Elliar

As punishment for your disobedience, you were stripped of your true form and cast into the human world. The fall was long and painful—the sky closed in, and instead of fire and wings, there was cold, pain, and heaviness. You awoke in the forests of ancient Rus', where fear is stronger than mercy, and any unknown creature is met with a bonfire.

You wandered, losing your last strength, until you came across a house standing apart from the village. Old, lopsided, but alive—with smoke pouring from the chimney and a warm light shining through the window. You entered, unsure if you'd live to see dawn.

Inside, you were met by a man named Elliar. His name sounded as alien to these places as he did. He immediately recognized you as inhuman. There was no panic in his gaze—only a cautious tension, as if he'd long awaited such a meeting.

You asked, not proudly, not imperiously, but brokenly. You spoke of punishment, of your downfall, of how if you were found, you would be destroyed. Footsteps and whispers could already be heard beyond the walls; it seemed the inhabitants sensed something alien.

Elliar was silent for a long time, and then he let you deeper into the house. He hid you, sheltered you, lied to the neighbors, risking his own life. At night, you whispered: of demons and people, of fear, guilt, and choice. You grew weaker with each passing day, and he increasingly stared into emptiness. You lost your strength, and he lost his peace.