The descent into the archives felt like a fall into the marrow of the world itself.
Selene walked alone through the spiral of blackstone steps, her torch casting flickering shadows on the walls. Each rune carved into the stones hummed faintly as if recognizing her blood. The air grew heavier with every step, thick with dust, magic, and the remnants of forgotten prayers.
This place was older than the throne. Older than kingdoms. It had been carved when gods still walked the earth and their whispers etched the first laws into flame and stone.
At the bottom, a door awaited—formed from living obsidian, its surface crawling with crimson sigils that pulsed like veins. The Door of Oaths.
Selene stopped before it, heart pounding. She knew what it demanded.
"Blood," she whispered.
Drawing her mother's dagger, she sliced across her palm. Her blood dripped onto the sigil, and the door trembled, groaning like a beast awakened from slumber. The symbols flared—first red, then white-hot gold—before the door cracked open with a hiss of ancient air.
Beyond it lay a vast hall lined with towering shelves of bone-white stone, scrolls sealed in crystal tubes, tomes bound in dragonhide, and relics floating in stasis fields. This was knowledge forbidden even to kings—the truths buried to keep kingdoms sane.
Selene's torch guttered out as blue flames ignited in sconces along the walls. The archives breathed awake.
A voice drifted from the shadows.
"The last Veyra to enter this place begged for mercy."
Selene froze, her pulse hammering.
From the far end of the hall stepped a figure robed in deep indigo, his face hidden beneath a mask carved from ivory. His presence was not flesh but essence—a guardian bound to this vault.
"You are the Blood-Bearer," the voice said, echoing unnaturally. "Marked by shadow, tempered in flame."
"I came for truth," Selene said, her voice steady despite the cold crawling through her veins.
The masked figure tilted its head. "Truth costs more than lies, little queen. What will you pay?"
Selene stepped forward, fingers tightening around the dagger. "Whatever it takes."
The air shivered. Scrolls unrolled themselves midair, their glyphs glowing like embers. Sigils rearranged on the walls. A circle of fire spiraled around her, binding her in its glow.
"Then speak the question," the guardian said. "The archives only answer once."
Selene's throat was dry, but her voice was iron.
"Malrik took my child," she said. "I was told he was stillborn. I want to know how—and why."
The fire surged. Images formed in the air—her past, fractured and raw. She saw herself years ago, bound in silver chains, pregnant and broken in Malrik's war camp. She heard his voice, whispering in the dark: "A child born of fire and shadow will break the spine of kingdoms."
The scene shifted. She saw the birth—not in the palace, but in the Hollow Flame's sanctum. She saw the midwife trembling under Malrik's blade as he held the newborn aloft, silver eyes gleaming like starlight.
And then came the truth that stole Selene's breath.
The child was not dead.
The child was not merely alive.
He was bound—his soul sealed with Malrik's blood oath, his power tempered with dark glyphs that tethered him to the Hollow Flame.
And worst of all…
The oath could only be broken by the blood of the one who bore him.
Her blood.
Selene stumbled back as the images burned away.
The guardian's voice was colder now. "To free him, you must spill yourself. Not in sacrifice… but in surrender."
"What does that mean?" Selene demanded.
The masked figure leaned closer, the empty eyes of its mask gleaming. "You cannot save him as queen. You cannot save him as flameborn. You must become what the Hollow Flame fears most."
Selene's pulse thundered. "What is that?"
The fire dimmed, and the voice whispered like the crackle of bone in fire.
"A mother who loves enough to burn the world."
The flames died. The hall fell silent.
Selene stood trembling, clutching her dagger as the weight of prophecy crushed her chest. She knew now.
If she wanted her son back…
She would have to destroy everything she had sworn to protect.