Last Chance [Extra #2]

Part 1

Hi there!

I've thought about uploading this piece of work for quite a while now, but I've never had the courage to do so, as it is completely different from my other books. This one is set in a fantasy world, and it's not connected to any of the other books at all. I will upload it on Patreon only.

I hope it's not too bad :)

If it is, let me know, I would appreciate some feedback 😘

"When will she open her eyes?" the girl's mother sobbed as she clutched onto her child's hand. She'd been staying by her daughter's side almost the whole time she'd been asleep, yet there still was no sign of her waking up. Her beautiful golden eyes remained hidden under her eyelids, and her deep black hair lay spread around her head, having gotten dull and matted during the time she stayed comatose. Her previously rosy cheeks were now pale and terribly sunken. The girl no longer resembled herself and the longer she remained in bed, the worse her state became.

Her father was as worried about her as her mother. He pretended to be strong in front of everyone, but as soon as he was left alone, he shed his mask and cried pitifully over his daughter's fate. Had he been more careful, more attentive, she wouldn't have ended up like this. His one and only daughter was lying lifelessly in her bed, while the person responsible for her state was still unknown.

It'd been almost ten months since she was found in the river. No one knew how she ended up there, as she had disappeared a year prior. Her family searched for her for so long, yet she was nowhere to be found, and then she suddenly appeared in the river north to the county, covered in wounds. The priests and magicians from all over the empire were brought to help, but none of them succeeded in waking her up. She remained blissfully oblivious to everything around her, including her parents' pain as they watched her wither away with every passing day.

Seeing his wife's tears, the man sat beside her and grasped her hand before pulling her into his arms, letting her cry into his shoulder instead, "We have to be strong for her. If the first thing she sees when she wakes up are our tears, she will be sad," he comforted his wife, though inside he was as heartbroken as her. He just didn't show it openly.

"I know, I know. But it's been so long..." the girl's mother cried louder. "Look how thin she is... If this goes on..." the man knew what she wanted to say. According to the doctor who came a few days earlier, his daughter was on the verge of losing her life. It was the last moment for her to wake up, otherwise she might be too weak to ever open her eyes again.

In other words, unless she woke up soon, she would die.

Hearing the doctor's words, the girl's parents broke down even more than when they first heard she couldn't be healed. Watching their child lie so lifelessly for almost a year brought them to absolute despair and despite trying to be optimistic and hope for their daughter's recovery, they no longer had the strength to be positive.

They could no longer lie to themselves that Elena would be fine. She was dying. And they needed to be prepared for it.

Neither of them knew that while Elena had already died when she first disappeared. The reason why her body didn't decompose even though so much time passed was because it was now occupied by a different soul. A soul that belonged to someone from a completely different world, and who died at the same time as Elena.

The one and only person who noticed the change that happened in Elena's body was the high priest who came to heal her six months prior. It took Elena's parents a long time to reach him due to his busy schedule as the man responsible for purifying the corrupted areas of the country, and when he finally arrived, he was shocked to learn that the original owner of the body before him was no longer there. She had crossed the threshold of the afterlife long before he arrived and now there was someone else residing in her body.

The priest, Sol, didn't understand why the young lady couldn't wake up. There was nothing wrong with her physically, and the foreign soul that was inside her was much stronger than Elena's. It made little sense to him as to why she was so weak that she couldn't even open her eyes. He tried both healing her and purifying her soul, thinking it might be because she was afflicted with a curse or dark energy and thus couldn't be brought back to life, but all he achieved were deep wounds as the lady's body rejected the divine energy he tried to heal her with. The reaction was so strong the priest ended up being thrown across the lady's room and his body was cut in many places as the magic erupted.

After that incident, Sol immersed himself in studies regarding dark magic, trying to understand why they Count's daughter had such an adverse reaction to divinity. The only conclusion he could come to was that the soul residing in the young lady's body belonged to a demon or a witch. Witches were known to have made deals with demons in return for power, so it would make sense for them to reject divinity.

However, Sol wasn't convinced that was the case. He couldn't find any other explanation for the strange phenomenon, but that didn't mean he would stop searching for an answer. He shared his concerns with other high priests, who were more knowledgeable in dark magic, but the result was less than satisfactory. They pretty much told him that the young lady needed to be either exorcised or burned at the stake. They worried little about her situation and immediately decided that she was either a demon or a witch.

Hence, they issued an order to execute the young lady for using forbidden magic. Since everyone in the empire knew of the close relationship between the Temple and the emperor, going against the cardinal's order would mean disobeying the Imperial family as well. And that's a crime that usually resulted in death penalty, as the emperor was a ruthless, unforgiving man.

Sol did not want the lady to be executed, though. He felt a strange sense of compassion towards her. He wanted to know what kind of person she was, seeing as her soul belonged to someone else.

That was why he told the Count and his wife about the Cardinal's order. He wanted to warn them so they could find a way to save their daughter. His help was welcomed, even if it was useless. The very next day after Sol visited the Count's manor, the Templar knights showed up and tried to take Elena away. They could not kill her, even though she was to be executed, because according to the Imperial law, Elena couldn't be prosecuted until she reached maturity. Thus, the Cardinal intended to bring her to the temple and keep her imprisoned until then. Once her eighteenth birthday passed, he would have her burned at the stake.

The Count and his wife were aware of the Cardinal's intentions, and tried to protest as much as they could, yet the knights continued with their search of the young lady. Once they found her, they intended to take her to the Temple, where she would be executed in five months. They did not succeed. The moment they touched Elena's body, their bodies burned into nothing, leaving only the smell of burnt flesh behind.

It was then that Elena's parents realized that she was no longer the weak child she used to be. Something about her changed. They just didn't know if the change was for the better or worse.

After the incident with the Templar knights, the Temple became even more determined to kill Elena. She was a threat. And threats needed to be eliminated for the Temple to continue its reign over the empire's citizens.

Because of that, the Count lost almost all his fortune and power, and his son – Elena's older brother, Edgar – was dismissed from his position as the Imperial knight. The family fell into ruin, but no one blamed Elena for that. They all just wanted her to be safe.

They swore to protect her, and they intended to keep their promise.

Even if they got hurt in the process.