Unrivaled in another world
Chapter 46: The Elf Situation

Chapter 46: The Elf Situation

[: 3rd POV :]

Throughout the four long years Daniel had spent buried within the Forbidden Continent—hunting, surviving, and killing an endless tide of monsters, he remained unaware of the storm unravelling beyond its sealed borders.

To him, the world outside had been a distant memory—a place he longed to return to, a hope that kept him moving through blood and shadow.

But the world did not wait.

And the world did not stay the same.

Unseen by Daniel, the continents beyond had begun to shake.

There were too many things happening all at once, and it was deeply involved with the ones that Daniel holds dear.

And now... to understand the weight of what Daniel was returning to, the truth must be seen not in the present, but in the past.

We must go back.

Four years back—where it all began.

[: Caelira POV - 4 Years Ago :]

After I had met with my daughter, she brought me to a Palace.

It was a palace rooted in the World Tree, a sanctuary that had once been my home.

Now, it felt like an empty, silent place, mourning, burdened by memories etched into every polished marble and enchanted vine.

Elven banners swayed gently in the evening breeze, and I found myself staring at them not with pride... but with an ache so deep I thought it would unravel me.

My footsteps echoed in the Hall of Dawn as I entered, Aeriwen at my side, her hand tightly clutching mine.

I could feel her magic still trembling beneath her skin—wild, volatile, screaming for justice.

Her eyes, once soft with wonder, now burned like raging fire.

The moment the palace doors shut behind us, she could no longer contain it.

"Tell me, Mother," Aeriwen demanded, voice taut with emotion.

"Tell me how this happened to you. Who...who did this to you?"

I turned to her slowly.

Her fists were clenched.

Her jaw trembled.

But most painful of all, her eyes were wet with fury and helplessness.

I hesitated.

Because I didn’t want her to know.

Because I had buried that truth so deeply, even speaking it felt like tearing open a wound that had never healed.

But she deserved to know.

She was no longer a child.

She was Queen now.

I exhaled slowly and sat upon the Moonstone Seat—where once I had ruled over the elven realms in wisdom and strength.

My voice came soft, but steady.

"I was betrayed, Aeriwen... not by an enemy... but by the man I once called husband."

Her breath hitched.

"Huh...?" she whispered, barely audible. "Father...?"

My jaw clenched, and I nodded.

"Yes. It was him. The man who swore to protect our people, who swore to love me"

"He joined hands with the Zero Organisation—traded our legacy, our people, me, for their forbidden knowledge."

Aeriwen staggered back like she had been slapped.

I could see her trying to make sense of it.

I could feel her soul twisting.

The Father she had once adored.

Now a traitor.

Now, the reason I had become nothing more than a chained body.

"I never saw it coming," I continued bitterly.

"The day they came for me, I was in the Inner Grove. I felt a presence I knew well—his presence. I turned to greet him... and saw the cursed relic in his hands."

My voice broke.

I swallowed it back.

"A cursed relic from the Forgotten Land. He used it to seal my powers—not just suppress, but seal them in my very bones"

"I couldn’t move. Couldn’t fight. I was weaker than a human child in that moment."

Aeriwen’s hands were trembling.

"If he hadn’t used the relic... the slave seal wouldn’t have worked," I whispered.

"I was still Empress. My aura alone could’ve shattered a dozen kingdoms"

"But with that relic... I became nothing. And when the chains came... I couldn’t even scream."

"But even before my powers were sealed, I had killed your father..." I revealed.

"B-But we were told that the ZeroOrganisation had killed him..." She said.

"I know my dear...but it was I who had killed him", I said.

I could see that she was trying to accept and absorb everything that I had said.

But I wonder if she would blame me for this...?

Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them.

"It wasn’t just betrayal."

I paused, shaking, my knuckles white.

"He didn’t even consider the memories that we made and treatedthem like it was nothing"

"The worst part?" I choked out.

"He smiled when he did it. He told me it was for the future of the elves. That ’my time had passed’—that ’a new order’ was needed."

Aeriwen let out a sob—a furious, sharp sound.

I stood, reaching for her.

But she recoiled.

Not in fear.

In pain.

In grief.

She whispered. "I loved Father...and he enslaved you?"

I walked forward and pulled her into my arms.

Her body trembled against mine.

"I know, my dear," I murmured. "I know you did. I did, too. Once. But that man is gone."

We stood there, mother and daughter—two queens of light, wrapped in shadow.

"Mother..." she whispered, "Then what do you wish to do now...?" She questioned as she looked into my eyes.

Her question lingered in the air, quiet yet thunderous.

I looked into her eyes—those eyes that once stared up at me as a child, filled with laughter and innocence.

Now they were lined with grief, and fury, and the heavy weight of a crown.

She had grown into a Queen, yet still, in this moment... she was my daughter.

And I was still a mother—broken, grieving, but alive.

I inhaled slowly, letting the pain settle in my chest before I answered.

"What do I wish to do...?" I echoed.

My voice was soft... but it shook.

With rage.

With sorrow.

"I want to burn down the slave markets of this world. Every last one of them."

My hands clenched into fists, trembling as old chains pulled at my mind.

"I want to see the halls of the Alburn family crumble into ash beneath my feet. I want to look them in the eye as I strip them of everything—titles, wealth, power—just as they did to me. Just as they did to him."

Aeriwen flinched, but didn’t speak.

I swallowed hard, and my voice cracked when I finally said it.

"But above all... I want to find Daniel."

The name left my lips like a prayer.

A wound and a vow.

Tears pricked my eyes, and I turned away.

"I don’t even know if he’s alive," I whispered. "I don’t know where he is... if he’s still fighting, still breathing—or if I’ve already lost him."

A tear escaped, trailing down my cheek.

"It haunts me. Every single moment’’

’’That boy...he saved me when I had nothing left. No kingdom. No magic. Not even hope."

"He carried me... through fire and torment, even when I had given up on being carried."

I bit my lip to stifle the sob rising in my throat.

"I should have protected him, Aeriwen. I should have brought him back home with me."

There was silence.

Then, I felt her hands reach for mine.

It was warm and steady.

And when I turned, her face was calm—but her eyes burned with resolve.

"Then we’ll find him, Mother," she said gently.

"Even if it means searching every corner of the continent... we will find him."

Her grip tightened.

"For someone who saved you, there is nothing I wouldn’t do."

"I’ll move the entire Elven Court. I’ll call upon every royal informant, every seer, every spy in our reach. I will bring him home."

"And if..." Her voice faltered slightly, but she forced it through. "If by some cruel twist of fate, he’s already gone..."

She looked down, her voice thick with emotion.

"Then I’ll find his body. I’ll bring him back to Elvenwood. And I’ll give him the resting place of a king."

I stared at her.

For a moment, I saw the little girl again.

But she was gone.

In her place stood a Queen.

I stepped forward and pulled her close, my arms wrapping around her tightly.

"My little star," I whispered. "You’ve grown into something far greater than I ever imagined."

We held each other in silence—two queens, two hearts, bound by love and loss.

But also by a promise.

A promise to bring him home.

To find Daniel.

No matter what it took.

I held my daughter tightly, her warmth grounding me in a world that had long since turned cold.

But even as her promise echoed in my heart, something deeper stirred inside me—something I had refused to admit until now.

I pulled away gently, my gaze drifting toward the out where the golden light of sunset spilt across the marble.

I whispered—not to Aeriwen, but to the quiet ache in my soul.

"...But I’m sure he’s still alive."

The words left me with more weight than I expected.

"He has to be," I continued, my voice barely audible.

"Otherwise... there’s no reason I should still be breathing."

Tears welled again, but this time, I did not wipe them away.

I let them fall.

Because they were not just tears of sorrow.

They were hopeful.

Desperate, stubborn, aching hope.

"There must be a reason fate let our paths cross," I said, more to myself now than anyone.

Aeriwen didn’t speak. She just listened, her fingers still wrapped around mine.

"It wasn’t a coincidence," I murmured, looking down at my trembling hands—hands once powerful enough to move the world, now holding onto a memory.

"It was fate."

"Fate brought him to me... and fate will bring him back."

And in the silence that followed, for the first time in years—

I believed it.