SALVATION
noun
the saving from danger or evil

━━━━━━━━━━━━
salvation, the darkling
"There wasn't a night you didn't enter my dreams.
Tell me that you messed with my heart
or I won't stop myself from thinking about you
anymore."
(pre-shadow & bone)
━━━━━━━━━━━━

Moments like these,
when he would raise her hand
and place it on his face,
made him shiver with pure ecstasy.
The constant need for him to know
that she was acknowledging him,
was making him anxious.
Yet when her cold fingertips touched his cheeks,
ran down to the tip of his nose,
his lips.
Maya milaya...
The darkness would submerge them both,
hiding the details of the room,
the light that he desperately hung onto.
Feeling at ease, feeling himself,
he'd lean into her touch,
pressing a kiss against her fingers
only to see her smile.
All of this war, all of this constant need for survival
came down to this moment -
her smile.

—synopsis

I want to tell you a story of a woman who lost her blossoms one by one. Once a beautiful flower, now left with mere green of the leaves, the little thrones that prick you when you come close.

The beauty was in her silence, buried under the expressionless face. Her beauty was her fingertips, buried deep into her palms, drawing blood, scarring once porcelain skin.

Flaws buried deep in her body, she breathed out pain, and she walked on needles. One step - pain. Another step - sorrow. The last one - agony.

There was a man who submerged into shadows, moving deeper into insanity, deeper into searching for the light. Once he was a lonely boy, now he was a ruthless ruler, wishing and craving to do more, to see more, to feel more.

The alluring beauty of his was enchanting. The physique was breathtaking - from the other world. He walked this Earth loud and clear, the heels of his boots quaking the ground beneath his, emerging shadows and little pieces of darkness.

Flaws were buried deep in his body. Countless death, crimson and sorrows were painted on his palms. The screams lulled him to sleep, forced him to change, forced him to admit that darkness was his haven, not his doom.

Always searching for light, he found something else. The parallels of light and dark, good and evil, were nothing as he didn't need light to soothe his darkness, he didn't need good to suppress his rage.

He needed her.

The bleeding woman met the man, who makes everyone bleed. The sorrow in her eyes, the twitch of her chapped lips, the soft and, oh, so painful sigh escaping her mouth left him speechless.

Worst of all, she understood his darkness, accepted it and cherished it. Loved every part of his body, no matter how sinful it was and that it was driving her to her own doom.

She loved him.

He loved her.

This tale, we call it Spaseniye. It sits in the pages of the Saints, ruined by the bluntness of my memoirs. Some chose to believe the myths, some chose to ignore them. But this isn't a myth. It happened and I saw it all.

Spaseniye was my sister and I will tell you her story, in which he wasn't always a villain.

But in mine - he was.

━━━━━━
t h e   c a s t

l i y a s a f i n
/leeh-ya sah-phin/

heartrender; herbalist; sightless
the one who bled

(portrayed by Madelaine Petsch)

a l e x a n d e r m o r o z o v a

shadow summoner; general of the second army; amplifier
the one who held her bleeding

(portrayed by Ben Barnes)

g e n y a s a f i n

tailor; the abducted one; the protector
the one who wrote the tale

(portrayed by Daisy Head)

& the respective cast of Shadow and Bone
━━━━━━━━━━━━

"For you, I would cross the line
I would waste my time
I would lose my mind"
━━━━━━don't blame me, taylor swift

Her scars were engraved in his body,
burning with agony,
reminding him of her past.
He kissed those scars,
dreamed about them,
traced them,
loved them.
Because those scars,
painful wails that left her lips,
tremors of her body during a nightmare -
all of that
was his Liya.

D I S C L A I M E R:

I do not own anything except
the plot variations
and Liya Safin.
Everything else belongs
to Leigh Bardugo.

W A R N I N G:

This book will include
grammar mistakes,
strong language, violence,
mental issues, blood,
deaths, abuse, sexual violence.
There will not be separate warnings
before chapter. So be aware.

D E D I C A T I O N S:
arimorxn -rogersonlyfans
HEAVENSROMANOFF
darlingmurdock  @ravenxnycole
sadiesuns MyrtoBlack bIoodforbIood

A D D I T I O N A L   I N F O:

Both Liya and Genya in this book
are going to be in their twenties.

graphics are made by me
©2022