Azaveria: Tainted Light

Whenever that memory ambushed her, her breath tightened as if the air were escaping her lungs.

It had begun one day after her eighteenth birthday in Byun-Wan.

She felt her body rising not physically alone, but spiritually… as if an unseen force were pulling her toward the unknown. She tried to escape through sleep, convincing herself that exhaustion was playing tricks on her mind. But sleep was a trap without rest.

Suddenly, the lightness turned into a leaden weight.

She lost control completely.

She saw her body fading, becoming transparent like a drop of dew beneath a burning sun.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry.

But even her tears froze in their sockets.

She was a prisoner inside a shell that would not obey her.

She shut her eyes with desperate force.

When she opened them

She was no longer in her room.

The cold devoured her bones. Violent winds lashed her face, and the sharp scent of pine filled the air. She found herself standing atop a towering mountain peak. Above her stretched an ink-black sky, scattered with unfamiliar stars.

Her instinct whispered a single word:

“China.”

She was wearing nothing but her thin silk nightgown, barefoot on snow that burned her skin like fire.

Suddenly, her body moved on its own toward an ancient, massive tree, its trunk scarred by the wounds of centuries.

It was not merely a tree.

It was an entity watching her.

When her hand touched its bark, she felt no cold only divine warmth.

Then the light exploded.

Golden particles danced in the air before surging forward, piercing her skin, flowing through her veins until they settled in her lower back.

She felt a tattoo of light being carved into her flesh an ancient symbol reclaiming its rightful place at last.

The tree dissolved into nothingness, and a voice echoed across the void:

“You have reclaimed what was yours… be strong when you find the truth.”

“Zill… what is happening?” Elena asked, her voice trembling.

The voice answered weakly:

“Elena… the mark of your lineage has been restored.”

She stood alone before an ancient temple, barefoot upon the mountains of Hua Shan. The massive wooden doors began to open with a terrifying creak

As if they had been waiting for her arrival for thousands of years.

Inside the temple, the air was warmer but the monks’ gazes were far more mysterious.

The eldest among them stepped forward, his white beard flowing over his chest, his eyes glowing with quiet wisdom.

“Do not be afraid, stranger… fate is what guided you here.”

Elena asked for neither gold nor explanation.

All she wanted was a phone call.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Ryo was distracted by his phone when an unfamiliar number from China flashed across the screen.

He answered cautiously

then froze in place when he heard that trembling voice.

“Ryo… Ryo…”

Elena was crying in a way he had never heard before.

His playful tone dissolved into pure terror when she turned on the camera and he saw the temple, the monks, the snow.

“Elena! You were with me an hour ago! How did you get to China? Are you some kind of intercontinental missile?”

“Don’t ask, Ryo… please, just believe me. I’m on Mount Hua Shan. No ID. No passport… and no clothes warm enough for this cold.”

In that instant, Ryo changed.

The reckless boy disappeared.

In his place stood a man driven by love and responsibility.

“Stay where you are… I’m bringing you home.”

What followed was madness.

He called Elena’s mother, Rosy who was about to enter the operating room for a high-risk delivery and fabricated a convincing story about a short birthday getaway under his father’s security protection, creating cover for Elena’s sudden absence.

Then, with money and influence, he booked the first available flight.

From the airport, he chartered a private helicopter that cut through the clouds over China.

When it landed atop the peaks of Hua Shan, Ryo ran through the snow like a madman, shouting her name until his voice grew hoarse.

Then

She appeared at the temple entrance.

Elena did not hesitate for even a second.

She threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his coat as she gasped for breath, as if she had finally reached the shore after nearly drowning.

Ryo wrapped his arms tightly around her, whispering into her ear:

“I’m here. The nightmare is over. You’re safe now.”

But as Elena clung to him, she caught sight of one of the monks over his shoulder.

He was staring at her lower back where the hidden mark lay concealed

And he was smiling.

A mysterious, knowing smile.

As if the journey had not ended at all

But had only just begun.