The Thorn Court prepared for war.
Messengers flew by night through the veiled skies, slipping between realms like whispers on wind. Word spread that the Hollow Queen had crossed the boundary—no longer content to rule shadows. Now, she marched for dominion.
And Serelith, blood of Liora, stood in the center of it all.
Not a girl.
Not yet a queen.
But something new.
Something forming.
---
In the war chambers of the Thorn Court, maps were unfurled, ancient markers glowing in eerie hues. Serelith stood over them, eyes distant as the Codex whispered names and paths long erased from mortal memory.
> "There's a passage through the Deeping Mire," she murmured. "One only Liora ever used."
Faelan frowned. "That mire's cursed. Even gods don't tread there."
> "That's why it will work."
They were alone in the chamber, lit only by the violet glow of witchlights. Faelan watched her—not just with admiration, but something warmer, deeper.
> "You're changing," he said softly.
Serelith turned to him. "I'm becoming what the world tried to kill."
There was silence between them, thick with things unsaid.
> "And what am I to you in this becoming?" he asked.
She stepped closer, her eyes uncertain for the first time in days.
> "You're the one thing I never had to survive."
And then, without hesitation, she reached for him.
Their lips met like the edge of dawn against darkness—gentle, then deep, then real. There was no firestorm, no divine intervention.
Just warmth.
Just them.
---
Outside the chamber, Aelric watched—hidden in shadow.
Jealousy and regret warred inside him, but he turned away.
He had made his choice.
And Serelith had chosen hers.
---
In the dungeons beneath the court, the Codex revealed a deeper truth to Serelith that night.
The gods were stirring.
But not waking.
They were being summoned.
Someone, or something, was calling them—pulling them into the world of flesh again.
> "The Hollow Queen can't do that alone," Serelith whispered.
Faelan's brow furrowed. "Then who is helping her?"
> "I don't know," she said. "But if the gods walk again… then not even the Codex may be enough."
---
Elsewhere, at the edge of the World Scar, the Hollow Queen stood atop a mountain of broken altars.
She raised her hands to a sky laced with ash.
> "Return to me," she said. "Come forth, children of the old flame. The age of veils is done."
And deep below the world, in black seas and forgotten tombs, they stirred.
Eyes opening.
Hearts awakening.
Hunger blooming.
---
The final war would not be mortals against queens.
It would be memory against myth.
And Serelith was caught between them.