Shadow Over the Heavenly Throne

The fog was thick—almost sticky. It clung to the skin, seeped into the lungs, giving the unsettling impression that it was trying to suffocate them from the inside. The air was heavy, stifling, and the silence around them was so deep that even the smallest movement felt deafening. It coiled around the figures of the three men standing at the entrance to the Mist Labyrinth, swallowing the outlines of their bodies as if it were trying to drag them in.

"This place reeks of death," Kaelrith muttered, adjusting the hilt of his sword strapped across his back. "Like it's just waiting to devour us." He smirked. "At least the fog will mask the stench of the corpses we leave behind."

"According to the intel Aldrich gave us, the guardian of this place vanished without a trace." Maelthorn narrowed his eyes as if trying to pierce through the dense mist. "Our mission is to find out what happened here, but the longer I look at this place, the less I like it."

"We were right to reject the idea of sending regular scouts and to come here ourselves," Deymos said, kneeling and running his fingers across the ground. He felt tiny irregularities beneath his touch, as if the earth had been disturbed—but too chaotically for it to be just the local fauna. "But don't worry. If anything passed through here, I'll find its tracks."

Kaelrith scoffed. "If the mist hasn't swallowed them already." He placed his hands on his hips, his armor glinting faintly in the dim light. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"You always do." Maelthorn shot him an irritated look. "We've already spent days getting here. We need to move. I don't intend to stay in this cursed place longer than necessary."

Deymos raised a hand, signaling for silence. "Something's moving." His eyes locked onto the mist. "Do you hear that?"

For a single, tense second, there was absolute silence.

And then—something bolted toward them.

A beast lunged from the fog—twisted, sinewy, its body an elongated, scaled mass resembling a serpent with multiple limbs. Its jaws stretched wide, revealing two rows of jagged fangs.

Kaelrith spun, reaching for his sword, but at the last second, the creature moved faster than he expected—its body bending unnaturally, fangs snapping shut mere inches from his throat. His instincts took over. He wrenched himself back and brought his blade up just in time, deflecting the next strike before countering with a fluid, merciless slash. His sword flashed with blue light, and in the next instant, the creature was cleaved in two midair. Blood soaked into the mist, vanishing as if it had never existed.

"Weak, but fast," he observed, shaking the remnants of blood off his blade.

"This doesn't make sense." Deymos pressed his palm to the ground, his brows furrowing in thought. "That was a Shadowfang Serpent—at least in appearance—but they don't move that fast."

Maelthorn raised his hand, and a swirl of dark energy coiled around him. "We stay on high alert. The guardian's disappearance was already suspicious, and now this creature confirms something is very wrong here."

***

Sylphia sat on a small sofa, one leg crossed over the other, absently twirling a porcelain teacup between her fingers. The room was spacious, yet the silence inside felt suffocating. Her thoughts echoed with her mother’s and Selene’s words about cultivation.

She sighed softly, a faint unease settling in her chest. There were still so many things she didn’t understand, and this topic only seemed to add to that list.

The door opened quietly—so silent it was almost unnatural.

A girl stepped inside.

She had short, red-orange hair and a pale complexion, which was only accentuated by the dark fabric of her simple maid uniform. Her every movement was fluid, calculated, as if she had been meticulously trained in the art of serving. Not too fast, not too slow. Watching her, one might mistake her for a six-year-old child, but her posture and demeanor contradicted that impression entirely.

"Your Highness," she spoke softly before bowing deeply. "I am Shion. From today onward, I will be your personal maid."

Sylphia felt a mixture of excitement and slight apprehension. She had been expecting to meet her personal maid—but she had assumed it would be someone like Selene, an experienced servant well-versed in etiquette and household duties. Instead, the sight of the petite girl, with her striking red-orange hair, caught her off guard.

"So, you're Shion?" Sylphia finally said, trying to sound warm. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Shion didn’t lift her head or respond. Instead, she gave the faintest nod, as if afraid that speaking might be a mistake. That tiny, almost indifferent gesture stirred a flicker of irritation in Sylphia.

"When you talk to someone, you should look them in the eyes," Sylphia said gently, hoping to establish real communication.

For a split second, Shion froze.

Then, she slowly lifted her gaze—and that’s when Sylphia noticed her eyes.

Red.

Not the usual blue or green like most people’s, but a deep, mesmerizing crimson. Almost hypnotic.

Sylphia inhaled sharply, stepping closer, nearly leaning over the girl.

"Ohhh!" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling like a child who had discovered something incredible. "They’re gorgeous! I’ve never seen such a color before! Is that your natural eye color? That’s amazing!"

Shion flinched slightly, clearly startled by Sylphia’s reaction. She lowered her gaze again, unsure whether this attention was a good thing or not.

"Y-Yes…" she answered softly.

Sylphia leaned in even more, fascinated.

"Truly beautiful…" she murmured, utterly captivated.

Sylphia suddenly realized she had let her emotions get the best of her. Her enthusiasm, though sincere, might have made Shion uncomfortable. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she cleared her throat and quickly composed herself.

"You can sit down," she said in a calmer tone, hoping to sound more natural and less overbearing this time.

Shion flinched ever so slightly. For a brief moment, she remained motionless, as if her mind was analyzing the meaning of those words.

"I... I shouldn't," she finally whispered.

"Why not?" Sylphia tilted her head.

"Someone like me... is not worthy to sit at the same table as Your Highness," Shion replied without hesitation, as if it were an undeniable truth.

Sylphia felt a twinge of irritation.

"Not 'Your Highness'—just Sylphia. That’s my name. And from now on, when we're alone, you will call me by it."

Shion froze.

"I... I can't," she whispered.

"You can." Sylphia leaned on the table, then sighed, shaking her head. "I'm really sick of royal etiquette and all this fake formality. When we're alone, I don’t want any titles, no formalities. Act normal, as if I were just an ordinary girl, not a princess. Now, try saying my name."

Shion remained still for a long moment. Finally, as if struggling against her own restraints, she mumbled, "S-Sylphia..."

Sylphia smiled in satisfaction and nodded.

"That's right. Now sit down."

Shion hesitated again, but ultimately, though visibly tense, she slowly sat on the edge of the chair, as if ready to spring up and run at any moment.

Sylphia started a conversation, gradually drawing Shion into it. At first, she asked simple questions—what she liked to eat, how she spent her days before coming here. Shion’s responses were mechanical, devoid of emotion, as if she were reciting memorized phrases that held no real meaning for her.

"I don’t have a favorite food," Shion answered flatly.

"What? Everyone has something they like!" Sylphia frowned.

"I ate what I was given. I never chose."

Sylphia opened her mouth to say something but held back. She was beginning to realize that Shion spoke about herself as if she had never been allowed to make decisions.

"And before that?" she asked carefully. "Where were you before you came here?"

Shion looked up at her, and though her eyes were breathtakingly beautiful, they held no light in them.

"At the market."

"Market?" Sylphia repeated, a cold knot tightening in her chest.

"A slave market. I was put up for sale."

Sylphia stiffened. Her breath became shallow. Slavery. She hadn’t expected that.

"Who... who sent you there?" she asked slowly, her voice now carrying only a faint trace of her earlier excitement.

"My family."

Sylphia felt as if the ground had been ripped from under her feet.

"Your... family?" she echoed, struggling to comprehend.

"My father." Shion said it without a hint of emotion. "He said I was useless to them. Just a burden, so they sold me."

Sylphia couldn't wrap her head around it. How could someone sell their own child?

"Why?" Her voice wavered. "What could you have possibly done to deserve that?"

"I was born," Shion answered simply. "That was enough."

Sylphia blinked. That was enough? It sounded as if her very existence had been reason enough to be discarded like an unwanted object.

"But..." Sylphia hesitated, trying to gather her thoughts. "How old were you when they sold you?"

"I was six years old," Shion said, as if discussing something completely mundane. "It happened right after my cultivation root awakened. That was probably why my father made the decision to sell me. Since I awakened a powerful cultivation root, at least he could make some money off of me instead of keeping someone as worthless as me at home."

"So... after all that, you ended up here?" Sylphia felt her voice trembling.

Shion nodded. "Yes. And I was told that from now on, I would be the Princess’s personal maid."

Sylphia couldn’t listen anymore. She stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over her chair. Shion watched her with a blank expression, as if she couldn’t understand what had upset her so much.

"Shion..." Sylphia clenched her fists. "You are not an object. You never were. How can you talk about this so casually? What happened to you was inhuman!"

Shion blinked slowly but did not look affected.

"That was life," she said simply.

Sylphia’s heart pounded in her chest. Shion hadn’t just been sold like an object—she had accepted it as normal.

That was the worst part.

"No." Sylphia took a deep breath, her eyes welling with tears. "That wasn’t life. That was hell. And never again... never again will I let something like that happen to you."

Before Shion could pull away, Sylphia wrapped her in a firm embrace.

Shion tensed like a stone. Her breath hitched as if she had no idea what was happening.

"Syl... phia?" she whispered uncertainly, her body frozen.

"Never again..." Sylphia tightened her hold, feeling her lips tremble and the warmth of tears on her cheeks. "I won’t let anyone treat you that way. No one."

Shion still didn’t understand why. But the warmth of that embrace was something she had never felt before. And for the first time in a long while... something inside her stirred.

She didn’t understand why... but the warmth of that embrace was unlike anything she had ever known.