The whisper in the dark faded.
For a moment, all we heard was the dripping of water and the crackle of distant torchlight.
Then came a voice.
"…You saw him smile, didn't you?"
We turned toward the adjacent cell. Sitting there, cross-legged and barely lit, was a frail old man, his beard tangled, his eyes milky with age—but alert.
"I've been here twelve years," he said. "Locked away like vermin. But I remember that smile."
Lucen narrowed his eyes. "You knew the king?"
The old man gave a slow, tired nod.
"Better than anyone. I was his tutor. His caretaker. His friend."
He shuffled closer to the bars.
"You think he's cruel. Poisonous. Possessed. But… there was a time he was a good boy. A kind boy."
I leaned forward, unsure why I felt the tension in my chest start to sting.
"What happened to him?"
The man looked at me.
"He smiled to protect us."
---
Flashback
The castle garden, many years ago.
A young prince—barely ten years old—sat with a leather-bound book in his lap. He wasn't studying. He was listening.
To crying.
To whispers.
To the echo of his father screaming at the servants.
Althus had always been quiet. Sensitive. The kind of child who flinched at lightning but stood still when birds landed on his shoulders. He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to rule.
But Valebrook was a kingdom of blood and power. His father, King Aldegar, believed in strength above all. In fear. In absolute obedience.
Althus cried the first time he was forced to watch an execution.
"You must smile," his father said, voice like thunder. "A king does not tremble."
The boy's lip quivered.
So his father struck him.
And the next time… Althus smiled.
And the next time.
And the next.
---
Back in the cell, the old man wiped a tear with a shaking hand.
"He learned that smiling kept him safe. That if he smiled wide enough, long enough… no one would know he was broken."
Lucen's fists clenched.
Aelira looked down.
"But something changed," I said, softly. "Something made him… this."
The old man nodded.
"Years ago, a stranger came to the castle. A wanderer with silver eyes and no shadow. Said he came from a realm beyond gods. He spoke to the prince for one hour. Just one."
The old man's eyes filled with fear.
"When Althus emerged, he was smiling. Wider than ever."
"…What did the stranger say?" Aelira whispered.
"I don't know. But from that day, Althus never laughed again. Never cried. And his smile became a curse."
Silence.
Even Lucen said nothing.
The old man sighed.
"I don't know what he is now. But the boy I raised… he smiled to survive. To hide his fear. Until one day, he forgot how to stop."
---
[To be continued…]