Lestel Umbraxis's bound did not speak immediately, his silhouette remaining motionless as his attention shifted upward, beyond the assembly, toward the open sky above the hall.
The convergence chamber had no roof by design, a feature reserved only for these moments. Directly above the infant in the cocoon sky, suspended impossibly in the firmament, loomed a massive cocoon of absolute black. The cocoon pulsed once, slowly, in perfect resonance with the hollow black child below, as though acknowledging lineage.
A murmur threatened to rise among the assembled, yet died instantly as bearers reacted, pressing downward in enforced silence. At last, Lestel Umbraxis lowered his gaze, the weight of eras pressing through his presence, and gestured once more for his bound to speak.
"I, Lestel Umbraxis, stand as proof and witness," the bound declared, voice carrying undeniable finality, "with clear declaration of the lineage cocoon that responds to this hollow black child."
"This cocoon affirms blood, fate, and archetype, marking the bearer as the legitimate manifestation of the First Black," the pronouncement continued without pause.
"He is the son of Vil– Berstel Un Eidolon, The Black Sovereign" the bound concluded.
As Lestel Umbraxis's bound completed the declaration, stating clearly that the child was the son of Berstel Un Eidolon, the Black Sovereign himself, the convergence hall accepted the words with an eerie smoothness that bordered on unnatural calm.
There was no intake of breath from the High Silhouette Lords, no sharp shifts of posture among the Veil Lords, no tightening of hands or instinctive suprise from the Dusk Marshals one should have after hearing such statement.
The announcement should have torn through the assembly like a blade, for it rewrote lineage, succession, and the very structure of legitimacy of lineage within the Nocthe Kingdom. Instead, the hall remained composed, bearers steady, bounds neutral, as though what was spoken was the truth and it always had been that way.
Even Regent Vilad Eidolon, who moments earlier had presented the child as his own without hesitation, showed no flicker of surprise, confusion, or contradiction within either shadow or his bound.
His posture remained disciplined and kneeled, his shadow unmoved, his bound's expression perfectly aligned with expected decorum, as though nothing in the declaration had altered his understanding of reality.
This absence of reaction should have been impossible, and yet it unfolded flawlessly, leaving no single person within the hall visibly disturbed by the revelation.
Only one presence betrayed any dissonance at all, and even that disturbance remained locked entirely behind composure and silence.
The Queen sat rigid beneath the Black Sovereign's dais, her bearer's silhouette holding position while her bound's hands trembled almost imperceptibly against the fabric of her gown. Her gaze flicked across the convergence hall in brief, searching movements, as though attempting to confirm what was happening.
Within her mind, a storm of sound surged without shape, overlapping impressions, fragments of memory, and half formed realizations colliding without resolution.
She did not voice confusion, nor did she question the declaration, yet something deep within her resisted the smoothness of the moment and She was taking all and any movements from the surrounding and herself.
Still, the Queen remained seated, as etiquette demanded, her shadow obeying structure even as her thoughts struggled internally, but from a completely situation.
Regent Vilad Eidolon's bound still kneeling behind the bearer, responding to the declaration with measured humility, his voice steady and respectful as protocol required.
"I, Regent Vilad Eidolon, thank His Lordship, the Black Sovereign, for allowing me the honor of holding the First Black," the bound spoke clearly.
"I am honored to stand as the uncle of the First Child," he concluded, the words carrying no hesitation, no contradiction, no sense of internal correction.
The statement passed through the hall without resistance, accepted by all present as entirely consistent with what had already been understood.
The Black Sovereign remained seated upon his throne, his silhouette vast and unmoving, absorbing the moment as though confirming an outcome long anticipated. Within the silence that followed, his attention shifted briefly toward Lestel Umbraxis, whose ancient silhouette remained heavy with unspoken authority.
Then the Black Sovereign's focus turned toward Regent Vilad Eidolon, his brother. When the Sovereign's bound spoke, his tone carried neither triumph nor ceremony, only certainty stripped of his mouth.
"It does not matter," the bound said simply, translating the sovereign's intent without elaboration.
The words settled across the convergence hall with peculiar finality, dismissing lineage debates, protocol expectations, and political implications in a single, unadorned statement. Without rising from his throne, without requesting permission or acknowledgment, the Black Sovereign extended his shadow forward.
The silhouette stretched across the space between dais and floor, moving with impossible smoothness, unhindered by distance or obstruction. Regent Vilad did not resist, nor did his boud, as the Sovereign's darkness enveloped the hollow black infant within his arms.
The child was lifted effortlessly from Vilad's grasp, floating upward as though gravity itself deferred to higher authority. No gasp followed the act, no murmured reaction rippled through the assembly, no instinctive alarm surfaced among those trained to sense danger.
The infant drifted toward the throne.
Then the Black Sovereign stood.
The movement alone reshaped the space, shadows across the hall deepening, Light angles shifting subtly as though the building itself adjusted in deference. He held the child securely now, the hollow black form fitting naturally against his greater silhouette, as though returning to its proper place.
Rising to his full height, the Sovereign faced the assembly, his presence eclipsing even the ancient authority of Lestel Umbraxis for a fleeting moment.
"My child, Kael Eidolon," his bound declared, voice resonant and unchallenged, "will be the one to bring the calamity of the sky cocoons down."
The declaration was not a prophecy, but inevitability stated as fact.
Above the convergence hall, the black cocoon pulsed once more, its response slow and deliberate, but it moved directly above the Black Sovereign, following the hollow black in his hands.
At a single, precise gesture from the Black Sovereign, the convergence hall responded in perfect unison.
--
A/N: So, the events seems to have shifted. with Kael Eidolon being declared as the son of the Black Sovereign. When the legitimate father is the Regent Vilad.
100 Power stones = 1 Extra Chapter.