They did not touch her skin.
Even as the square dissolved into chaos and spells collided in violent arcs of white and black, the Luminary guards never laid bare hands on Aeris Vale.
They used bindings instead.
Threads of concentrated Light shot from the High Council's joined palms, weaving together midair into luminous chains. They wrapped around her wrists first — not burning, not warm — but impossibly heavy. Ancient magic. Binding magic.
The kind used on war criminals.
The kind used on Noctari.
The crowd watched in horror as the High Justicar's daughter was shackled like a shadow-born.
Aeris did not resist.
Not because she couldn't.
But because she didn't understand what would happen if she did.
The shadow inside her pulsed softly, coiled around her ribs like a second heartbeat.
Break them, it whispered.
She swallowed.
"No."
Her voice came out barely audible.
Her father stood only a few feet away.
He did not look at her.
That hurt more than the chains.
"By decree of the High Council," the High Archon's voice rang across the fractured square, "Aeris Vale is hereby placed under sacred containment until the corruption within her is cleansed."
Corruption.
The word fell like a blade.
"I am not corrupted," Aeris said.
Her gold and black eyes lifted slowly.
Light flared instinctively around her, pushing back against the chains.
At the same time—
Shadow tightened.
The chains flickered.
The High Council flinched.
"You see?" one elder hissed. "It resists purification."
"I'm not resisting," she snapped. "You're forcing me!"
The Blessing Flame behind her still burned in two halves.
White.
Black.
Perfectly divided.
The symbol above the platform remained fractured — sun intertwined with crescent.
A sign that could not be undone.
From the edge of the square, the Noctari leader — Kael — stood still as a blade.
He had not fled when the fighting broke out.
He had not attacked.
He had watched.
His gaze never left her.
Aeris felt it.
It unsettled her more than the chains.
He did not look afraid.
He looked certain.
White guards surged forward and surrounded the black-cloaked intruders. Spells clashed briefly before the Noctari retreated into the narrowing alleys like living smoke.
Except Kael.
He remained.
And when two Luminary captains approached him with drawn blades—
He lifted his hands willingly.
Gasps rippled again.
"He surrenders?" someone whispered.
Kael's eyes flicked once more to Aeris.
And then he allowed himself to be bound.
They placed her in the lowest chamber of the High Temple.
The White Cell.
It was not a dungeon.
It was worse.
The walls were carved entirely from luminar stone — pale crystal infused with concentrated purification magic. The air hummed with it. Soft. Relentless.
The chamber glowed faintly.
There were no shadows here.
At least, there were not supposed to be.
The Light chains were replaced with engraved cuffs fixed into the floor, forming a circular seal around her.
Aeris knelt in the center.
Alone.
Her breathing echoed.
The door sealed with a heavy, resonant boom.
Silence followed.
For the first time since the ceremony—
There was no crowd.
No council.
No parents.
No war.
Just her.
And the two forces inside her.
The light felt restless. Agitated.
The shadow felt awake.
"You are very calm for someone imprisoned by her own people."
The voice was clearer now.
Not a murmur.
Not distant.
It sounded almost… amused.
Aeris squeezed her eyes shut.
"I am not speaking to myself."
"No," the voice replied softly. "You are speaking to me."
Her pulse spiked.
The luminar stone brightened in response, reacting to her rising emotion.
"I am not corrupted," she whispered fiercely.
"You are not."
"Then what am I?"
A pause.
Then—
"Unbalanced worlds always create balance eventually."
She inhaled sharply.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The cuffs around her wrists warmed as the purification magic activated, sensing shadow activity.
Pain flared — sharp and electric.
Aeris gasped.
The light within her surged defensively, trying to protect her from the shadow.
The shadow recoiled instinctively from the light.
The two forces collided violently inside her chest.
She screamed.
The White Cell responded.
Runes ignited across the walls, forcing waves of purification energy into her body.
Her back arched as white magic tried to burn the shadow away.
"Stop—!" she cried.
The shadow did not scream.
It endured.
And something terrifying dawned on her.
The pain wasn't because the shadow was evil.
It was because the prison was trying to tear her in half.
Footsteps approached outside the chamber.
The door opened.
High Justicar Alaric Vale entered alone.
The runes dimmed slightly.
Aeris looked up.
For a moment—
She was just a daughter again.
"Father."
His face was unreadable.
"You must release it."
"I can't."
"You must try."
"It's not something I'm holding!"
The shadow flickered faintly across the floor beneath her — a thin ripple.
Alaric's jaw tightened.
"The Council believes this is Noctari interference."
"It isn't."
"They believe you were marked before tonight."
"I wasn't!"
Silence stretched between them.
He stepped closer but did not cross into the seal.
"Do you feel controlled?" he asked quietly.
"No."
"Do you hear voices?"
Aeris hesitated.
If she said yes—
They would never let her out.
"I hear… myself," she answered carefully.
It wasn't entirely a lie.
He studied her.
"You are my daughter."
Her throat tightened.
"Yes."
"And I will not allow you to be executed."
Her blood ran cold.
"Executed?"
"If the Council decides you are beyond purification, they will not risk contamination."
The word again.
Contamination.
"I didn't ask for this," she whispered.
"No one ever asks for power," he replied.
His gaze shifted to her eyes — one gold, one black.
"Rest. Control it. Prove them wrong."
"And if I can't?"
His silence answered.
He turned and left.
The door sealed once more.
The light intensified.
The shadow deepened.
And for the first time—
Aeris felt anger.
Not fear.
Anger.
"They would kill you to protect their illusion," the shadow voice said.
"They think they're protecting the world."
"They are protecting control."
The luminar stone flickered.
Something moved in the far corner of the cell.
Aeris turned sharply.
Impossible.
There were no shadows here.
And yet—
A thin strip of darkness clung to the wall like spilled ink.
It did not vanish under the glow.
It thickened.
Then it peeled away from the surface.
Forming the faint outline of a figure.
Tall.
Still.
Watching.
Her heart slammed.
"Who are you?"
The figure did not answer with words.
It tilted its head slightly.
And then—
It dissolved.
Footsteps echoed again outside.
Different this time.
Measured.
Confident.
The door opened.
Two guards stepped in first.
Behind them—
Kael Morvane.
Still bound in light chains.
Yet somehow—
Composed.
The guards secured him in a mirrored seal across the chamber from her.
The door shut.
They were alone.
For a long moment—
They simply stared at each other.
Up close, he looked younger than she expected.
But his eyes held something ancient.
"You allowed yourself to be captured," she said first.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because," he replied calmly, "I wanted to see the impossible up close."
Her jaw tightened.
"I am not your prophecy."
His gaze sharpened.
"No," he said softly.
"You are worse."
Silence.
The light hummed.
The shadow shifted closer to him instinctively.
The luminar stone flickered nervously.
"You're not afraid," she said.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because your power did not devour the light."
His eyes moved to the fractured sigil etched faintly into her skin now — half sun, half crescent.
"It balanced it."
Aeris's pulse slowed.
"That shouldn't be possible."
"Many things shouldn't be possible," he replied.
Outside the cell, distant voices argued.
The Council.
Deciding her fate.
Kael leaned slightly forward despite his restraints.
"They will try to separate it from you," he said quietly.
"They will fail."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because if they succeed…"
His eyes darkened.
"You die."
The words hit harder than she expected.
Her breathing faltered.
"Then help me understand," she demanded.
"What am I?"
For the first time—
Kael hesitated.
Then he said:
"You are what both sides tried to erase three hundred years ago."
The light flickered violently.
The shadow coiled tighter.
And far above the temple—
The divided Blessing Flame burned brighter.
As if waiting.