ABOND WITHOUT A CONTRACT
The powerful woman — her mother, yet not her mother — stepped closer. The gentle warmth of her presence felt like a cruel joke to Liu's freezing skin. "If there is no Sablethorne here," the woman murmured, her sharp eyes scanning Liu's pale face, "then where did you come from, child? Who gave you that name?"
Our Liu couldn't answer. Her mind was racing, trying to find an anchor in this impossible reality. How could she even begin to explain — that she came from a world like this one but also at the same time nothing like it at all? There were no words for that. No words she knew.
Liu's breath hitched when the lady with universe-like hair stepped forward. As she moved, the dark starlight patterns in her hair shifted like real galaxies.
Her deep eyes locked onto Liu, and her expression shifted from curiosity to the realisation of something.
"Sol..." the universe-haired woman whispered, her voice trembling as she looked at the woman. "Sol....her soul. Look at her soul. It is shattering and her magic.... it's sealed."
The white-haired woman with abnormal white eyes looked at our Liu with an expression of disbelief. "This is not possible.....her soul is similar to our Liu."
"Her soul...." The woman whispered.
The powerful mother frowned, stepping completely into Liu's personal space. She raised a slender, elegant hand, hovering her fingers just inches from Liu's chest.
Instantly Liu jumped back, completely caught off guard. Her voice came out louder than she intended.No-one touch her like that without permission.Expect that idiot Diana, who clearly don't respect people boundarie
The woman whispered, "Liu, don't be afraid. I am not going to hurt you, I promise." She spoke very carefully, as if not wanting to scare Liu off.
Liu had an unsettling feeling in her chest because nobody had ever spoken to her with this warmth, this carefully. Nobody — not even her friends. People despised her, hated her, feared her. But never like this. Never like this stranger in front of her.
The woman spoke in soft words, choosing them carefully, trying not to make it worse than it already was. "Liu.... You don't need to tell us where you're from but.... just trust us. We promise. Please, Liu...."
Liu opened her mouth to say something but her voice hitched for a moment before coming back. Maybe it was because of the pain in the woman's expression as she looked down at her — a pain Liu didn't know how to name. Or maybe it was the way she spoke, or the way her words landed. Or maybe it was the worry in her eyes that rattled Liu the most, because she had never seen it before on a stranger's face — worry from someone who barely knew her.
All the strangers Liu had ever met had already decided what she was before even speaking to her. They judged her because of her birth alone. Only a few hadn't. But somehow this stranger hit the hardest — like there was something between them, a bond that didn't need time to exist. It just did. A bond where the stranger could feel her without any contract between them.
Liu said in a firm voice. "Do I need to tell you anything? Who are you to me? I don't know you."
After Liu firmly refused, the woman slowly lowered her head. She didn't say anything. She just listened.
Then the woman spoke, her voice firm and professional, filling the street. Even the birds went quiet. "I know....Liu, I have no rights over you and you don't know me. That's true. But as a member of this society I have every right to protect my people from someone I believe is a threat."
But even when her voice stood firm, there was something in her eyes Liu couldn't name. Like looking at a very sad child trapped behind something unbreakable.
The other Liu had been quietly listening to the whole conversation, looking strangely burdened — like the words in the air were sitting on her shoulders.
The other Liu finally spoke. "Liu... I may not understand you but... please come with us. You don't need to talk or explain anything. Just come."
"Why do I need to? How can I trust you — I don't. Know. You." Liu's voice trembled a little but stayed firm and high. Her mind was circling, her firm posture cracking at the edges.
The other Liu shot back, "Yes, you don't. You don't know us. And I don't know you either." She caught her breath, steadying herself.
"But there is something about you I can't explain and I can't leave you here looking like this. My mom knows something is wrong and I believe her. We are connected somehow.... so please. Just come. I promise no one will say or do anything to you."
As the other Liu spoke, our Liu felt her heart shrinking and a heat rising in her chest. It was disorienting to see someone who looked like her — just a little healthier — say a word like mom in such a soft, lovely voice. As if that woman was everything to her. Maybe she was, to the other Liu. But not to our Liu. Never to our Liu.
Liu didn't understand why she was being told she would be protected, that they were connected. Because to Liu it was not connection. It was not love. To her it was pain. To her this world was unfamiliar. To her it felt like someone was pressing on the same bruise again and again waiting for her to break. It was not love, not devotion — it was hurt. And it was hers alone.
There was something suffocating in those words and in this world. Liu's chest felt tight, as if something was trying to choke her from the inside. She couldn't breathe for a moment. It was unbearable.
Then suddenly Liu's world went dark. Her eyes found nothing.
Through the creeping, heavy blackness, a faint voice echoed from somewhere impossibly far away—a muffled, desperate sound she couldn't completely catch. It was a voice she thought she recognized, repeating a single word over and over again into the void.
"Liu… Liu…"
Liu collapsed onto the floor. A cold floor. A floor she wished she never had to see again. And as the last light of the dream world completely shattered around her, she fell deep into a silent, suffocating emptiness.