Cedric stared at Elara, his fists clenching at his sides as a deep, unshakable frustration gnawed at him.
She was changing.
It had been happening ever since he disappeared.
At first, he thought it was just the shock of the battle, the exhaustion from surviving yet another close encounter with death. But as the days stretched into a week, Cedric saw it—felt it.
Elara was different.
She had always been strong-willed, relentless in her pursuit of power, but this… this wasn’t strength. It was desperation.
She had been pushing herself harder than ever, as if the mere act of stopping—even for a moment—would shatter something inside her. She barely slept. She barely ate. She spent hours training, reading, searching for information on those vortexes. He had watched her shoulders tighten, her movements grow sharper, her words shorter.
And it all started when that man—when Luca—had fallen into the abyss.
Cedric gritted his teeth, his breath slow and controlled. He knew this wasn’t just about the battle, or even about Luca himself.
It was about him.
His own shortcomings.
Because when it had mattered most, he hadn’t been fast enough. He hadn’t been able to reach her in time.
But Luca had.
And that was the part that burned the most.
Cedric hated it. Hated that his strength hadn’t been enough. Hated that he had been powerless to stop it. And more than anything—he hated that Elara noticed Luca in a way that she never had with him.
And now, she was chasing after something that Cedric couldn’t understand.
“Because I owe him,” Elara had said, her voice calm but cold, her gaze unwavering.
Those words sent a flare of anger through Cedric’s chest, though he barely let it show.
Owe him?
What did she owe him?
Cedric inhaled sharply, forcing himself to steady his thoughts. This wasn’t about Luca.
This was about Elara.
She was driving herself into the ground, withering away before his eyes. She was pushing herself so far that it was harming her, and that was something Cedric could not accept.
His voice, when he spoke again, was low and controlled, but there was an unmistakable edge beneath it.
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“Elara… this isn’t you.”
She tensed at his words, just slightly. But it was enough for Cedric to see it—to know that she was aware of what she was doing to herself, even if she refused to stop.
“You say you owe him, but at what cost?” Cedric continued, his frustration simmering just beneath the surface. “Look at yourself. You haven’t rested. You haven’t stopped. You’re pushing yourself into the ground, and for what?”
Elara’s expression didn’t waver, but Cedric could see the flicker of something in her eyes. She knew he wasn’t wrong.
But she refused to acknowledge it.
“I have to do this,” she said simply.
“Why?” Cedric’s voice hardened, his emotions slipping through the cracks. “Because you think you weren’t strong enough? Because you think he was stronger? That he should have lived instead?”
Elara’s eyes snapped to him, sharp and filled with warning. “That’s not—”
“Then what is it?” Cedric pressed, stepping forward, refusing to let her retreat into herself. “What is it, Elara?”
She didn’t answer.
Instead, she turned away, her shoulders tense as she pulled her cloak tighter around herself.
That silence—it was worse than any answer she could have given.
Because it meant that Cedric was right.
She did think that way.
She did believe that she hadn’t been enough.
And that was what Luca had done to her.
Cedric took a slow breath, his hands trembling from the force with which he was clenching them. He wanted to lash out—to tell her she was being reckless, that this obsession was going to break her.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he exhaled and spoke, his voice softer, but no less firm.
“You don’t owe him anything, Elara,” he said, watching as she stiffened. “You were strong before he came along. You were strong before he—”
Before he what?
Before he made her question herself?
Before he made her change?
Before he made her look at him in ways Cedric had never seen before?
Cedric swallowed hard, his jaw tightening.
He didn’t know what it was that Luca had done to Elara in such a short time. He didn’t know why his absence was affecting her like this.
But he knew one thing for certain.
There was something wrong with Luca.
Everything about that man—his presence, his fighting, his existence—it was unnatural. It didn’t make sense.
Cedric had felt it from the beginning, an unease deep in his gut. And now, seeing Elara like this, seeing the way she was unraveling—he was more sure than ever.
That man had changed something in her.
And Cedric hated it.
“Stop this,” he said, his voice steady but filled with quiet force. “Stop before you break yourself trying to chase something that isn’t there.”
Elara’s head snapped toward him, her eyes narrowing as Cedric’s words sank in.
“Stop before you break yourself trying to chase something that isn’t there.”
“What do you mean he’s not there?” Her voice was sharp, laced with something that sounded dangerously close to anger. “He was there. He is there. You act like he just vanished from existence.”
Cedric’s patience, already stretched thin, finally cracked. His own voice rose in response, the frustration that had been simmering beneath the surface finally breaking free.
“Because he isn’t here, Elara! He’s gone—swallowed by that damn vortex! And now you’re running yourself into the ground chasing after nothing! For what? A man you met a week ago?” His blue eyes burned with unfiltered anger as he stepped closer. “You have a goal. A reason that you’ve been pushing yourself for all these years! And now you’re throwing it all away—for him?”
Elara’s breath hitched, but her anger flared just as fiercely. “Throwing it away? You think that’s what I’m doing?” Her voice was incredulous, almost mocking. She took a step forward, her frustration mounting with every breath. “Do you think I don’t remember my goal? That I don’t still want revenge on the people who ruined my life?” She jabbed a finger toward him. “Don’t act like you know what’s going through my mind, Cedric!”
“Then what is it?” he snapped, his chest heaving. “Why are you chasing after him like this? Why are you losing yourself for someone you barely even know?”
Elara let out a short, bitter laugh. “Barely even know? You keep saying that like it means something! Like time is the only thing that determines who matters to me.” Her voice cracked slightly, but she didn’t stop. “You weren’t the one who was there when I was about to be pulled into that vortex.”
Cedric froze.