"Third Point of view'
The morning came with no sunlight.
Aveline stood at the highest tower, hair whipping in the wind, her hands glowing faintly with the remains of last night's ritual. The castle itself seemed to tremble under her gaze—like even the stones feared what she had become.
She wasn't the same girl who'd arrived here.
Not after the mirror realm.
Not after the truth about Seraphina.
Not after taking control of the curse.
Now the power coiled beneath her skin wasn't just Lucien's.
It was hers.
---
Below, in the Chapel
Lucien knelt before the shattered altar, blood seeping from reopened wounds.
The ritual mark burned across his chest like an iron brand. He couldn't breathe without pain. He couldn't think without seeing Aveline's eyes in the dark.
She took the curse.
He had spent ten years trying to bind it, suppress it, redirect it into anything but the soul of someone good.
And she had reached into the rift, into hell itself, and pulled it into her bare hands.
He hated her for it.
And he wanted her more than he ever had.
"You're not going to pray, are you?" came a familiar voice behind him.
Lucien stiffened.
He turned slowly—and there stood Elias.
The former high inquisitor.
Long thought dead.
His silver robes were caked in dried blood. His mouth smiled, but his eyes were empty.
"I burned your body," Lucien said.
"You burned a decoy," Elias replied, stepping into the chapel. "But I do appreciate the funeral."
Lucien reached for his blade—
Too slow.
Elias vanished and reappeared behind him, pressing two fingers to Lucien's spine.
The world blurred.
Lucien collapsed, choking on blood.
"Still holding on to that demon half," Elias whispered. "I came for her, not you. But I can make room for both."
---
Tower Room – Aveline
She felt the disturbance before she heard it.
A ripple of wrongness in the air.
Like a string had been plucked inside her chest.
She turned from the window—and saw the sigils painted along the walls of her chamber burning red.
"Oh no."
She sprinted for the stairs, heart pounding.
Her power hadn't fully settled yet—every spell she cast risked rupturing her veins—but she didn't care.
Lucien was in danger.
Mine.
The word echoed in her mind like a warning.
And then—
She heard him scream.
---
The Chapel – Seconds Later
Elias held Lucien suspended midair, skin cracking with black fire.
"I should thank you, you know," Elias said as he etched runes into Lucien's chest with a blade of bone. "You fed the curse. Nurtured it. Gave it the perfect host."
Lucien could barely speak, but he forced out, "She… she'll kill you."
Elias chuckled. "She'll thank me. She was born for this. The Church feared her for a reason."
The chapel doors exploded.
Aveline stormed in, white fire swirling around her like a storm.
Her eyes glowed with inhuman light.
"Let. Him. Go."
Elias turned, genuinely surprised. "You're faster than I expected."
"I'm stronger than you remember."
She hurled a wave of fire—but Elias caught it in his bare hand and devoured it.
"Oh, darling," he purred. "You don't even know what you are."
Aveline lunged.
Steel met bone. Magic clashed with shadow. The ground cracked under their fury.
Lucien fell to the ground, barely conscious, watching as she fought for him.
Not because he deserved it.
But because some part of her still remembered the man beneath the monster.
Even now.
Even after everything.
But Elias wasn't just a sorcerer.
He was the Church's butcher.
And Aveline's fire couldn't stop what came next.
---
Flashback – The Temple's Secret
Ten years ago.
A child with flaming hair screamed in chains while robed priests circled her, chanting words that tore holes in the air.
She wasn't crying.
She was burning.
The flames didn't hurt her.
They obeyed her.
Until Elias whispered into her ear:
"You are not real. You are not wanted. Your mother was a witch. Your father was a demon."
And then the fire turned inward.
Her power was buried.
Locked in the mirror realm.
Until now.
---
Back to Present – The Chapel
Aveline gritted her teeth.
Elias drove a spike of shadow through her side and lifted her into the air.
"You were always too soft," he said. "Even now, protecting him."
"I'm not—protecting—him."
She snarled—and yanked the spike into her own chest.
The power inside her howled.
And then erupted.
The chapel went white.
Lucien screamed as the force knocked him backward.
When the light faded—
Elias was gone.
Only ash remained.
Aveline dropped to one knee, blood pouring from her side.
Lucien crawled to her. "Aveline—gods—what did you—?"
"I didn't kill him," she whispered, clutching her wound.
"I absorbed him."
Lucien froze.
"You what?"
"I took his power. His memories." She raised her eyes, and they weren't entirely hers anymore. "I saw what they're planning."
Lucien swallowed. "Who?"
Aveline's voice dropped to a tremble.
"The Church. The Crown. The Inquisitors. They want to resurrect the Old Flame."
He blinked. "That's a myth."
"No," she said. "It's me."
---
Later – Secret Chamber Beneath the Castle
Aveline stood before a stone basin filled with liquid silver.
Lucien watched as she traced sigils into the air.
"You should rest," he said quietly. "You're still bleeding."
She didn't answer.
Her reflection shimmered.
And for a second, she didn't see herself.
She saw a throne of ash.
Corpses kneeling before her.
Lucien stepped forward. "You're not her. You're not the monster they tried to make."
Aveline didn't look at him.
"I'm not sure anymore."
"Aveline—"
"I need to know what's coming."
She dipped her fingers into the silver basin.
And screamed.
Flashes. Fire. Screams.
A city burning.
Children with eyes like hers, chained in a pit.
Elias—alive again.
Laughing as a new gate to the rift opened.
And through it—
Aveline.
Older.
Crueler.
Crowned in flame.
Leading an army of the damned.
Lucien caught her before she collapsed.
She gasped, "They're going to use me. Not just to break curses—but to conquer."
"And what will you do?" he asked softly.
She looked at him with eyes filled with fire and sorrow.
"I'll burn every one of them first."
---
Final Scene – Elsewhere, Far Away
A priestess knelt before a council of veiled judges.
"She has awakened," she whispered. "She has taken the curse and killed the mirror-witch. The prophecy begins."
The tallest figure leaned forward.
"Then summon the Harbinger."
"Yes, High Flame."
"And prepare the cage."
"For the girl?" the priestess asked.
"No," the voice rasped. "For the world she'll destroy."