The halls were silent after Kael's betrayal. Not because all was well—
but because the Sanctuary had learned the taste of treason.
And trust…
Trust had become ash in their mouths.
---
Liora's Secret
Seraphina stood in the upper sanctum, hand on her belly, eyes fixed on the glow of the Cradle Flame. She could feel her daughter shifting inside her… sensing every fracture in the world.
Footsteps echoed softly behind her.
Liora.
> "You knew," Seraphina said without turning. "Before you returned… you knew Kael would fall."
Liora's breath caught. "I hoped he wouldn't."
> "Hope," Seraphina said, "isn't the same as silence."
Liora stepped closer, her wings dimmed. She pulled a small glowing pendant from beneath her robes.
> "When I crossed the Veil… I didn't come back whole," she confessed.
"Something stayed behind. Something… ancient. And in return, I was given this—"
She held the pendant up. Inside it, a fragment of light flickered like a dying star.
> "This is her heart," Liora whispered. "Your daughter's heart. Before she is born."
Seraphina turned, shocked.
> "What do you mean?"
> "The Cradleless saw the child as a weapon. The Cradlekeepers saw her as salvation.
But neither side understood what she truly is.
So... before she was fully formed, a memory of her heart was drawn out and given to me to protect."
Seraphina stepped back, stunned.
> "You carry part of her soul…"
Liora nodded. "And I feel her stir every time you cry.
She knows me. And she's waiting."
---
🜂 Seraphina's Decision
Later that night, Seraphina met with Ravon beneath the Sanctuary moonlight. The fires of the battle still burned across the plains, and the Cradleless forces were regrouping.
> "Too many enemies," she said softly. "And now, even those inside our flame are falling."
Ravon didn't answer at first. He was watching the stars. "What will you do?"
> "We can't wait anymore," she said.
"The child must be born in a place the Cradleless cannot follow. Not here. Not on this plane."
He turned to her, eyes searching. "You mean to enter the Veiled Hollow?"
She nodded. "It is forbidden for a reason. It was where the first Cradlekeepers buried the stars. Where time slows… and only truths remain."
Ravon stepped closer, cupping her face gently.
> "If you go, I follow."
> "I know," she whispered, leaning into him.
"But when I return… everything might be different. Even me."
> "I'll love you still," he said. "Even if you burn."
---
🌑 Final Scene: Liora and the Child
That night, Liora sat by Seraphina's bedside. She held the pendant close, and for a moment, she saw something flicker in its light:
A tiny hand, reaching.
Not born… not yet.
But alive.
And in that moment, a voice whispered inside her mind:
> "Will you still protect me… when I no longer need you?"
Tears slipped down Liora's cheek.
> "Even if you grow stronger than the stars," she whispered, "I will love you like fire never dies."