Velora

Episode 1

It was a raging storm. Lightning tore across the sky, thunder rolled like a monstrous growl, and the rain poured down in furious sheets. Because of the storm, the electricity had been out for the past half hour. In the darkened room, only the dim glow of the emergency light kept the shadows at bay.

She was gazing out of the window when her eyes suddenly fell on a girl in the garden one who seemed to be about her own age. The girl was completely drenched, yet she sat leaning against a tree as if the storm meant nothing. From that distance, her face was blurred, impossible to see clearly.

Sophia rushed towards the umbrella stand, grabbed one, and ran out of the mansion into the storm.

“Here, take this… you’ll catch a cold,” she said with genuine concern to the girl, whose back was still turned.

At the sound of her voice, the girl slowly shifted her attention toward Zarmeen.

The moment she turned, Zarmeen froze, a sudden shiver running through her. She instinctively stepped back.

The girl’s eyes!! completely white.

“You… you brought this for me?” the girl asked in surprise.

“Ya y yes,” Sophia stammered, her voice trembling as fear tightened around her.

“Thank you.” The girl smiled as she spoke, but Sophia said nothing in return. She quickly turned away and hurried back toward the mansion.

“Wait… are you running away from me?”

The words reached Sophia’s ears and her steps froze on their own.

The girl looked different from other children there was something unusual about her appearance. Yet her voice carried a strange sweetness, a charm that seemed to pull Sophia closer against her will.

“Nah no, of course not…” Sophia was soft-hearted; she didn’t want to hurt the feelings

of a girl.

So she came back and sat down beside her. “I was only running because of the rain,” she explained, though her voice still carried a tremor. Deep inside, Sophia remained uneasy in the presence of this white-eyed girl.

“Will you be my friend?” the girl asked, extending her hand toward Sophia.

Sophia fell silent, lost in thought. In the twelve years of her life, she had never once made a friend.

“But…” Sophia had just begun to speak when Rachel appeared, searching for her, and finally reached the spot.

“What are you doing out here? How many times have I told you never to step outside the mansion? Why do you keep forgetting that, to the world, you are a boy not a girl?

Look at you, with your hair loose like this… what if someone had seen you?” Rachel’s voice rose the moment she found Sophia, scolding her sharply.

Out of fear of her mother, Sophia had never dared step beyond the walls of the mansion.

In all twelve years of her life, this was the very first time she had crossed that boundary.

“Mama… I only came out to give that girl an umbrella,” Sophia said, her innocent face trying to explain the reason for her disobedience.

“What girl?” Rachel asked in confusion, her eyes scanning the garden in every direction.

“Mama… she” Sophia turned around to point, but there was no one there. The spot was empty. Shocked and confused, she looked around desperately.

“Sophia, how could any girl be here? Stop making excuses and come inside at once— before someone sees you with your hair loose like this.”

Rachel grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her back into the mansion.

“Mama, can I have some Cookies?” Sophia asked, watching her mother prepare them.

Rachel looked at her in surprise. “But… you just took some from me and went upstairs. How did you come back out of the room across the hall?” she asked, her voice filled with disbelief and unease.

“Me? I’ve been in my room for the past hour…” Sophia replied innocently.

At those words, Rachel slowly turned her gaze toward the staircase.

“I took them…”

A strange whisper brushed against Sophia’s ears, the words forming so clearly that she almost believed they were her own. Forcing a smile, she looked at her mother and said,

“That was me… I was only teasing you.”

Rachel frowned. “But how did you come downstairs so quickly? I didn’t even see you pass by.”

“You were so busy making cookies that you didn’t notice,” Sophia replied, masking her fear with a false cheer.

Before Rachel could question her further, Sophia darted up the stairs, eager to escape.

The room was a complete mess. Empty chip wrappers lay scattered across the floor, along with half finished glasses of soda. Plates piled with leftovers cluttered the table. The bed sheet had slipped onto the ground, and the expensive cushions from the sofa were also enjoying the dust of the floor.

Gabriel lay face down on the bed, fast asleep, when suddenly the door creaked open.

“Sir… sir… please wake up. It’s already two in the afternoon,” a servant named Thames said politely, standing beside him with folded hands, trying in vain to rouse the young master.

“Why? Has someone run away again?” Gabriel muttered, forcing one eye open as he looked at the servant with a sulky expression.

“No, sir… your grandfather is calling you,” Thames informed him.

“Ughhh… why won’t that old man just leave me alone?” Gabriel groaned, pounding his hands on the bed like a sulking child.

“Tell him I’ll come when I’m free,” he added with a wide yawn, stretching his mouth as far as it would go.

“Sir, how many times have I told you? Cover your mouth when you yawn it’s bad manners,” the servant scolded gently.

Gabriel shot him a bored look. “Just go. Let me sleep. I’ll listen to your good and bad manners lecture some other time.” With that, he pulled a pillow over his face and waved him away.

“Sir, please get up. Master has called for you right now. If you don’t go on your own, I’ve been ordered to have you carried there. So please, get up,” the servant pleaded earnestly.

“What is this, some kind of royal decree? Who dares carry me off? Don’t test my temper, servant let me sleep,” Gabriel snapped, brushing off his words as if they meant nothing.

“I’m warning you for the last time, sir… get up now. Otherwise, you’ll be responsible for what happens next,” the servant said in a cold, firm tone.

But Gabriel didn’t even flinch, as if the warning had never reached his ears.

“Thames… just go, man… let me sleee aaahhhhhh…” Gabriel had barely pulled the pillow off his face to complain when a guard dressed in black uniform entered the room.

Without a word, he lifted Gabriel straight off the bed and threw him over his shoulder.

“Hey! What are you doing?! Servant, tell him to put me down!” Gabriel screamed, kicking and protesting at the top of his lungs.

But the guard carried him out just as he was—still in his nightclothes. As they stepped into the hallway, everyone who saw them stopped in their tracks, staring in astonishment as though they were witnessing the eighth wonder of the world.

“Hey, man put me down! You’re destroying what little dignity I have left! Come on, I’m not some delicate maiden that you can haul off to Grandfather like this!” Gabriel shouted, dangling over the guard’s shoulder like a sack of grain.

The entire hotel had their eyes fixed on the scene: the guard in his black uniform and Gabriel, flailing and yelling like a spectacle.

“Have some pity, man! Look at me I’ve got such a handsome face! Can’t you see the girls laughing at me?” Gabriel cried, his voice echoing through the hall as he tried to record his protest for anyone willing to listen.

But the guard showed no reaction at all, as though a giant No Response sign hung over him.

“Sir, you pulled the same stunt last time and ran away. I’m not falling for it again,” the guard replied coldly.

Gabriel squinted his eyes, thinking hard. “Ugh… so I already used that trick? Oh no… guess I’ll have to come up with a new one. It’s just look, I just woke up, my brain isn’t working properly yet,” he said with innocent sincerity.

The guard had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

“Why do you always avoid meeting Master? Just see him once he’s been wanting to talk to you for so long,” the guard said, trying to reason with him.