Archive of Our Own

How long has it been since she was locked up in this room? Months? Weeks? Or just a few hours? She looked rigidly at the bare wall opposite. There was no window in this room, only the small ceiling lamp cast a faint light into the dark room. Although there was some furniture in the room, a shabby bed, a folding chair and a small table, it still seemed cold and empty. Sometimes she heard noises from outside, otherwise, silence reigned.

Suddenly the mechanical sliding door opened. The light dazzled the girl, so she pinched her eyes. The Ordinal entered the room and the door closed again. He looked at the girl who was kneeling on the bed and now looked at him with big eyes. A slight bruise could be seen in her face, probably caused by the harsh means of the demaxian soldiers. Her body was adorned with more wounds, but they couldn't be seen under her long robe. Kayn stepped towards the bed while her eyes continued to rest on him. "Sona." He pulled out a pistol. "Now answer my questions." But the girl was silent, despite the threatening gesture of the Ordinal. He did not understand her behavior. Her silence filled him with anger, yet the voice of the scythe told him to let her live. "I know that you know more than your friends. Tell me, or they will all be executed." Kayn fixed the girl's big, calm eyes. He couldn't understand why she could stay so calm in such a situation.

If she won't talk, you have to make her. But do not kill her! She is valuable.

"Understood."

He followed the instructions of the voice, pulled out a blade, and pushed it inhumanly fast against the wall, lifting the blade to her neck. "Speak," he ordered. Her gaze was not quite as calm as before, yet she made no effort to free herself, let alone speak. Kayn slowly broke his patience, which Sona also noticed, but he was satisfied with what he had achieved. Sona had respect for him or even feared him. He believed that this would make it much easier for him to get answers out of her. So after a while he let go of her. The blade had left a bleeding but not very deep wound. Sona exhaled as he moved away from her. "Disappointing... I thought you were more intelligent than your pathetic friends." He turned his back on her and disappeared from the room. One thing was clear to Sona, she had to explain to him that she can't talk, she doesn't want her friends to die because of her. However, the secret was as important to her as her friends.

Kayn, still annoyed by the girl's stubbornness, but also proud of his small success, walked through the corridors of the ship on his way to his quarters.

You have her respect, make something of it.

Kayn nodded. He sat down at his desk, which fortunately had been replaced quite quickly, and read his official messages, but he couldn't stop thinking about how he could squeeze information from the prisoners as quickly as possible.

I'm sure she's the key. The key to the Ora Gate.

"But how do I make her talk?"

You'll have to figure that out yourself.

"Wow, thanks," Kayn replied ironically. Rhaast wasn't much help to him right now, but he knew he had to make it. After all, he was the one worthy of the scythe.

Until late into the night Kayn pondered and developed a plan.

The next morning, Sona was rudely awakened by one of the soldiers. It was the first night she had slept. The soldier pulled her by the wrist to her legs and down from the bed. "Come with me," he ordered while he put on her energy cuffs. In general, the soldiers were rather taciturn. Sona followed him to a room with a white sliding door. The crew of the ship running around had eyed her critically, if not disparagingly, on the way. The girl felt uncomfortable, which was nothing unusual. "Behind this door is a bathroom. You take a shower and then put on the clothes you had prepared for you... and don't think about fleeing. The room is guarded as long as you are inside," the soldier told her in a threatening tone. Sona nodded. How she would like to ask what this is all about because it all seemed a bit suspect to her. The soldier opened the door at the push of a button, so that Sona could go through after she had her shackles removed. She was now in a completely white tiled bathroom which, despite its small size, housed a luxurious corner bath and shower, as well as a toilet and sink. Sona looked at the reflection of her face in the mirror for a moment before taking a shower. She tried to hurry because she didn't know what would happen if she took too long. Nevertheless, she enjoyed the hot water that hit her skin, even if it burned in her wounds. When she was finished, she looked at the clothes she was given in one of the shelves next to the door. It was a robe similar to hers, but it had only short sleeves, no hood and was in a dark blue and yellow. It fitted like a glove, so Sona stepped out of the room where she was directly restrained for the safety of the crew. Without knowing where she was going, Sona continued. The way seemed endless to her, but she was happy to see something else besides the wall of her room. A mistrust nevertheless spread inside her.

The soldiers suddenly stopped and led them into a large and spacious room with a comfortable looking couch corner, several cupboards full of books and a dark desk, but one thing caught Sona's attention in particular: a large glass window. The soldiers had stopped at the entrance of the room, Sona had already gone to the middle of the room. Uncertainly, she looked around at them, but when she noticed that they weren't moving, she went further toward the window until she stood right in front of it.

"Somewhere out there, it is... floating peacefully in space. How I would like to contact it if there weren't those shackles."

Lost in thought, she stared out the window. She did not even notice that the Ordinal entered the room. He was fascinated by the mystical sight of the girl, yet he had to tear her from her thoughts, which is why he slowly moved towards her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. Sona flinched, turned around, and looked at Kayn with big eyes. A slight smile crept onto his face. "Did I scare you?" he asked teasingly as he looked down at her. Sona remained silent and kept looking into his eyes. Although her heart raced, her eyes radiated a calm. "Oh, that's right, you don't talk to me", his face darkened. He turned to the soldiers. "You can go now. "But Ordinal Kayn... we are here to take care of your safety!" "Do you think I can't handle this girl myself? What will she be able to do against me?" You could see the anger pulsating in Kayn's eyes. Sona was clear, if this soldier were not one of his own men, he would be dead now. "I-I apologize, Sir..." the soldier stuttered anxiously and quickly disappeared from the room with the other one. Now he turned completely to the girl again. He looked at her from top to bottom until he got stuck on the energy cuffs. He took a step towards her and opened the shackles with a casual gesture of his hand. They fell to the ground. Sona took her hands, which had previously been tied on her back, forward and bowed in thanks to Kayn, who was interested in something completely different. He looked at the wounds that were running over parts of Sona's arms. Carefully, he took her hand in his while carefully stroking the other one over a, particularly deep wound. She got goosebumps but didn't dare to move. "Why don't you say anything?" he asked her in a comparatively calm voice. He did not understand. Did she prefer to suffer such pain than to speak? He could understand the anger of the slingtroopers. If she would at least say something like her friends, it wouldn't be as frustrating and embarrassing as it is. Sona, astonished and perplexed by Kayn's actions and sudden changes of mood, looked around until her gaze stuck on the desk. She was convinced to tell Kayn why she didn't talk. He behaved completely against her expectations in this situation. Ever since she lived, she had been told that Demaxians were cold and horrible people who were not worthy of the Ora. She slowly and carefully released herself from his grip and went to the desk. Kayn's confused gaze followed her. Sona took a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and began to write. Kayn went over to her and looked over her shoulder.

𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷'𝓽 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓘'𝓶 𝓶𝓾𝓽𝓮. 𝓢𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂, 𝓼𝓲𝓻, 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷'𝓽 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓾𝓹𝓼𝓮𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾.

Sona turned around and looked the Ordinal expectantly in the eyes, but lowered her gaze again when she received no answer. In Kayn's head, the pieces of the puzzle sat together. She must have felt incredibly unjustly treated... She's supposed to talk, but she can't talk at all. She gets punished because she doesn't talk, what she can't do.

You're not feeling sorry for her, are you?

Kayn tried to ignore Rhaast's mocking voice in his head. "Sona..." He lifted her chin so she would look him in the eye. "... I'm sorry," the words only came softly from the mouth of the Ordinal. He hadn't apologized to anyone for a long time, Kayn was usually too vain for that. Sona's gaze was astonished. She stood there paralyzed with her eyes wide open. Kayn slowly drove his hand through her still damp, turquoise hair.

What are you doing, fool?!

The voice in Kayn's head was angry. He didn't want to provoke Rhaast any further, so he let Sona go. "Good. Since we would have clarified that now, you answer my questions in writing," he ordered in another rather harsh tone. "A list of your business partners." Sona turned to the desk and wrote down:

'𝓝𝓸. 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓼𝔀𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓷𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸.'

Kayn was disappointed and angry. He had believed for a moment that she was different from the other Templars. His anger was boiling over, so he took her head and hit the table with more force than he actually intended. Somehow he hadn't had his feelings under control since he found Rhaast. Sona crashed to her knees because of the brutal force. Blood dripped across the desk to the floor. Kayn was impressed by the strength he had gained from Rhaast, but pretended it was normal to him. He pulled her head up a little by her hair and turned it to him so that she looked at him kneeling. Her eyes were half-closed and looked sadder and paler than usual. "Who do you think you are, girl?" Kayn almost yelled at her. He could see a glitter in her eyes, which looked as if she was about to cry. But Kayn didn't shy away from continuing his methods, so he was about to punch her, but suddenly his hand was blocked. "Whats...?" Kayn asked confusedly, but then he saw Sona, who was protected by a barrier. In her hand: a small ora ball. Even the wound on her head was slowly closed by the power of Ora. The girl clasped the ora ball before she tipped over to the side. The loss of blood was too immense. Before she lost consciousness, she advised the ball to disappear. Kayn was fascinated but also intimidated by Sona's power. Carefully he kneeled next to the girl and stroked some hair from her face. She didn't have any body modifications and yet she could control Ora. Yes, she was something special. The ordinal took her on his arm and carried her to a long black sofa where he put her down. The oracle had already disappeared. He sat down next to her and waited for her to wake up again.

Why are you so indulgent?

"I realize that I can't get on with her with pure force," Kayn had to admit to himself.

You'll lose all your respect if you treat her this good.

"Sorry Rhaast, that's not true. Besides, I'm just trying to get her to answer the questions."

You know what you're doing. That does not mean that I do not want to solve it in another way.

Rhaast's growling echoed in Kayn's head but he was half satisfied with that answer. He put a blanket over Sona's body and, while she was not yet conscious, returned to his work. Kayn's violence had left a slight tear on the desk. It had probably been a good idea to use extra strong material.

Sona slowly opened her eyes again. She had to realize where she was when she sat down. She still felt a slight pain on her forehead, otherwise, the wound had healed completely. Since it was quite cold in the room and her thin dress didn't really give her warmth, she wrapped herself in the blanket. Kayn, who had previously left the room, opened the door and stepped back in with two energy shackles in his hand. But these e shackles were designed so that each was only for one hand and they only restricted the person's energy flow, not their mobility. When Sona saw Kayn, she looked around for the oracle, but it was gone. That's good. The blue-haired man noticed that the girl was awake, so he approached the sofa and sat down at the foot end. Sona, therefore, pulled her legs tight. "It's really impressive how you can control the Ora," Kayn admitted, "but before you hurt anyone else..." He reached for her hands and put on her shackles. The turquoise-haired one lowered her head. Even if it was someone like the Ordinal, she didn't want to scare or hurt anyone. "Hey, look at me," Kayn asked her. She looked carefully upwards. "Are you all right?" She nodded carefully. Why was he suddenly interested in how she was doing? His behavior seemed strange to her. He stroked her hair from her face where the wound had been before. Sona flinched as his cold hand touched her warm forehead, but Kayn pulled her even closer. "You don't have to be afraid... at least not now," Kayn grinned at the last words. Sona began to tremble a little, on the one hand from cold, on the other hand because the ordinal intimidated her. She had no chance to hold her own when she was attacked, as the energy shackles prevented her from controlling the Oras. He said she didn't need to be afraid, but she found it hard to trust him. Kayn stroked carefully, aware that the girl was afraid, through her hair and laid his hand on her back. She turned red and looked to the side. He grinned and pushed her slightly forward with his hand, but once again he underestimated his newly gained strength and pushed her against his chest. Sona's heart beat loudly and quickly with excitement. What did he want to achieve with it? She did not dare to move and closed her eyes, prepared to feel pain. Kayn was surprised that she didn't make any effort to move away from him, yet he noticed that she felt intimidated. Sona seemed fragile in his eyes, despite the power slumbering inside her. He was still fascinated by her. Actually, he couldn't stand the Templars, but Sona wasn't unsympathetic to him if he could sympathize with a Templar at all. Somewhat overwhelmed by what he should do now, he decided to follow his feelings and took her in his arms. Now he also noticed her trembling. They stayed in this position for a while and Sona slowly calmed down. He also noticed how Rhaast fell silent. He liked and appreciated his newly won power, but Rhaast burdened his psyche immensely. He first had to learn to control him so that he and his feelings would not unintentionally control him. Kayn finally let go of her and gave her a small notepad and a pen. "Just in case you want to say something."

'𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱.'

she wrote and wrapped herself a little more in the blanket. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Kayn stood up and opened it. "Excuse me, sir, I'll bring your food," said a female voice. Sona, however, could not see the person. "Hm," Kayn replied a little annoyed, took the tray from her hand, slammed the door, and came back into the room. The girl watched the food eagerly. It was a steak with salad, which had been made much more lovingly than the porridge she had been eating the last few days. No wonder, she was also a prisoner. He sat down next to her and began to eat something. Sona tried to hide that she was hungry until her stomach growled. Kayn turned to her. "Are you hungry?" he asked whereupon she nodded. He pushed his plate to her. "You can have the rest if you want. I don't like the steak anyways," he offered her. Sona held up her block again, on which '𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 ' was written. She didn't let herself be told twice and began to eat. She really liked it and found it a pity that Kayn was so critical of the food. The cook would have deserved a lot of praise in her opinion. Due to her hunger, she didn't really enjoy the food but swallowed it quickly. She was a little embarrassed because Kayn was watching her closely, but that was of secondary importance to her. "You seem to have enjoyed it," Kayn grinned at Sona, who again wrote in reply to her block: '𝓨𝓮𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 '. He laughed: "Sure? She's often pretty useless." '𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷.' Sona's remark hurt Kayn more than he wanted, which is why Rhaast reappeared: "I gave you my food. If I was so 'mean', I would have let you starve. Consider your situation, I could kill you at any time or cause you pain." She quickly scribbled on her block to apologize: '𝓘'𝓶 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂, 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓭𝓷'𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓻𝔂. 𝓘 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓸 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓷'𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 .'
She lowered her head and held up the note. Kayn took the block in his hand to read the message. He snorted. "That's good," he pushed one of her sleeves up and looked at the wounds, "You know what else can happen...And I'm much more powerful than a simple soldier." Sona had to swallow and nodded slowly. Carefully she took the notepad back and wrote up: '𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓮, 𝓼𝓲𝓻?' "It depends on you", Kayn was not surprised about this question, "If you cooperate nothing will happen to you. If you don't cooperate, I guess we'll have to make you." '𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓼 𝓲𝓯 𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓯𝔂, 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮 ?' "You will testify." Sona looked over her injured arm to Kayn. She knew she wouldn't reveal the secrets. '𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓮?' Sona's big eyes looked into his. He didn't know the answer to the question himself. On the one hand, he wanted to do it so that he could set a limit himself and she wouldn't die, on the other hand, he didn't know if he wanted to see her suffer. Although he did not want to admit it to himself, he liked her.

Why don't you just leave it to me?

"I can't control you. It is simply too unsafe for me," Kayn thought.

"Yes. Probably.", he replied to her. '𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓪𝓷 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓸𝓻, 𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴.' Sona didn't understand why he was taking care of her in this weird way. "That's it. But it would be easiest if it didn't have to get that far at all". '𝓘'𝓶 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂, 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷'𝓽 𝓭𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽.' Kayn snorted: "That was predictable." They sat there silent for a while until Kayn brought Sona back to their cell. It was getting pretty late and he still had work to do. He entered the room with her and took off her shackles. On the bed lays Sona's old robe, which had been freshly washed. "Put that back on and put the other one on the bed," Kayn ordered. Sona nodded and held out to Kayn the notepad she was still holding in her hand. However, he took her hand and locked the pad in it. "Keep it." She looked at him gratefully. As he turned around and walked to the door, Sona scribbled something on her block and held his arm as he tried to walk out the door. '𝓖𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽.' he read on her note. He smiled. "Good night." He left the room.

The next two days flew by. Sona was visited by soldiers on both days, as well as by Kayn, but she did not want to make any statements. As a result, she had some more bruises and wounds on her body, but Sona remained strong.

But today it was different. Sona wasn't woken up in the morning. Something seemed strange, but Sona couldn't know what had happened. The ship had landed on one of the edge planets to help allies in battle.

Kayn was in the middle of the battlefield. Due to Rhaast's strength, he was able to defeat any opponent. He swept the battlefield like a whirlwind and tore everyone in his path apart. However, one of his opponents had a hard time with him: A large, dog-like creature with a long scepter. With his magical fields, he wiped out as many soldiers as Rhaast did. In the end, there was a duel between the two, which Kayn won by a narrow margin. Exhausted he went back to the ship. Frustrated, he refused any help. It annoyed him to have had such a difficult fight despite Rhaast's strength.

The door to Sona's cell was blown open in a rage. The blue-haired man stood in the door frame and entered the room energetically, and the door slammed again with a loud bang. Sona was startled and looked at Kayn. What was wrong with him? Had she done anything wrong? Sona had no idea he wasn't himself. He walked towards her until he stopped just in front of her. They were within 5 inches of each other. Sona took a step back and now stood directly against a wall. Her heart was racing. Kayn, who was more Rhaast than himself, said nothing and gave her a punch in the pit of her stomach to reduce his frustration. Sona collapsed. He put the next blow into the wall, which could show a slight crack. He breathed deeply out and in and was almost the normal Kayn again. Slowly he squatted down in front of Sona, who let her head hang. But Kayn hit her so hard that he could see some blood flowing out of her mouth. Her eyes looked glassy. Meanwhile, he knew this sight, but he didn't want to get used to it. He took a cloth from the pocket of his cape and wiped her blood from the corner of her mouth. Sona recognized an unhealed cut on his wrist, which she looked at anxiously. Why was she worried about him but didn't even question why he was doing this to her? Carefully she pulled Kayn's sleeves up a little, revealing another wound. She looked at him questioningly. "We fought," he replied briefly. Sona attacked the block again. '𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓶𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹, 𝓼𝓲𝓻?' Kayn didn't want to admit that he was frustrated with his fight and answered succinctly, "No time." '𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓭... 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽, 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 ,' Sona asked. He didn't really want to accept the help, but he hoped to find out something about Sona's strong connection to the Ora. So he got up, walked out of the room to deactivate the barriers that interrupted any kind of energy flow, and came back to Sona. She felt weaker than usual but still wanted to help in the hope that her kindness would pay off. Kayn grabbed Sona under her arms and pulled her to her feet. "Can you stand, girl?" Sona nodded, but the next moment she lost her balance and fell on the bed next to her. The lack of nutrients was a problem in addition to her daily beating. Before Kayn could reply, Sona used her abilities. Her eyes began to glow and the glittering life energy gathered in her shell-shaped hands. The blue-haired man watched the spectacle in amazement as the entire room lit up. As the oracle formed completely, Sona gently took the injured wrist of the ordinal and stroked the wound, closing it again. '𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓘 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓸?' "Yes. If it doesn't strain you," Kayn didn't listen to his fascination in the voice. The girl was really strong, yet he was sure that she was not deadly for Rhaast and him. He took off his cape, with some blood-soaked cracks in his armor on his back. Sona was shocked. "How can he cover up such deep wounds?", she thought. Carefully she opened his armor on his back and this time also stroked his wounds, whereby Kayn pulled his face in pain, but the wounds healed as fast as those on his wrist. Kayn turned to Sona, who made the ora ball slowly disappear again and due to her exertion pant weakly as she leaned against the wall behind the bed. "Lie down," Kayn ordered, but with a softer voice than before. Sona did what he said. "You've gotten thin," the ordinal stated.

Give her more food, you fool. If she gets killed, we've lost our chances.

"I know," Kayn replied. "Sona, you have to eat more. You can't die... at least not yet," he said. "In the evening one of my soldiers will fetch you and bring you to me. You will eat with me so that I can be sure that you will not starve deliberately," he explained to her, whereupon she nodded. Kayn went back to the door and said goodbye before he left her and she was alone again. Sona was still weak, but she sensed a chance: Kayn had forgotten to turn the barriers back on.

She sat up, looked around for safety before summoning another ora ball. Though her strength was dwindling, it didn't stop her from contacting her friend Yone through the ora. She was able to speak through the power of the Ora to the people that were important to her and to whom she has a strong connection.

At the same time, Yone was on his starship, on which he traveled with his crew through space. But at that moment he was resting in his room reading a book. He didn't have much time to do this, as he was the captain of the ship and therefore often busy. He was so absorbed in his novel that Sona's sudden contact threw him even more off his track than she usually would. "Yone..." panting Sona's voice into Yone's head. "Sona!" said the captain pleased, but at the same time a little worried, "What's the matter, sweetheart? You sound so exhausted." "I am... I don't have much time. You have to get me out of here... please. Tonight. I am on the Loctus Armada. Use the ora to find me. Please..." Sona's last word was nothing more than a wheeze. The girl was unconscious of energy loss. "Sona," Yone asked very worried into the silence. She was gone. "What have those cruel monsters done to her...? I must save her immediately.", he thought and sprinted from his room to the cockpit. He gave the coordinates of Sona, which he had felt through her ora connection. "Caitlyn. Fly us to these coordinates. We must free a friend."

Sona woke up again. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious. At that moment the iron door was moving. "Is it really evening yet?" In fact, a soldier stepped into the room, put Sona in handcuffs, and ordered her to come along. This time she went directly to Kayn, but not into the room she had seen before, but into a room next to it. The soldier opened the door, pushed her slightly into the room, took off her shackles, and disappeared again. "Everything is still going according to plan." Sona thought of Yone. The room had a glass front similar in size to the one Sona already knew, but it was equipped with a large black dining table and matching chairs. On the walls hung large, expensive pictures over chests of drawers and cupboards. From the ceiling hung a large, shimmering lamp. Kayn was already sitting at the table and seemed to have expected Sona. "Sit down," he said and pointed to the place opposite him. Sona looked at the golden cutlery and the noble plate with which her place was covered. "On some planets, the population starves, and here you eat from golden plates...", Sona brooded. "The food should come any moment. Neela takes her time again," said the blue-haired guy, annoyed and rolling his eyes. Sona then pulled her block out of a pocket of her robe and wrote something on it. A short time later the door slammed open. A purple-haired girl, who was probably Neela, stumbled into the room with two plates, luckily not dropping anything. "I'm sorry I'm so late, Ordinal! Please don't let me be decapitated or hang or kill in any way," Neela apologized while serving the food. You could tell she was completely stressed and overwhelmed. When she tried to pour them a kind of juice Sona didn't know, she trembled so much that she poured something on the floor. Kayn gave her an angry look, which Sona noticed. She didn't understand why Kayn was always so harsh to his servants, but so were the Demaxians. Neela wanted to reach for a napkin, but Sona beat her to it. She took a napkin out of its golden holder, stood up, and wiped the small puddle on the floor. Neela was even more overstrained than before. "Uhh thank you, but... you don't have to do that," she stammered, but Sona just smiled at her, poured Kayn, and sat down on her chair again. Kayn did not know what to do. The turquoise-haired girl showed Neela the written message on her block.'𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓸𝓭, 𝓝𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓪. 𝓨𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓪 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓬𝓸𝓸𝓴.' The purple-haired girl blushed: "Thank you... such a dear compliment no one has given me for a long time. Besides-" "Pft... That's enough. Neela, you better get out of this room before I let you disappear forever," Kayn interrupted her with a threatening voice, whereupon Neela also fled the room very quickly. Kayn wondered whether he should also settle accounts with Sona, but then let it go. "Enjoy it," he said instead. Sona sent him a note: '𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸𝓸.' The food smelled delicious, which is why Sona began to eat. Kayn watched her carefully before he ate anything. There was an unpleasant silence between the two. Sona was thinking about her escape attempt and hoped that Yone and his crew would arrive soon. To avoid arousing suspicion, she asked Kayn on a piece of paper: '𝓓𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮?' "Hm. I fine," he said briefly, but Sona couldn't really buy it from him. '𝓘𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷... 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓘 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓪 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾...' Sona thought about what she had written and added '𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪 𝓓𝓮𝓶𝓪𝔁𝓲𝓪𝓷.' at the end and gave the note to Kayn. He read it and smiled: "You're okay for a Templar too". Sona blushed slightly with joy, although she didn't know exactly why she was happy about it.

And then the door was ripped out of its hinges. A woman with large mechanical gloves covering most of her muscular arms had probably beaten the door. She stepped into the room. A man with short white hair followed her. Large parts of his face were covered by a mask and his white strand that fell into his face. The little green lizard on his arm hissed. "Who dares to-", Kayn interrupted his sentence because Sona ran towards the man he had never met and embraced him. "Long time no see. Come on, I'll get you out of here," the man said calmly to Sona. Now Kayn understood what was going on here and it made him damn angry. He ran at inhuman speed towards the two, kicked the man in the stomach so that he flew through the door against the opposite wall. He threw the woman onto the table with one arm behind him. He grabbed Sona by the neck and pressed her against his chest. "She's not going anywhere..." he growled. Rhaast now began not only to take over his body inwardly but also outwardly. This was so unusual for Kayn that he first ignored his opponents and looked down his arms. The masked man used this moment to get up again and quickly pull Kayn's legs away so that he fell over. Sona freed herself from his grip and ran to her friend. The woman also took the opportunity and ran to her friends. "Vi. You get Cait and the ship. Sona and I will take care of it," he explained his plan to the woman, who answered with an "Understood." Kayn had noticed that, but he didn't care if Vi or the masked could escape, he was only interested in Sona. Meanwhile, Kayn stood on his feet again and became angrier and angrier. On the one hand, because without Sona the key to the Ora spring would be missing, on the other hand, it hurt him that Sona wanted to flee although it was foreseeable.

The man fled with Sona in the opposite direction Vi had disappeared. Kayn followed them closely. In the corridors, he could see soldiers' bodies and battle tracks. The scythe, which he usually carried under his coat, he now held in his hand, ready to strike after them as soon as the opportunity presented itself. It was amazing that the masked man could run away so well from Kayn and Rhaast, even though he seemed human. But Kayn knew he had an advantage over him, not just in terms of strength. A grin crept on his face as he had driven them into a dead end. The man noticed this with frightened eyes, pulled out his blade and stood protecting Sona. "You won't get it," hissed the man, his sword pointing at Kayn. "She belongs to me already," Kayn hissed and struck at him with his scythe, but he blocked the blow. Thus began a bitter fight between the two men. Under normal circumstances the masked man would not have had a chance against him and Rhaast, Kayn was sure of that. But Sona healed him again and again and helped him with her Ora. In the beginning, the fight looked very balanced, until Sona and the stranger seemed to run out of energy, whereas Rhaast and Kayn were getting stronger and stronger. The man took more and more blows from the scythe, which Sona could not heal due to her loss of strength. But giving up was out of the question for the two of them. Even as the white-haired man was wounded and kneeling on the floor, wheezing and spitting blood, his determined will was burning in his eyes.

Pathetic.

Kayn was about to give him the final blow, but Sona, who lay powerless and exhausted behind her good friend Yone, bundled the rest of her energy to send a wave from Ora to Kayn, immobilizing him.

It was too late.

The scythe stuck into Yone's body and pierced him. The tears rose to Sona's eyes. Her best friend, whom she had known since childhood, who had helped her out so often and with whom she had so many beautiful moments... was dead. His body folded lifeless to the side. Sona crawled to him, took off his mask and stroked his hair from his face. "Sona... flee... please... and don't forget... I... am always with you," Yone breathed. Sona's tears now streamed down her cheeks. "Yone, I don't want you to go! Stay with me! Please...", she pleaded in her thoughts, but Yone closed her eyes. A few seconds later his heart stopped. Sona got up and looked at Kayn. Her eyes were filled with tears and emotions. Anger, hate, grief, pain... Kayn recognized all this in her eyes. He had to admit, despite all the torture, murder, and violence he had already witnessed, what he saw in her eyes was the worst thing he had ever seen. For a short moment, he felt guilty.

Sona took Yones little lizard on her arm and ran as fast as she could in this condition past Kayn and back through the hallway. In the end, there was a staircase where Vi waited for her. When she saw Sona completely dissolved in tears, she knew immediately what had happened. Vi was as upset as Sona, but hid it for her sake and led her to their ship.

"Sona, you can't stay here. It's too dangerous. Kayn now knows our names," Caitlyn claimed as soon as they were on the ship. The Captain's death also got to her, but she knew just as well as Vi how to suppress her feelings and concentrate on the essentials. "She's right," Vi agreed, "Maybe we should get in touch with Yones little brother." Caitlyn agreed with her: "At least that would be a plan. I'll try, okay?" Sona nodded in agreement. She knew Yasuo, Yones brother, as long as her best friend. In their childhood, as often as their parents allowed, they played together. When Yone grew up, he got fed up with his family and ran away. Since then he had had no contact with his brother. Sona knew that he had always regretted it. Caitlyn managed to get in contact with Yasuo. He was shocked by his brother's death, but ready to take Sona in, who was very grateful.

A few weeks later the ship landed on a distant edge planet called Tekuu. Although it was an edge planet, it had a good supply and was quite rich for an edge planet. This was also recognized by the fact that Tekuu had an official spaceport. Vi, Sona, and Caitlyn left the ship and waited there for Yasuo's ship. Rumors said that he was also a captain. Yones little lizard, which Sona had taken care of since Yones death, had curled up on Sona's lap and slept peacefully. The three talked for a while, while Sona used the block she had received from Kayn until a yellow ship landed in the spaceport. A big blue creature got out of the spaceship first. He belonged to a species Sona had never seen before. Behind him ran a woman with red-blond hair and behind her followed Yasuo. Sona stood up with the lizard in her arms and walked towards them. Although they hadn't seen each other for a very long time, Yasuo recognized Sona immediately. He also approached them and they hugged each other.
Caitlyn and Vi also joined Sona, with Vi scrutinizing the woman. "Tell me... Weren't you the little thief who stole from us on Nera?" Vi confronted her directly and kept looking at her critically. "Oh no... you must have mistaken me for someone else. That... that was definitely my twin sister! Yes, that's right," she talked her way out of it, but Vi let her get away with it once. She was glad that they were ready to accommodate. Sona. "Well... I'm Jinx, the fantastic pilot of the morning star. And that's Malphite. He speaks very slowly, which is why I'll do it for him," the woman introduced herself and the blue being after Sona has released herself from Yasuo again. "You already seem to know Captain Yasuo," Jinx grinned and looked at them. "Don't you want to introduce yourself?" she raked when Sona answered with no more than one nod. "Sona is mute," Yasuo explained, while Sona was already scribbling something on her block.

'𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓪, 𝓪 𝓣𝓮𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓻. 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓬𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓰𝓸 𝓫𝔂 𝓪 𝓭𝓮𝓶𝓪𝔁𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓞𝓻𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓭 𝓚𝓪𝔂𝓷. 𝓨𝓪𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝓨𝓸𝓷𝓮, 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓪𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮. 𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝓮 𝓲𝓷. '

Sona showed the morning star crew the note. Yasuo had already heard of his brother's death but still had to swallow when he read Sona's message. "And what was he like?," asked the fascinated Jinx. Her interest in Kayn confused Sona as to what Yasuo looked at her. "Jinx. Not now," he said and looked at her warningly. "Yeah, yeah..." moaned the blonde-haired one. "Well, Vi and I have another appointment. An old friend wanted to join our crew," Caitlyn said, "Take good care of yourself, Sona. And get in touch with us." Sona nodded gratefully and embraced Vi and Caitlyn. They said goodbye and went back to their ship. Sona went with the others on the morning star.

She settled in relatively quickly but was not yet officially a member of the crew. Jinx wanted to change this after a few weeks with a recruitment video. In this video, Jinx first introduced Yasuo and Malphite and explained what their tasks were. The only new thing for Sona was a video message from Kayn.

"You took what is mine. I will find her and I-"

Jinx rewound the message. "So he really is looking for me.", Sona thought and swallowed, "I don't want any more people dying because of me. I have to fight."

"So kid...what do ya say?"