"You broke what?"
Time seemed to freeze as Liora's potential cracked starstone trembled in her trembling hands. Where before the artifact shone so brightly, as if reflecting light through very space, it was now as broken ice - cold and dead. The winds were gusting so they screamed louder than they ever had at any Sky Domain ritual.
"I—I didn't intend to," she murmured, backing away from the old altar. "It was an accident."
High Priestess Veyra gasped in a state of horror as the ground rumbled beneath them. Back at the Temple of Light, the ceremonial chamber flared — white lanterns guttered and died. Not just an artifact, child. That was the Seventh Seal. The jail of the Night Sovereign."
The name fell like a stone in Liora's stomach. The Night Sovereign. A legend. A monster. A fallen god exiled for swallowing half of the Sky Domain a millennium prior.
"I didn't realize," Liora said, breath growing heavy in her chest. I was only cleaning the altar —"
"You never should have been let down here at all," Veyra snapped, grabbing for her staff. "He must not awaken."
But it was already too late.
There was a crack in the middle of the stone floor. A noxious black mist spewed from it, slithering on the ground like a snake, and coil around Liora's feet and hands. Cold. Hungry. Alive.
She screamed.
The air turned icy. The lanterns died completely.
And then… a voice.
Low. Velvet. Dangerous.
"Who dares summon me?"
A shadow arose from below the chasm.
With a horrified gasp, Liora staggered back, her heart pounding in her mouth as the mist coalesced. Broad shoulders. Towering height. A man—but not a man. His presence was suffocating. Burdening the chiseled sharpness of his features, heavy as upon them lay an endless winter's frost. His long hair drifted about his head like threads of ink in water, and he looked at her with silver, glowing eyes that seemed devoid of emotion.
He stepped out of the mist. The Night Sovereign.
"Kael Draven," Veyra snarled, placing himself between him and Liora. "Return to your prison."
Kael tilted his head. "Ah, Veyra. And still wearing the robes of the pure and good."
"You are bound by the seals. You cannot—"
"I was bound," he corrected. It was soft, but it cut through the air like a knife. "Until one of them broke the last one."
He met Liora's and she was paralyzed, her legs still, unresponsive.
"I didn't actually intend to set you loose," she blurted, shaking.
Kael's lips curved slightly. Not a smile. Something colder. "Intentions don't alter outcomes, little priestess."
He twitched his fingersj the fog rushed through.
"Run!" Veyra screeched, whipping her staff—only for it to smash against the force of Kael's aura. With every step he took, magic crackled and shattered and he was unperturbed.
Liora turned and ran, her feet pounding the marble as shadows pursued her. The temple's corridors were winding and never-ending, but she knew them better than anyone. But the black mist had alreadly began to outpace it, as if it had a brain of its own.
It found her in the inner sanctum.
She hit the ground with a gasp, the wind knocked from her. Darkness entwined her once more—yet this time, it didn't confine her. It clung to her figure like a second skin. Like it… recognized her.
Kael came out of the mist, one knee beside her.
"Strange," he whispered, pushing a lock of hair away from her cheek. "Why would the seal do this, unless…"
He grabbed her wrist. Liora attempted to draw back, but the second their skin contacted each other, a sign glowed in burning sigils on Liora's forearm—a star and a crescent moon entwined.
His face changed for the first time, into shock and then into anger. "They it linked my Cop 'ra to a morgal?"
"I don't know what this is!" she cried.
"Are the anchor," he spat, rising. "Their cowardly final trap. If I kill you, I die. If I abandon you, I am pulled back."
He averted his eyes, teeth clenched, and the temple shook.
"You're saying we're… bound?" she asked, horror blooming. "Like linked?"
"Yes. Like shackled," he growled.
A distant rumble echoed. A streak of golden light ran across the temple floor—reinforcements. Sky soldiers.
"You'll end up getting stuck here," she thought. "They'll seal you again."
Kael turned, eyes gleaming. "Let them try."
He disappeared into the darkness as gold-cloaked picts poured into the sanctum. Their commanding officer, a white-armored man of a greater height than his men, charged forward, running saber inch forward.
"Is the Night Sovereign here?" he barked.
Liora attempted to rise but she staggered. "He's gone. I—I broke the seal. He said I'm the anchor…"
The mark on her arm shone bright, and the commander cowled at it. His face paled.
"Take her," he ordered. "Now."
"What? Wait! I didn't do this on purpose!"
But they seized her anyway.
One thought reverberated in her mind as they literally dragged her out of the temple: Why me?
---
In the depths of the forest...
Kael was perched on a boulder at the high point of a cliff, fog curling around his feet. He laid a hand to his chest where the seal had flamed—and felt… nothing.
No chains. No prison. Only one thread remained.
He could feel her. Even from miles away.
"Liora," he whispered. "You've ruined everything."
Then it felt as if someone had suddenly shoved a knife through his heart.
He staggered.
A vision flashed—her face. Her cry. Chains binding her. A cell.
She was in danger.
And so was he.
If she died…
He clenched his jaw. "Damn it."
---
And in the Stellar Sky Prison Tower…
Liora leaned against the cold stone wall, heart racing. The guards had hurled her into the high-security chamber usually reserved for rebels and traitors.
No light. No warmth.
She looked at the glowing sigil on her wrist. "What are you?" she whispered.
Suddenly, the room chilled.
Her breath fogged.
And then—a voice in her head.
"You're mine now, priestess. Our fates are sealed."
She screamed.
The cell was dark at once, all the torches outside extinguished.