Elayne's ordinary life takes a drastic turn when she discovers she is part of an ancient prophecy tied to the mythical kingdom of Elyssanar. Guided by Solaris, a unique companion with secrets of his own, Elayne embarks on a journey fraught with chal...
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By the time the next guard arrived with my meal, I had already devised a plan. I kept my expression neutral as I accepted the stale bread and water, eating under his watchful eye. When he seemed satisfied, he took the empty dishes and left without a word.
As soon as the door clicked shut, I turned to the side and forced my fingers down my throat, triggering a wave of nausea. My body convulsed as I vomited up the food I had just consumed, leaving me drenched in sweat and trembling with weakness.
I was already frail, but I needed to push myself to the brink, close enough to the edge that Solaris might sense my life slipping away—or so I desperately hoped.
Hours dragged on, with guards coming and going, and I began to question whether this plan would work or if it would simply end with me dying in vain. The doubts gnawed at me, each passing minute chipping away at my resolve. But when the next meal finally arrived, I had to fight the overwhelming urge to devour it, knowing I had to stick to the plan, no matter how much my body screamed for sustenance.
With trembling hands, I forced myself to push the food away. The smell of it filled the small cell, taunting me, but I knew that eating it would only delay the inevitable. I had to stay focused, had to trust that Solaris would sense something was wrong.
My body was weakening with each passing hour, and every breath felt like it took more effort than the last. The cold stone floor pressed against my back, leeching what little warmth I had left. My vision blurred at the edges, and I had to concentrate just to keep my thoughts from drifting into oblivion.
As I lay there, fading in and out of consciousness, memories began to surface—of Gaia, of my mothers, of the life I had before all this madness began. It seemed like a lifetime ago, a distant dream that was slipping further away with every heartbeat.
Hours turned into a blur of darkness and light as I drifted in and out of a fevered haze. Each time the door opened, I pretended to eat, but in reality, I was barely consuming enough to keep me alive. I could feel my strength slipping away, but I knew I had to keep going. The only hope I had left was that Solaris would feel my pain, feel my life ebbing away, and come for me before it was too late.
Finally, as I lay there in the cold and dark, I began to feel something—a faint warmth, a distant pulse that wasn't my own. I wasn't sure if it was real or just a hallucination brought on by my weakened state, but I clung to it with everything I had. It couldn't have been Solaris. This feeling felt different.
Small, frail, but just nearby.
My body seemed to focus in on it and I had to take a breath to anchor myself back. Something seemed to pull my mind. Like a forceful tug.
