When The Sun Bleeds

The rain did not stop. The girl did not stop.

Kaelion stumbled after her, his expensive boots sinking into the mud, his silk clothes clinging to his body like a suffocating second skin.

He had never felt so small.

The streets of Velmoria's lawless district were nothing like the grand halls of the imperial palace. The air reeked of rotting food, sweat, and something else something sickly sweet, like decay. Filthy figures lurked in the shadows, their sunken eyes tracking him like wolves watching wounded prey.

And for the first time in his life, Kaelion realized:

No one feared him here.

His title, his bloodline, the prophecy that made people cower in the palace... none of it mattered here.

He was nothing.

The girl led him through a maze of alleys, weaving through the darkness with the ease of someone who had lived here forever. She didn't spare him a single glance, didn't offer him a single word. She didn't even care if he followed or not.

Kaelion's pride burned.

He had been raised in a world where his very existence caused fear. He was the cursed prince, the one whispered about in every corner of the empire. People stared at him with hatred, but at least they stared.

But this girl... she looked at him like he wasn't even worth seeing.

A sudden loud crash broke through his thoughts.

Kaelion tensed.

From the shadows ahead, a group of five figures emerged.

Men. Filthy, towering men with cruel grins. Their clothes were mismatched, stolen from the dead or dying. Their eyes gleamed like hungry animals.

Kaelion had seen looks like this before... from palace officials, from nobles who plotted against one another in the throne room. But those men were vultures, waiting for death.

These men were wolves, ready to kill.

The girl stopped walking.

One of the men stepped forward, grinning as he cracked his knuckles.

"Back already, little doll?" he sneered. "Didn't think we'd see you so soon."

Kaelion felt the air change.

The girl did not move. Did not flinch. Her face remained blank... expressionless, empty.

As if she wasn't even alive.

Something about that made Kaelion's stomach twist.

The largest of the men stepped forward, dragging a rusted blade across his palm, his grin widening.

"You know the rules, girl," he said. "You got food, you pay the price."

Kaelion didn't understand. Pay?

Then, he saw it... a small scrap of stale bread clutched in the girl's hand.

That was it.

She had stolen food.

And now…

Now, they wanted to punish her.

Kaelion moved without thinking.

"She doesn't have to pay you anything!" His voice rang through the alley, sharp and filled with the confidence of a prince.

The girl's head snapped toward him.

The men froze.

And then....

They laughed.

The sound was loud, ugly, filling the narrow alley with mockery.

Kaelion's heart pounded in his chest. No one had ever laughed at him before.

One of the men wiped tears from his eyes. "And what's this? A lost little noble boy? Did you wander too far from your golden cradle, prince?"

Kaelion's blood ran cold.

How did they know?

The leader grinned, stepping closer, his gaze dark and amused. "We know that face. The cursed prince, right? The one that should've died?"

Kaelion felt something he had never felt before.

Not fear. Not anger.

Helplessness.

At the palace, people feared him....even if they hated him. Here, they only saw a weak, lost child.

The leader leaned down, voice low and mocking.

"Looks like fate made a mistake keeping you alive."

And then....

The first blow came.

Kaelion didn't see it.

Pain exploded through his ribs as he was slammed against the wall. His vision blurred, his breath ripped from his lungs.

The men grabbed him, their hands rough and unyielding. He tried to fight, to swing, to kick but he was too small, too weak.

And for the first time, he realized:

No one would come to save him.

No guards. No father. No one.

He wasn't a prince here.

He was just a boy who should have died.

And as the darkness closed in, the last thing he saw...

Was the girl.

Standing there. Watching. Expressionless.

As if she had seen this a thousand times before.