A Will Sovereign Chapter 2: Chapter 2 — Back to the past.

Read chapter 2 of A Will Sovereign by Sloche on NovelPedia.

Darkness. Endless darkness. No sound. No lights. Soldret drifted aimlessly.No sense of direction or time. It felt as though every concept of existence had abandoned him. At first, there was only silence. Then— pain. Soldret felt as though his entire existence was being torn apart. Countless fragments of reality drifted around him within the turbulent currents of time. Blood, screams, destruction, the roars of countless cultivators, the River of Time, a pair of amber-gold eyes… and finally, his own self-destruction. He felt these memories slipping through his consciousness. He desperately tried to grasp them, but they continued dissolving against his fingers. He did not know how long this continued. Only that, at some point, it no longer felt as though his existence was being torn apart. Instead, he felt as though he was drowning. As if something vast and dark had closed over his head while the surface drifted further and further away, no matter how desperately he reached for it. And then— silence. Soldret suddenly opened his eyes. Cold sweat drenched his body. For a brief moment, his ocean-blue eyes remained unfocused, as though his mind had yet to separate reality from illusion. The familiar scent of sandalwood permeated his senses. Soft moonlight spilled quietly through the windows. A room. Not ruins. Not corpses strewn across a battlefield. Soldret remained motionless. His breathing was slow and heavy. After several moments, he slowly raised his trembling hands before his face. "A dream?" It all felt like a dream.But he knew it was not. It was too vivid for that. Too real in the ways that mattered.He could remember every single thing with a clarity dreams never allowed. For a long time, he said nothing. Then suddenly— footsteps echoed outside the room. Almost instinctively, invisible pressure spread quietly from his body. The wooden door slowly opened. A little girl carefully peeked inside.Her silver-white hair, tinged faintly with purple, fell gently over her shoulders while her ocean-blue eyes blinked sleepily beneath the dim light. "Big brother…" The invisible pressure vanished instantly. "Lyanna." He softly called her name.Without realizing it, tears rolled down his cheeks. Something inside his chest tightened painfully. Lyanna carefully walked into the room before placing a small lantern beside his bed. "Mother said you should sleep earlier. Why are you still awake?" she muttered softly. "Don't tell me you want to use staying up late as an excuse not to take me to the trade fair tomorrow." Her familiar voice caused Soldret's fingers to tremble slightly beneath the blanket. To him, it had only been moments since he last saw her.Yet it also felt as though an entire lifetime had passed. He stared at her quietly for several seconds before suddenly pulling at her cheeks. "And what are you doing awake this late?" he asked. "Didn't Mother put you to bed hours ago?" Lyanna quickly pushed his hands away. "Stop pulling my cheeks! You'll make them droopy!"She puffed her cheeks indignantly before continuing. "And I came to check on you. You were groaning in your sleep." "Yeah, yeah. I believe you," Soldret replied with a faint smile. "You were definitely not reading those novels you borrowed from that buck-toothed kid back home." Lyanna's eyes widened slightly."I really was checking on you!" "Of course," Soldret said dryly. "I'd have an easier time believing you came to see whether I was asleep so you could steal my Primal Pattern Brush again." "I wasn't—" She suddenly stopped midway before turning her head away guiltily. Soldret chuckled softly.Then his expression gradually became serious again. "What day is it today?" Lyanna looked at him as though he had gone mad. "Don't tell me the great all-knowing Soldret suddenly forgot what day it is." Soldret silently stared at her. Lyanna placed her hands on her waist proudly. "Well, perhaps the great and esteemed Lady Lyanna might grace your stunted knowledge…" She paused dramatically.