The stars above Eldwyn shimmered in pale silence. Their light painted Liora's porch in silver as she sat beside Reynar, both cradling cups of cooling pineleaf tea.
She hadn't looked at him since speaking the words:
"I think it's time I told you my past."
Reynar remained still, hands resting on the cup, his gaze not on the stars, but on her — waiting. Patient. Present.
After a long silence, she began.
"I used to live on the mountain."
Her voice was calm. Too calm.
"My family had a home built into the cliffside. Secluded, but beautiful. We weren't rich — not in coin. But my parents were scholars. My father studied ancient runes. My mother was a mage who specialized in arcane phenomena. Together, they researched the Void."
She exhaled slowly.
"They didn't want to use it. They wanted to understand it. Why it twists life. How it corrupts. And if it could… somehow… be unraveled."
She paused, as if testing herself.
"They found something in the ruins beneath the mountain. An ancient vault. Inside were carvings, records… and warnings. Stories of a being called the Void King. Older than kingdoms. Sealed beneath the world itself. A god, or maybe something worse."
She laughed softly, bitterly.
"They wanted to take what they'd learned to the Eldwyn Council. Warn them. But before they could—"
Liora stopped.
Her hands were trembling now, faintly.
"It happened at night. Screams woke me. I heard my father shout something in a language I didn't understand. My mother grabbed me, shoved me into a dumbwaiter, and told me to run. To survive."
Her voice cracked.
"I… I heard them die. I heard the doors shatter. The magic fail. I heard the last thing my mother ever said—'Don't come back.'"
Her eyes shimmered, but she didn't cry. Not yet.
"I ran into the woods. Slept under leaves. Didn't speak for days. The villagers found me half-conscious. They gave me food. Clothes. But no one believed me. About the shadows. About the killers. About the organization that wanted to summon the Void King back."
She stared ahead, jaw clenched.
"No one believed that a child could hold the truth."
Silence stretched between them like a blade.
"I've trained ever since. I've hunted every scrap of information. Every whisper of that organization. But I've found nothing. Just… silence. And emptiness. And nightmares."
She looked at her cup. Her voice was hoarse.
"I wasn't strong enough to protect them. I've lived with that weight every day since."
A tear fell, silent and sharp.
"I hate them. I hate how powerless I was. I hate how I can't let go. I hate—"
Her breath hitched.
And then the tears came.
Not loud, but raw. Decades of buried grief escaping through cracks in her armor.
She turned slightly away, ashamed. But Reynar didn't let her retreat.
He shifted beside her — slowly, gently — and placed a hand over hers.
Warm. Solid. Steady.
Liora didn't pull away.
After a moment, Reynar spoke.
"I… I want to tell you something too."
She looked at him through wet lashes.
"I wasn't born in this world."
Her brow furrowed slightly, but she didn't interrupt.
"In my last life… everything was broken from the start."
He stared at the stars, but saw something far darker in his mind's eye.
"My father… he was a criminal. He… he raped my mother."
Liora froze, breath caught — but she didn't speak. Just listened.
"He was executed before I was born. My mom wanted to abort me. Tried, even. But I was born anyway."
His voice grew quieter.
"She couldn't bear the shame. Couldn't live with what I represented. She took her own life not long after."
He swallowed hard.
"I was passed around between relatives. No one wanted me. I was the unwanted child of a monster. A sick joke, they called me. A curse. I wasn't their blood — just a stain they were forced to care for."
His knuckles whitened around his teacup.
"I ate alone. Slept in corners. Learned never to ask questions. I grew up in silence. Kids at school bullied me every single day. I was beaten. Spat on. Mocked."
"I stopped talking. Stopped eating. I wanted to disappear."
He looked at Liora now.
"And one day, I climbed the roof of a school building. And I jumped."
The words hung in the air, suspended in quiet.
"I thought… that would be it. My end."
He shook his head softly.
"But someone, or something, gave me a second chance. I woke up here. In a new body. With strength. With a system. I was reborn into this world."
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
"But those memories… they didn't vanish. They followed me."
Liora stared at him, tears now falling freely — not just for herself, but for him too.
"You were a little girl who lost everything," Reynar said gently. "And I was a boy who never had anything to begin with."
"But now… we have each other."
The words were quiet, but they landed like thunder.
Liora's lips trembled.
And slowly… she leaned into him.
He didn't move.
Just let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"You say you weren't strong enough," Reynar whispered. "But you are. You survived. You kept going. And you're the strongest person I've ever met."
"And I'll stand with you. No matter how far this path goes."
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then, her voice — soft, broken — reached him.
"Thank you."
[System Update]
Companion Affinity – Liora: 71%→ Bond Level Increased: "Trusted Ally"
Emotional Milestone Achieved: Mutual Past Revealed
Trait Gained: "Kindred Flame"→ "When fighting together, both Reynar and Liora gain a 12% Willpower boost in crisis situations."
Unlocked Bond Memory III: "The Night of Truth"
System Note: Deep bonds forge resilience beyond raw stats. Compassion is the shield of the soul.
The stars had begun to fade. Dawn stretched like gold across the horizon.
Liora straightened, wiping her face. Her expression was still sad — but lighter somehow. As if a weight she'd carried alone had finally shifted.
She looked at Reynar with something new in her eyes.
Trust.
Not the kind earned through sparring or study.
But the kind forged in shared pain.
"Thank you," she said again. "I mean it."
Reynar nodded. "Anytime."
As she stood to head inside, she paused at the door.
"There's more I haven't told you," she said. "About the Void King. And the ones who want to bring him back."
He rose to follow her.
"Then tell me."
She smiled faintly.
"I will. But first… get some rest. Tomorrow, your real training begins."
She vanished inside, leaving Reynar under the first rays of sunrise.
He stared at his hands, clenching them slowly.
He had come to this world reborn.
But tonight, something else had been reborn too.
A bond.
A promise.
A reason to fight — not just for strength, but for someone.