The bells would not stop.
Their sound traveled through layers of reality, echoing across realms Liuxue had never seen. Even deep within the Lower Veins, buried beneath mountains and forgotten laws, she could hear them.
A warning.
An alarm.
A declaration.
The heavens were afraid.
The realization settled heavily inside her.
For so long, she had believed herself to be the hunted.
The mistake.
The threat.
Now she was beginning to wonder if she had never been the danger at all.
The golden eye remained open in the abyss.
Watching.
Waiting.
The ancient being had said only a few words, yet those words had shaken everything she thought she knew.
You were never one of them.
Liuxue swallowed.
"What am I?"
The question escaped before she could stop it.
The cavern grew quiet.
Even the heartbeat beneath the Veins seemed to slow.
The ancient voice answered carefully.
"A child."
Liuxue blinked.
Yining stared.
The Keeper looked as confused as everyone else.
"A child?" Liuxue repeated.
"Yes."
The answer only created more questions.
The Starborn man stepped forward.
"Do not play games."
The golden eye shifted toward him.
The temperature in the cavern dropped instantly.
For the first time since Liuxue had met him, the Starborn man looked genuinely cautious.
The ancient voice spoke.
"I have existed since before your stars were born."
The statement carried no pride.
Only fact.
"You are young enough to be a passing season."
The Starborn man fell silent.
Liuxue's attention returned to the abyss.
"You said they lied."
"Yes."
"What did they lie about?"
The eye glowed brighter.
"The throne."
A cold feeling spread through her chest.
"What about it?"
The heartbeat beneath the Veins echoed again.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
"It was never yours."
The words struck like lightning.
Liuxue froze.
The Keeper's eyes widened.
Even Yining looked stunned.
The throne had been the center of everything.
The heavens feared her because of it.
The echo wanted her to reclaim it.
Entire civilizations had fallen because of it.
And now this being was saying it had never belonged to her.
"Then why did they place me on it?" Liuxue asked.
The ancient voice remained silent for several moments.
When it finally spoke, sorrow filled every word.
"Because they needed a prison."
The cavern became utterly still.
Liuxue felt her pulse pounding in her ears.
"A prison?"
"Yes."
The eye watched her carefully.
"They could not contain what you were."
The Starborn man looked horrified.
"No."
The single word escaped him before he could stop it.
Liuxue turned sharply.
"You know something."
His jaw tightened.
"I suspected."
"Suspected what?"
He closed his eyes.
For a moment he looked tired.
Not physically tired.
Ancient tired.
The exhaustion of carrying guilt for too long.
"When I found you," he said quietly, "you were already surrounded by contradictions."
Liuxue waited.
"You should not have existed."
The same phrase again.
The same impossible statement.
The Keeper stepped forward.
"Explain."
The Starborn man looked toward the abyss.
Then back to Liuxue.
"There are laws older than the heavens."
The ancient eye remained silent.
Watching.
"There are rules that even divine rulers cannot break."
Liuxue frowned.
"And?"
His voice lowered.
"You broke them simply by being born."
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Liuxue felt as though the world had suddenly become unstable beneath her feet.
"What does that mean?"
The Starborn man hesitated.
The ancient being answered instead.
"It means your birth should have been impossible."
Liuxue's hands trembled.
Memories flashed through her mind.
Not complete memories.
Fragments.
A woman running.
Golden light.
Fear.
Desperation.
A child crying.
The vision vanished.
She pressed a hand against her forehead.
"What was that?"
The eye narrowed slightly.
"The truth attempting to return."
The bells above continued ringing.
Louder now.
Faster.
The heavens were listening.
Liuxue could feel it.
Thousands.
Millions.
Countless eyes turning toward this hidden place beneath reality.
The ancient being spoke again.
"They are afraid I will tell you everything."
"Will you?" Liuxue asked.
The eye blinked slowly.
"No."
Her heart sank.
"Why not?"
"Because you are not ready."
Frustration surged through her.
"I am tired of hearing that."
The golden eye seemed almost amused.
"Readiness is not a punishment."
"It feels like one."
For the first time, a deep rumbling sound emerged from the abyss.
Liuxue realized moments later that it was laughter.
Ancient laughter.
Sad laughter.
The kind carried by someone who had watched civilizations rise and fall.
"You remind me of her."
Liuxue froze.
"Her?"
The eye became distant.
As though looking into a memory older than worlds.
"Your mother."
The word shattered something inside her.
Mother.
No one had ever spoken about her parents.
Not once.
Not in all the revelations.
Not in all the secrets.
She had been so consumed by questions of power and identity that she had forgotten the most basic mystery of all.
Where had she come from?
The tears arrived before she realized they were falling.
The ancient being watched quietly.
"Was she real?" Liuxue whispered.
The question sounded foolish the moment it left her mouth.
Yet it felt important.
Because everything else in her life had been manipulated.
Altered.
Hidden.
The eye softened.
"As real as the first sunrise."
Liuxue closed her eyes.
For some reason that answer hurt.
Perhaps because it sounded beautiful.
Perhaps because it sounded lost.
"What happened to her?"
The cavern fell silent.
Too silent.
The Keeper looked away.
The Starborn man's face darkened.
And for the first time since waking, the ancient being showed anger.
Not rage.
Not violence.
Something colder.
Older.
The fury of a wound that had never healed.
The heartbeat beneath the Veins intensified.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The abyss trembled.
Far above, the bells suddenly stopped.
The silence that followed felt worse.
Much worse.
The ancient voice lowered.
"They killed her."
Liuxue stopped breathing.
The words echoed through her mind.
Again.
Again.
Again.
They killed her.
Not an accident.
Not fate.
Not war.
Murder.
The air around her became unstable.
The seal reacted violently.
Cracks of golden light spread across her skin.
The Keeper immediately stepped forward.
"Control your emotions."
But Liuxue barely heard them.
Something inside her was breaking.
Or perhaps waking.
Her entire life had been built on questions.
Now she finally had an answer.
And it was the cruelest one possible.
The heavens had taken her mother.
The ancient eye watched her carefully.
Not with fear.
Not with concern.
With recognition.
As if this reaction was inevitable.
As if history was beginning to repeat itself.
Then the being spoke one final sentence.
A sentence that changed everything.
"The same people who killed her are coming for you."
A distant crack echoed through the Veins.
The Keeper's face went pale.
The Starborn man immediately summoned starfire.
Yining drew her blade.
Something had entered the Lower Veins.
Something powerful.
Something divine.
And it was getting closer.