Eliah didn't turn around at first.
Akian's fingers gently held her wrist, uncertain but insistent. Her hand was cold.
The silence between them stretched — long and heavy.
Finally, she turned to face him. No more masks. No soft smiles.
"You deserve to know the truth," she said.
Akian's chest tightened. "What truth?"
She sat down slowly, folding her hands in her lap. Her eyes were distant — not focused on the attic, but on a memory far beyond it.
"We're not from Skyland," she said.
Akian froze.
"What are you talking about? " Akian shouted .
Eliah said , " Please calm down and sit."
Akian sat down beside her .
"Everything began 18 years ago."
"There was a war," Eliah continued, her voice quieter now. "On the mainland. A war between factions broke down for the land. Many innocent people died because of the war."
She looked down at her hands.
"My parents were killed trying to save me.When I was trying to escape. I don't know how I ended up where I did, but… there was a boy. You."
Akian's heart beat louder.
"You weren't mine," she said. "But you were alone, like me. I found you crying in the middle of corpses. When I tried to pick you up , I saw a crystal beside you. I have heard these crystal gives great power to the weilder."
She swallowed hard.
"I picked you up. Took the crystal and I ran toward the sea."
Akian didn't move. Didn't speak.
"I found a boat hidden beneath the cliffs. Just as I pushed it out into the waves… there was an explosion behind me. Something hit the shore. You started crying and I don't remember what happened after that."
She looked up at him.
"When I woke up… I was in Skyland."
Akian blinked, stunned. "Skyland…?"
"There were no boats. No wounds. Just… sky. Floating island. You were beside me asleep. But the crystal was gone,it might have fallen on the sea ."
Her voice cracked, just barely.
"An old man found us. He took us in. Said I was his daughter now and he asked no questions. His wife helped raise you. They were kind and quiet people, they hid our identity from the order. Though some people spread rumours."
A long breath.
"They died a few years later because of their old age.By then, we had settled in Vayron Rafael. I changed our name to Rael — like everyone else and learned skyland language from them. We kept our heads down. We never spoke of the mainland."
Akian's mind reeled.
"Why… why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it was safer if you didn't know."
" I had doubt about you being my biological mother, You never told me who my father was."Akian says.
He stood up suddenly, the air in the attic too heavy.
"I need some air," he said, barely managing to breathe.
Eliah didn't stop him. She only nodded.
Akian stepped out into the evening light. The sky burned gold, like always. But now, even that seemed like a lie.
He sat near the island's outer ridge leaned against the stone wall.
Inside the house, Eliah sat alone in the attic, her hand resting on the closed book.
She could still feel the weight of the past pressing against her chest.
She takes a deep breathe and goes to do her work.
When she was doing her chores , though her mind was somewhere else.
A knock at the door.
Not soft.
Three sharp knocks.
Then a voice:
"This is the Holy Order. Open the door. We are here to search the premises."
Eliah's blood ran cold.
Akian wasn't in the house.
And the book — the book was still here.
To be continued…