Chapter 4: A Mother's Sacrifice
Kael's POV
The roaring gets louder, and the whole mountain shakes. Dust falls from the ceiling like gray snow. Mom pushes me behind her, her hands already glowing with that golden light she uses for protection.
"Lorian, get him to the safe room!" she shouts over the noise.
But I don't want to go. The Echo Core is screaming in my chest—not in fear, but in recognition. It knows what's coming. Memories flash through my mind faster than I can understand them—jagged teeth, shadowy forms, the smell of ozone and blood.
The chamber door explodes inward.
It's bigger than our whole sleeping room, all jagged crystal and swirling darkness. Where it steps, the stone turns black and crumbles. This is the Throne Beast, and it's here because I made the corruption call for help.
Its head turns toward the contained corruption on the wall. The seven sigils I helped make flare brighter, trying to hold against its presence. The Beast makes a sound like grinding rocks and takes a step toward the wall.
"Stay behind me, Kael!" Mom's voice is tight, but her hands are steady. She's drawing sigils in the air so fast they look like solid gold shields.
The Beast swipes at her with a claw made of broken crystal. Mom's shield holds, but I feel the impact through the floor. She's strong, so strong, but I can see the strain in her shoulders. She's still tired from helping me with the containment sigils.
Lorian tries to help, throwing bolts of blue energy from his crystals, but they just bounce off the Beast's hide. It's not working. Nothing's working.
The Beast takes another step toward the contained corruption. If it breaks those sigils, the sickness will spread everywhere. Our water, our air, everything will be poisoned.
I have to do something.
The Echo Core shows me memories of fighting, ancestors with swords of light, warriors in shining armor. But I'm just a kid. I can't do any of that.
Then I feel it, a different kind of memory. Darker. Hotter. The Core shows me a man with eyes like burning coal, who tore down mountains with his bare hands. The Demon Sovereign. My father.
Elenya's POV
He's tapping into the Ruin bloodline.
I see it the moment it happens, Kael's silver eyes flash with crimson light. The air around him grows heavy, charged with power that feels nothing like the clean throne-energy of our line.
"Kael, no!" I scream, but it's too late.
Black and red energy erupts from my son, a wave of pure destruction that slams into the Throne Beast. The creature stumbles back, roaring in surprise and pain. Where the energy touches it, crystals shatter and darkness unravels.
For one terrifying, hopeful moment, I think it might be enough.
Then I see Kael's face. He's not my son anymore,he's someone else, something else. There's a cruel smile on his lips, and his eyes burn with pleasure at the destruction he's causing. This is the corruption we've feared, the demonic heritage made manifest.
The Beast recovers, angrier now. It ignores me completely, turning all its attention to Kael. To the source of the power that hurt it.
I have seconds to choose. Let the Beast take my son, or use the one technique that can save him but will cost me everything.
The Sacred Sealing. The last resort of the Astral Sovereigns,using one's own life force as the ultimate purification.
Kael's POV
The power feels amazing. It's like drinking cold water when you're really thirsty. The Beast hurt Mom, and now I'm hurting it back. I want to hurt it more. I want to break it into pieces so small they can never come back together.
"More," I whisper, and the dark power answers, swelling inside me.
But then I see Mom's face. She's not looking at the Beast anymore. She's looking at me, and she's crying. Why is she crying? We're winning.
She says something to Lorian "Get him out of here, no matter what" and then she turns toward the Beast.
That's when I feel it. Not the dark power anymore, but something brighter. Purer. Mom's glowing like she's turning into light itself. The whole chamber fills with gold so bright it hurts to look at.
"By my blood and my throne," Mom says, and her voice echoes like there are a thousand of her speaking at once. "I seal this darkness. Let my life be the lock, and my love be the key."
The light wraps around the Beast, squeezing, compressing. The creature screams, a terrible, fading sound as the light forces it down, down into the stone floor until there's nothing left but a faint shimmer where it used to be.
Then the light winks out.
Mom collapses.
Elenya's POV
It's done. The Beast is sealed, and my son is safe. The cost... the cost doesn't matter now.
I can feel my life fading, my Sovereign Core shattered beyond repair. But I have time. Just enough.
"Kael." My voice is barely a whisper, but he hears me. He's at my side in an instant, his small hands trying to find a way to help, to fix what can't be fixed.
The demonic energy is gone from his eyes, replaced by terrified silver. Good. That's my boy.
"Take this," I press my signet ring into his hand, the seal of the Astral Sovereigns. "Find the Echo Guardians. They'll help you... build what I couldn't."
He's crying now, real tears, not the strange ones from the Echo memories. "Don't go, Mom. Please."
Oh, my brave, beautiful boy. I want to stay. I want to watch him grow, to teach him everything, to see the Architect he becomes.
"I love you, Kael," I whisper, my vision fading at the edges. "Remember... you are more than your blood. You are... my son."
The last thing I see is his face, his silver eyes wide with loss, his small hand clutching my ring like it's the only real thing left in the world.
Then darkness.
Kael's POV
She's gone.
The light inside her, the one that was always there, warm and steady is gone. The chamber feels cold now, and quiet. Too quiet.
Lorian is pulling me away, his old hands surprisingly strong. "We must go, young prince. The sealing will have drawn attention."
I don't care about attention. I don't care about anything.
The Echo Core is silent for the first time I can remember. No memories, no whispers, no hum. Just empty.
Then I feel it a new awareness, cold and sharp. The Core shows me not memories, but now. Other things moving in the mountain. Other Beasts, drawn by Mom's sacrifice like moths to a flame.
They're coming.
And I'm alone.
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What's Next:
Kael is alone in the mountain with Lorian, hunted by Throne Beasts drawn to the power of his mother's sacrifice. He'll have to learn to survive on his own, but the demonic bloodline he tapped into isn't done with him yet.
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