Lyra's POV
The Evening
After all that shopping and trying on dresses and jewelry and things I didn't even know existed in this world, I finally made it back to the room. My body and my mind was done. Everything was done. I dropped onto the edge of the bed and just sat there for a long moment, staring at nothing, letting the silence wrap around me.
Today had been too much.
Not just the shopping. The answers that weren't answers. Martin running away. The dress that felt like it was made for someone else. The weight of everything pressing down on my chest.
I let out a breath and looked at Cathy.
She was sitting at the other edge of the bed , but something was wrong. Her face had lost its color. Not just pale — grey. Her lips looked dry and cracked, like she hadn't had water in days. Her hands were resting in her lap, but they weren't still. They were trembling. Just slightly. Like leaves in a wind no one else could feel.
"I will sleep for a bit," she said, but her voice came out thin. Weak. Like it was taking everything she had just to push the words out.
I sat up straight. "Cathy… are you okay?"
She nodded. But it was the kind of nod that meant nothing. A nod that was too slow. Like her head was too heavy for her neck.
"What happened?"
She didn't respond.
"Cathy?"
Nothing.
"Cathy—"
I rushed toward her, panicking. My foot caught on the edge of the carpet and I fell forward, hitting the floor hard right in front of her.
The pendant I always kept hidden, the one my master gave me, and I never took off, the one I had worn for years , slipped out from under my dress.
And it started glowing.
I didn't understand what was happening at first. The light just… came out of it. Soft gold. Warm. Like sunlight through a window on a winter morning. It spread from the pendant like something alive, like it had been waiting for this moment.
The light moved toward Cathy. Wrapped around her. Not pushing or grabbing it was like holding her like a mother would hold a baby. Like it knew her and it had been waiting for her.
Her breathing steadied. I watched it happen — the rise and fall of her chest slowing down, becoming normal again. The colour came back to her face, spreading from her cheeks to her lips to her fingertips. Her hands stopped shaking.
I stayed on the floor beside her, not moving, barely breathing, just watching. The light faded after a few moments, sinking back into the pendant like it had never been there at all.
"Cathy?" I whispered. "Cathy?"
She opened her eyes. Blinked a few times, like she was coming up from deep water. Her gaze landed on the pendant around my neck.
And her whole face changed.
"Where…" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Where did you get this pendant?"
We were both on the floor now, leaning against the bed. I could feel my heart beating too fast. My hands were shaking a little. I didn't know why.
"I… actually, I was told not to show this to anyone," I said slowly.
Her brows pulled together. "Why?"
I took a breath. Let it out. Tried to find the words.
"When I was in my world… I didn't have parents." The words came out quieter than I meant them to. "I grew up with my master. He was a martial arts master. Strict. Scary, honestly. But he took care of me. He was the only one who did and he was like father figure to me."
I touched the pendant with my fingers. It was warm. Still warm from the light.
"He gave me this when I was young. Told me never to lose it. Never to show it to anyone. He said it was powerful. That it would protect me when I needed it most."
I looked at Cathy.
"What just happened to you? How did it help you? Do you know something about this pendant?"
She stared at it for a long time. Her fingers reached out, almost touching it, then pulled back.
"I'm not a full dragon," she finally said.
Her voice was quiet and careful. Like she was testing the words before letting them out.
I waited.
"I'm… a hybrid." She paused and Looked away. "Half dragon. And half something else."
She pulled her knees up to her chest. Made herself small.
"I don't even know what the other half is. No one ever told me. In the clan… many saw me as an outcast because of it. In front of me, they bowed and smiled because I am related to the Dragon King. But behind my back…" She didn't finish.
"Every six months," she continued, her voice dropping lower, "I need soul cultivation. If I don't… I fade. My power drains. My body weakens. That was happening today. I was fading. And then this pendant…" She touched it lightly, almost afraid. "It has the power of the Dragon Queen. I could feel it. That's why I recovered."
My hand closed around the pendant without meaning to.
She looked at me then. Really looked. And her expression changed again. Like she was remembering something she had tried very hard to forget.
"When I was back in the dragon clan… some years ago…" Her voice was slow. Heavy. "I was walking in the corridors of the dragon castle. Late at night. I couldn't sleep. And I heard someone talking."
She paused. Her breath caught.
"I walked closer. Quietly. And then I heard Leviathan speaking."
My heart stopped.
"I heard him say… every human is disloyal. He said… his mother made a mistake. She should never have done that."
Her voice was getting softer. Like she was afraid someone might hear.
"The way he said it… his voice was so cold that it felt like the whole dragon castle could freeze. I stood there, frozen. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe."
She stopped. Her hands were tight around her knees. Her knuckles were white.
"And then he sensed me."
She looked at me. Her eyes were wide. Far away.
"He saw me. And he…" Her voice cracked. "He glared at me with such anger. I have never seen anyone look at me like that. He grabbed me. He almost choked me to death. He said if I ever repeated what I heard in front of anyone, he would kill me."
She was shaking now. Her whole body was trembling.
"He said it would be my last breath. He meant it. I could see it in his eyes."
A tear slid down her cheek. She didn't seem to notice.
"I never told anyone. Not Inferno. Not anyone. I was so scared. I thought if he found out I told… he would come for me. He would finish what he started."
I reached out and took her hands. They were ice cold.
"Lucian was always kind to me," she said quietly. "And Inferno too. That's why the clan members never dared to mistreat me openly. They were afraid of Lucian's wrath. But behind closed doors…" She didn't finish the sentence.
I sat with that for a moment. Lucian and the Dragon King. They knew each other. They had history. Maybe more than I understood.
"There is something the Dragon King knows," Cathy said, her voice still raw. "Something the Demon King doesn't know. If both sides knew the truth… the war might end. But for some reason… Leviathan never tells it."
I looked at her. "How do you know all this?"
She shook her head slowly. "I don't know anything for certain. I only know what I heard that night. And what I felt."
She looked up at me suddenly, her eyes wide with fear. "Did I say that out loud? Did I say all of that?"
Her breathing was coming too fast. Panic was creeping into her voice.
"Please — please don't tell anyone I told you this. If he finds out… he won't leave me alive. He will kill me. He will—"
I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. "I won't tell anyone," I said into her hair. "I promise. No one. Never."
She was crying. Quiet, shaking sobs that she tried to hold back. I just held her and let her cry.
After a long time, she pulled back slowly. Wiped her face with her sleeve. Her breathing was steadier now.
I tried to shift her attention, " so do you know anything about this pendent?" i asked trying to shift her mind and it worked.
She looked at the pendant again. Her eyes narrowed, like she was searching for something in her memory.
"Where have I seen this before…" she murmured.
Then she froze.
Her eyes went wide. Her hand came up to her mouth.
"This pendant…" She gasped. "This pendant belongs to the Dragon King's mother. QUEEN ELARA.Queen Elara Thalassa. I have seen it in a portrait, back in the dragon clan. It was around her neck. Exactly like this."
My heart stopped.
"I don't know how it came to you," she said, her voice urgent now. "But you can never let the Dragon King see it. Or the Demon King. If they realize you have this… if they recognize it… your return might become very difficult. It might become impossible."
I nodded slowly, but my mind was already spinning.
Why would my master have something that belonged to a dragon queen? Who was Queen Elara? How did she die? Why did the Dragon King hate humans so much? Why did Lucian and Leviathan hate each other? What was the truth that could end the war?
Too many questions. No answers.
Cathy was too tired to talk anymore. She stood up slowly, her legs shaky, and left the room to rest. I heard her door close softly down the hall.
I stayed on the floor for a long time, leaning against the bed, staring at the pendant in my hands. It was dark now. Silent. Like nothing had happened at all.
I turned it over in my palm. The gold was warm against my skin. It had saved Cathy tonight. It had saved her because it carried the power of a queen I had never heard of. A queen whose son hated humans. A queen whose pendant ended up in the hands of a martial arts master in another world.
None of it made sense.
I looked up at the ceiling. The room was so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat.
Queen Elara Thalassa.
I said the name in my head. Over and over.
Who were you?
And why do I have something that was yours?
The questions circled in my mind, but there were no answers. There were never any answers. Not from Martin. Not from Cathy. Not from anyone.
I closed my eyes and let the silence swallow me.
Tomorrow, I would try again. Tomorrow, I would find someone who would tell me the truth.
But NOW, I just sat there, alone with a queen's pendant in my hands, wondering how I ended up in a world where nothing made sense.
who are you?????
---