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Moonlight filtered through the thick canopy as Seraphina's hunting party cut through the ancient forest west of the capital—The Withered Vale. Trees here whispered. Some even screamed.
Lucien moved ahead, blades drawn, cloaked in a dark charm that made him blend with the shadows. Kael, walking beside Seraphina, was silent but alert—his war instincts sharpening with every step.
"We're close," Lucien muttered, touching the blackened bark of a cursed tree. "This is divine beast territory. It can smell your blood, Empress."
Seraphina nodded. The closer they got, the heavier her chest felt. The seal burned.
It remembered this place.
Her feet halted at a clearing—unnaturally circular, the ground scorched with an ancient crest. As the wind shifted, a deep growl vibrated through the earth.
And then—
It appeared.
The beast was enormous—scaled in black fire, crowned with twin horns, and eyes like molten silver. A memory guardian. A soul warden.
Its roar shattered the silence.
Kael leapt forward to protect her, but Seraphina raised her hand. "No. This is mine."
The beast lunged. Its fire met her magic—light and dark swirling as one. She didn't attack it… she communed with it.
As her power met the beast's, visions flooded her mind.
—A blood-stained hallway.
—Her younger self weeping in front of a sealed gate.
—The Empress… no, her past self… sealing a secret chamber in this forest.
Seraphina gasped.
"I remember…"
Suddenly, the beast stilled. It bowed.
Kael blinked. "It's submitting?"
"No," Lucien corrected. "It's welcoming her back."
The ground beneath the beast cracked open, revealing stairs leading deep underground. Seraphina took a step forward.
"What lies beneath?" Kael asked.
"My past," she whispered. "And maybe… the key to surviving my future."
She descended, light flickering around her. Lucien and Kael followed without hesitation.
And above, the beast let out one long, mournful cry—a warning to the world that the Empress of Eclipse was awakening completely.
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