still thrummed with the remnants of battle, the ghost of Elara’s magic lingering in the air. He had seen many things in his lifetime—wars fought over kingdoms, blood spilled for power, betrayals that shattered entire empires. But nothing had prepared him for the moment she unleashed that light.

Elara.

He stole a glance at her as they walked. She was a step behind him, her arms wrapped around herself as if trying to hold the pieces of her world together. Her dark hair was wild from the wind, her face pale beneath the soft glow of the moon. There was exhaustion in her eyes, but more than that—there was fear. Not fear of him, nor even the shadowed figure that had nearly claimed her. No, this was something deeper.

She was afraid of herself.

Darius clenched his jaw and turned his gaze forward. He had spent years training himself to bury emotions, to wield his sword without hesitation. But something about her made it impossible to detach. Perhaps it was the way she carried herself—not as a noble, not as someone destined for power, but as someone who had been cast away, alone and lost in the world. He knew that feeling too well.

“Elara,” he said finally, breaking the silence that had stretched between them. “Tell me what you know. What’s happening? Why are they after you?”

She hesitated, and he could feel the weight of her breath before she answered. “I don’t know. I don’t even know who I am. My parents—my real parents—are lost to me.”

Darius stopped in his tracks. The wind stirred around them, rustling the leaves with a sound like a thousand whispered secrets. He turned to face her, his golden eyes locking onto hers. The flicker of moonlight caught the depths of her irises, pools of shadow and light, uncertainty and something else—something buried deep, waiting to be awakened.

Aetheris.

The lost kingdom. A name spoken only in hushed tones, a legend that had faded into obscurity. And yet, standing before him, was its heir.

“Aetheris,” he whispered, the name tasting of ghosts and forgotten history. “You’re the heir, aren’t you?”

Elara flinched as if the word itself held power. “How do you know about Aetheris?”

Darius felt something tighten in his chest, a tangle of regret and duty warring within him. He could still hear the voice of the man who had sent him on this mission, cold and unyielding.

“She is a threat, Darius. You must eliminate her before she realizes what she is.”

That had been his purpose. To track her down, to end her before she could become a danger to the world. But as he stood there, looking at her—at the girl who had spent her life running, at the girl who had no home, no family, no knowledge of the power that coursed through her veins—he knew he couldn’t do it.

Not because of weakness. Not because of hesitation. But because he had seen the truth.

She wasn’t a threat.

She was a girl caught in a destiny she never asked for.

He had always been told that fate was something inescapable, that it wound its fingers through the fabric of time and tightened its grip until all resistance was meaningless. But what if that wasn’t true? What if fate wasn’t a cage, but a choice?

“I know more than you think,” he finally said, his voice quieter than before. “But there’s no time for answers now.”

Her brows furrowed in frustration, and he knew she was holding back questions—questions he couldn’t answer, not yet. Not when the night was still alive with the echoes of the battle, not when danger still lurked in the shadows.

“We need to find the witches,” he continued. “They’re the only ones who can help you.”

She let out a slow breath, nodding. She was placing her trust in him, despite everything. And he would not let that trust be in vain.

As they walked deeper into the forest, Darius felt the weight of his decision settle upon his shoulders. He had defied his orders, had chosen to protect rather than destroy. He had chosen her.

And he knew, without a doubt, that there would be a price to pay.

For now, he would keep her safe. Even if it meant standing against the very forces that had shaped his life. Even if it meant carving a new path through the darkness. Even if it meant challenging fate itself.

Because as much as the world might believe otherwise, Elara was not a weapon to be wielded. She was something far more powerful.

She was hope.