Chapter 2 – The Champion of Fate

Ariel woke to silence.

His eyes fluttered open, unfocused, his mind a haze of confusion and disorientation. The ceiling above him was carved from smooth marble, its surface adorned with delicate golden patterns that shimmered softly in the morning light. A faint breeze carried the scent of lavender and warm silk, wrapping around him like an embrace.

His body felt heavy, his limbs sluggish, as if weighed down by something unseen. A strange numbness clung to him, stretching beyond mere exhaustion—something deeper, something wrong.

And yet, something else was there too. A weight inside his chest, pressing, suffocating. It clawed at his ribs, curling around his heart with an ache so profound he felt like he might shatter beneath it.

A whisper of sorrow rippled through him, foreign yet intimate, like an echo from a dream he couldn't remember. Loss. Emptiness. A hollow void where something important had once been. His throat clenched, a tight, aching knot forming as an unbearable sadness welled up inside him, raw and suffocating. He didn't know why, but it felt as if something had been ripped away from him—something irreplaceable, something he should remember.

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, but they refused to fall, caught between the weight of his confusion and the suffocating sense of absence. He clutched at his chest, fingers trembling, but the emptiness only deepened.

Who… am I?

The thought sent a bolt of panic through him, but then—

His name surfaced, faint yet certain.

Ariel.

Relief flickered through him, but it was fleeting. Because that was all there was. No past, no memories, nothing but an empty void where his life should have been.

The door to his chamber swung open with a soft click. A procession of figures entered, their robes a pristine white, embroidered with threads of gold. The air shifted as they stepped inside, carrying the faint scent of parchment and sacred incense. At their head walked a woman, tall and regal, her presence commanding without effort.

Her hair was a pale blonde, cascading down her back in flowing waves. Her sharp, icy blue eyes studied him with an unreadable expression—measuring, weighing. A faint scar traced along her right cheek, almost invisible against her fair skin, as though she had once known battle. The air seemed to still around her, as if the very world acknowledged her authority.

Her robes, unlike the others, were edged in intricate embroidery of celestial patterns, the golden threads forming symbols Ariel could not decipher. She carried herself with a composed grace, each movement deliberate, refined.

When she spoke, her voice was calm, yet it carried the weight of something absolute.

"At long last," she said, "fate has delivered the Lightbound Order its champion."

Ariel stiffened.

The others behind her bowed their heads in reverence, their eyes filled with something that unsettled him—devotion, awe, expectation. He had no words. No understanding. Just a deep, gnawing unease curling in his stomach.

He opened his mouth, but the only thing he could say was, "I… don't understand."

The woman's gaze softened, though her expression remained unreadable. "You will, in time."

She took a step forward, reaching out to brush a gloved hand against his forehead. The gesture was strangely intimate, almost comforting. And yet, it did nothing to quell the confusion raging inside him.

"We have waited for you, Ariel. Your arrival was foreseen long ago," she continued. "The Moon has chosen you. You need not fear. You are where you are meant to be."

The Moon.

The word sent a sharp jolt through him, something primal stirring beneath the surface. A flicker of something lost, something just beyond his reach. But as quickly as it came, it was gone.

Ariel's breath hitched, frustration tightening in his chest. None of this made sense. None of this felt right.

He clenched his fists. "I don't remember anything."

The woman nodded, as if she had expected this. "That is of no consequence. What matters is the path ahead."

Her certainty only made his unease grow. How could she dismiss it so easily? He had no past. No sense of self beyond his name. And yet, they looked at him as if none of that mattered—as if he was something more than just… a boy lost in the dark.

Ariel's fingers curled into the silk sheets beneath him, his breath shallow.

There was an emptiness in him, one that clawed at his ribs like a beast starving for something unnamed. A sorrow he could not place. A loss he could not remember.

And worst of all… a fear that whatever he had been before this moment was already gone.

The woman watched him for a long moment before speaking again. "Rest for now. Your path will begin soon."

Ariel wanted to protest, to demand answers, but his body betrayed him. The weight of his own exhaustion dragged him down, pressing against his bones like a force beyond his control. His breath was unsteady, his vision unfocused.

The woman turned, her robes flowing behind her as she made her way toward the door. Just before she stepped through, she paused, glancing back over her shoulder.

A small, knowing smile touched her lips.

"You need not carry your burdens alone, Ariel," she murmured. "The Moon watches over her own."

And then she was gone.

Ariel stared at the empty doorway, his heart pounding against his ribs.

The Moon watches over her own.

A phrase meant to reassure. Yet all it did was make the hollow space inside him grow even larger.

He buried his face in his hands, fingers trembling.

He did not understand.

And he feared the day he finally would.