To Serve The Hand

There was a time when Lykos believed.

A time when the streets of Crystalor felt like sacred stone. When the towering glass castle gleamed like a beacon. When the crest of Luminastra stitched to his cadet sleeve filled him with pride.

He was young. Strong. Focused.

And he wanted to be just like him.

Solon Valëkyr.
The Radiant Fang. Commander of the Crystal Guard.

They first met in the training courts behind the barracks—where sunlight pierced through the crystal archways and glinted off Solon’s silver claymore.

One look was all it took.

Solon commanded silence with a glance. Carried justice in every step. He didn’t shout. He didn’t bark orders. He simply was the law.

And somehow…

He saw something in Lykos.

Not just another cadet. Not just another sword.

A successor.

“You’ve got fire in those eyes,” Solon had said.
“Let’s see if you can retain that fire while working under me.”

Lykos trained harder than anyone. Studied until his fingers bled ink. Sparred until his shoulders screamed. He studied Solon’s every movement, followed behind every step.

And after five years, he earned his place.

Crystal Guard.

The elite patrol.

His dream since he was but a lad. To serve below Luminastra’s light. To serve and defend the kingdom he called home.

Even mere guard patrols filled him with pride. Stopping pickpockets, helping the citizens in need… It was all part of who he wanted to be.

And one such day… he saw her.

He spotted her at the market while escorting a routine patrol through the city square. She was standing at a trinket stall, eyeing a small silver pendant shaped like a flower. She had long brown hair falling in waves, and her delicate face mesmerized him in ways he couldn’t comprehend. He was simply enchanted…

The young woman’s voice was gentle but steady as she haggled with the merchant.

“Please, sir. It would mean the world to my mother…”

The vendor refused.

“No can do, missy. Prices are there for a reason.”

She smiled politely and backed away. The sadness in her face tore through Lykos’ heart. Just as he moved to talk to her…

Two thugs bumped into her, muttering crude remarks, reaching where they shouldn’t.

“Aren’t you a pretty thing?”

Their breath smelled of too much wine and their eyes spoke volumes of intoxication.

Lykos moved without a second thought.

“You there! Leave her alone!”

One shout, one glare, one hand on his blade—and they scattered like rats.

“Tch… the guards are here.”

The young woman turned towards him and bowed, thankful. Her eyes were a delicate green, like big round jewels.

“Thank you, sir—”

“Just doing my job,” Lykos said, clearing his throat. The girl bowed politely but before she could leave he spoke again.

“Mind if I walk you home… miss? The streets are somewhat dangerous these days.”

She laughed softly.

“Is walking me home part of your job too?”

“No,” he said, smiling for the first time that week. “That’s a personal offer.”

“Then I accept. My name is Setala.”

“Lykos.” The crystal guard bowed stiffly causing her to chuckle.

The walk to her humble home was short. But Lykos wouldn’t ever forget it.

That’s because they met again. And again.

She told him about her brother, lost to the Corrosion. About her family barely holding on. About hope, and how she still believed in Luminastra, even when life gave her nothing. She was a hopeful, kind person. One probably too kind for this world.

He in turn told her about Solon. About the Guard. About his life.

About his dream to protect the city he loved.

Weeks turned to months.

And every day made Lykos more certain.

He was going to ask her to marry him.

He tracked down that vendor from all those months ago, and found the pendant Setala was eyeing that day. He had hoped it was the same that had taken her interest. He only had to ask her if…

But she was gone.

No word. No trace. Her parents didn’t know where she’d gone.

Lykos just couldn’t find her anywhere. Not the market, not the inns, nor the square. It was like she had vanished into thin air.

Three days passed. As Lykos was about to lose his mind after every daily patrol a reassignment came. He wasn’t to patrol anymore but guard.

A classified site outside the southern wall. No explanation.

But he didn’t care. All he could think of was that he couldn’t look for her in his patrols anymore.

When Lykos arrived at the outpost, what he saw shattered him and for a moment… Setala wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

A long tunnel carved beneath the stone roads. Barred doors. Rotting air.

Inside—

Corrosion victims.

Stacked. Fading. Starved. Locked in cells with no food. No water. No names.

Only numbers.

“Keep watch. Nothing gets out,” said the other guard who was to teach him his duties.

“They’re… sick!” Lykos said, “Why are we doing this to them?!”

“Why? Because we don’t know how that plague spreads. The king isn’t taking any chances. Anyone who’s reported to have it ends up here.”

“This is preposterous! We don’t know if it’s contagious! They may be saved if—”

“Saved?” The guard scoffed, “They’re dead. Just haven’t stopped breathing yet.”

With those words, he left. Lykos could only sit there staring through the bars. The citizens he was supposed to protect lay there, malnutritioned… dying.

But as he scanned the faces… his heart sank so deep he could barely breathe.

Setala. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Skin marked with the creeping gray marks of Corrosion.

She looked up—

And smiled faintly when she saw him.

“Lykos…”

Was that why she had disappeared? The guards… his comrades had kidnapped her because she bore the mark of corrosion? Was that how the kingdom treated the most precious thing in his life?

That was the final straw.

“Setala!” Lykos shouted, gripping the iron bars. He clenched his jaw, mind swimming.

“I… I will get you out of here.”

Setala turned to the sound of his voice. A small light returned to her eyes, and a weak frail smile to her face.

“Lykos…” But then she shook her head. “You can’t… stop this.”

“I will!” Lykos barked, “For you I will!” 

He turned and ran.

Up the steps. Through the corridor. Straight into Solon’s war office.

The door slammed open, and Lykos rushed in. Solon didn’t even flinch.

“General! Corrosion victims are locked up down there like animals! She’s—she’s dying! We need to stop this at once!”

Solon didn’t look up from his parchment.

“If they’re infected, they’re sealed. King’s orders.”

The response of the man he idolized froze him in his tracks.

“You… knew of this?” Lykos’ voice broke.

“Of course I do. The guard does not move before I know it does. I reassigned you here.”

“You!” Lykos disbelief turned to anger in a heartbeat. Red flooded his vision, “That’s not justice. That’s slaughter!”

“It’s protocol.” Solon finally raised his gaze, eyes piercing and cold as ever.

Lykos’s voice cracked. “But they’re citizens! She’s a citizen! The ones we’re supposed to protect!”

Solon sighed and rose from his seat. He eyed Lykos, for the first time emotion creeping into his features.

Disappointment.

“You’re not the kind of guard I thought you’d be, Lykos. You wanted to serve the king, did you not?” Solon glared, “This is what the king commanded.”

“To hell with this!” Lykos shouted.

“If you want to remain Crystal Guard, you’ll do what you’re told.”

“Luminastra wouldn’t—”

“Luminastra doesn’t need your approval, boy. The king carries her will. He speaks. We obey.”

“But—”

“Listen close. If the king says jump, you say how high. If he says kill, you say how many… Understood?”

Lykos blood froze in his veins. It was as if everything he knew was being turned upside down with no sign of mercy.

“I thought we served… the light.” Lykos could barely utter.

“We serve the hand that carries it.”

Lykos took a step back like he’d been stabbed. The man standing before him wasn’t his general any longer. He wasn’t the man he wanted to become. He was just a pawn with no will of his own. A cold merciless killer. And Lykos didn’t want anything to do with him.

By the time he returned to the cell, the guards were pulling bodies into carts.

“Oi! Where were you?!”

One of them barked at him for abandoning his post.

But he didn’t listen.

Because on top of the pile…

…was Setala.

Eyes closed. Skin cold.

Just like that her flame had gone out. Betrayed by the very kingdom she had believed in.

His body froze. All sensations numbed. It was as if he was freefalling to a pit of despair with no end.

He didn’t cry. He didn’t scream. He simply pressed a trembling hand to her cheek.

The woman he loved most. The dream he carried since he was a child. They both died that night in the same cold cell.

And that was the moment Lykos the Crystal Guard died as well.

A kingdom that spat on its citizens, and treated them like pigs sent to the slaughterhouse wasn’t the kingdom Lykos wanted to serve. He wouldn’t be caught dead doing that. But how could he just… leave? There was a law that stated that in case of desertion, the deserter’s family had to pay the price and face execution.

That’s why he knew what he had to do.

He spent the next week staging public arguments with his parents—loud, ugly fights outside their home where everyone could hear.

“You never understood me!”

Even if he broke their hearts.

“Stop pretending we’re family!”

Even if he broke his own.

“You mean nothing to me!”

Even if he wanted to take it all back the moment he uttered them.

“I was never your son!”

Even still… he had to protect them.

A week later, he simply vanished. The Crystal Guard called it desertion. But the neighbors said otherwise.

“He hated them.”
“Said he never wanted to go back.”

The seeds he had planted worked. The guards didn’t punish his family. Because according to the neighbours he didn’t have one anymore.

And just like that—

Lykos disappeared. He had heard of the Ironwood Rebels since he were a cadet. He never understood their reason for hating Crystalor so deeply. But after what he’d seen… He was willing to give them a chance.