Prologue: Red Butterfly
In a village of StormHold
The shadows of the alley smelled of dampness and waste. In that alley, two children were stalking a stall. Ly squeezed Yudy’s hand as they pressed themselves against the stone wall, watching the bread stand across the street. The vendor, a burly man with a stained apron, was attending a customer who was haggling over the price of a watermelon.
“Now,” Ly whispered.
They slipped through the crowd like mice. Yudy, barely four years old, followed her brother’s steps with a precision only constant hunger could give. The red butterfly clip in her dark hair flashed for an instant under the afternoon sun.
Ly’s fingers had just brushed the bread when a huge hand grabbed him by the collar.
“Damn brats!”
Yudy screamed when the vendor grabbed her by the hair, yanking hard. The girl fell to her knees, and the first blow hit her side.
“Let her go!” Ly lunged at the man, sinking his teeth into the arm holding his sister.
The vendor growled in pain and rage. His fist smashed into Ly’s face, then into his stomach. The world blurred, filled with sharp pain and the metallic taste of blood. He heard Yudy crying, felt more blows.
Finally, both of them were thrown aside. They landed on the filthy cobblestones, gasping.
“If I ever see you near my stand again, I’ll kill you! Hear me? I’ll kill you!”
Ly grabbed Yudy’s hand and they ran. They ran until the village was far behind them, until the trees swallowed them and the forest’s silence replaced the vendor’s shouts. They didn’t stop until they reached the ruins they called home: the remains of what had once been a cabin, with barely half a roof and crumbling walls.
They collapsed onto the dirt floor. Ly’s eye was swelling, blood at the corner of his lips. Yudy had a split lip and bruises darkening on her arms.
They looked at each other in silence for a moment.
Then Ly reached into his pocket and pulled out a crushed piece of bread. Yudy’s eyes lit up as she pulled another from her own clothes, barely the size of her fist.
They looked at each other again and burst into laughter. Laughter that hurt their bruised ribs, laughter that was half relief, half hysteria.
“We did it!” Yudy bit into her piece with blood-stained teeth. “Ly, this week we’re actually going to eat.”
She chewed with her eyes closed, as if it were the most exquisite delicacy in the world.
“I wish we could eat like this every day,” she murmured, hugging the bread to her chest. “I wish…”
Ly wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and ruffled his sister’s hair.
“Don’t worry, Yudy. Mom and Dad will come back for us. You’ll see.”
Yudy nodded, clinging to those words as if they were as real as the bread in her hands.
⸻
Ten years later
The village of StormHold hadn’t changed much. The same cobblestone streets, the same market stalls, the same poverty disguised as normality. Ly moved through the shadows with the ease of someone who had spent years perfecting the art of not being seen.
His fingers worked with surgical precision. An entire bag of bread vanished from the baker’s counter without the man even blinking. Ly was already turning the corner when the vendor began rearranging his goods, oblivious to the theft.
Ly smiled to himself. Seventeen years old, and invisible when he wanted to be.
The smile faded when he saw them.
Three hooded figures advanced down the main street. Something about the way they moved slowed the human traffic around them. They didn’t walk like ordinary people from StormHold; there was authority in every step, a confidence that didn’t belong in this forgotten place.
Whispers began, like the murmur of insects.
“Did you see them?”
“Are they armed…?”
“What are they doing here?”
A sudden wind stirred the strangers’ cloaks. For a second, just a flash, Ly saw the symbol: a distorted yellow rhombus embroidered on dark fabric.
The murmurs swelled.
“That symbol…”
“It can’t be.”
“They’re from Mainer.”
“What would they want in StormHold?”
Ly clutched the bag of bread to his chest and slipped into the alley he knew by heart. It wasn’t his business. Nothing that happened in this village had been his business for a long time.
The forest welcomed him with its usual silence. The ruins were still there, eternal and unmoving. Ly sat on a flat stone that served as a table and unwrapped his loot. He ate in silence; the bread tasted like sawdust, as always, but it filled his stomach. That was all that mattered.
When he finished, he set one of the loaves aside. He took it outside and placed it on a small mound of earth beside the ruins. The red butterfly clip was still there, rusted by the years but still recognizable, stuck into the dirt like an improvised gravestone.
“Here’s your share, Yudy,” he murmured.
The boy stood there for several minutes, staring at the clip in complete silence, his gaze distant and hollow.
Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation run through his body.
Ly tensed. Yes, there was someone else in the forest. He didn’t understand why—no one ever came to that part of the woods. No one.
He camouflaged himself among the ruins, hand on the hilt of his dagger, melting into the shadows. His breathing became silent, his body still.
The three figures emerged between the trees.
Ly felt his heart leap into his throat. The people from Mainer. Here. How…?
“Hey, boss,” said a green-haired hooded man, scratching the back of his neck as he looked at the ruins. “Are you sure this is the place? Because this is more decrepit than my grandma’s boots.”
The black-haired man leading them sighed with practiced patience.
“Merlio…”
“Hey, guys!” The female voice came from the blonde woman, who had crouched near the mound of dirt. “Look at this.”
Ly felt his blood turn to ice as she knelt in front of Yudy’s grave.
“I think there’s something here.”
Her hand reached for the clip.
Ly didn’t think twice. His body moved before his mind. He leapt from his hiding place, dagger in hand, aiming straight for the girl’s throat. He was going to kill her—he was—but—
The metallic sound rang through the clearing. A blade had appeared out of nowhere, deflecting his strike with insulting ease. Ly landed badly, stumbled, and dropped to his knees.
The blonde girl stared at him, wide-eyed, shocked but unharmed.
“Well,” said the green-haired man, Merlio, twirling his blade casually, “I thought you’d never come out of hiding, kid.”
Ly clenched his teeth, fixed his glare on the hooded man, and lunged again without hesitation.
The next few seconds were humiliating. Every attack was blocked, deflected, or dodged. Merlio didn’t even seem to be trying. He smiled with the mocking grin of someone playing with a puppy.
Ly staggered back several steps, panting. The dagger trembled in his hand with rage.
“Who are you?” he demanded. “What do you want?”
Merlio sheathed his weapon smoothly and shoved his hands into his pockets.
“My name’s Merlio,” he said with an overly friendly tone and smile that made Ly’s blood run cold. “She’s Yanna. We’re from Mainer, in case you hadn’t noticed. And we were looking for you, so—”
“And him?” Ly pointed at the black-haired man who had remained silent, watching with dark, unreadable eyes.
Merlio glanced over.
“Oh, him? He’s our boss.”
Before Ly could react, Merlio had crossed the distance between them. His hand clamped onto Ly’s arm like a shackle.
“Well, now that we’ve found you, let’s go!” he said brightly.
Ly blinked. What…?
He yanked his arm, trying to free himself. It didn’t move. He pulled again with all his strength. Nothing. Merlio’s grip didn’t give an inch.
“Why the hell won’t my arm move…?” Ly thought, a chill running down his spine.
“What do you want with me?” he asked.
“We’ll explain when we get there.”
“Get where?”
“To Mainer headquarters,” Yanna replied, brushing dust off her cloak.
“And what makes you think I’ll go with you?”
Ly tore his arm free in a sudden motion and raised his dagger again.
The black-haired man’s voice cut through the air like a blade.
“Your sister’s name was Yudy, wasn’t it?”
Ly’s heart stopped for a few seconds. His dagger lowered slightly. His eyes went wide.
“You…” His voice cracked. “How do you know that? Who are you really? What do you have to do with her?”
The man’s expression didn’t change.
“We’ll tell you once we reach Mainer. This isn’t a good place to talk.”
“And why the hell should I believe—?”
“If we wanted to hurt you, we already would have,” he said neutrally, his tone chilling. “Come with us. It’s not like you have a choice.”
Ly glanced at his arm. Merlio wasn’t holding it anymore, but the message was clear. He wasn’t a match for them, even if he resisted.
He clenched his jaw until it hurt.
He walked up to the black-haired man and, in a sudden move, threw his dagger at him.
The man’s hand moved with unnatural speed. He caught the weapon by the hilt without blinking, without a hint of surprise. He held it for a moment, then extended it back to Ly with the same impassive expression.
Ly took it, feeling like a child who’d just thrown a tantrum.
The man turned and started walking toward the edge of the clearing.
Merlio passed by Ly and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You’ll see, we’re not that bad. Well, except the boss. He’s kind of grumpy.”
Yanna followed silently, casting one last glance at the mound with the red clip.
Ly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and followed the strangers, wondering what their intentions were—people who knew his sister’s name
