POV: KaeliraLocation: Hall of Embers — Core Flame Chamber
The fire was wrong.
Kaelira stood at the center of her chamber, her bare feet pressed to molten stone, her breath steady—but her eyes glowing with unease.
For days, the flame that represented him had burned steady. Cold, quiet, tightly wound like a star just before collapse.
But now… it pulsed.
Irregular.Heavy.Wounded.
Her gaze narrowed.
Ren didn't bleed easily—not in body, not in spirit. Whatever it was… this wasn't physical.
This was inside him.
A shift.A fracture.
And she didn't like it.
Selphirhe appeared in the mirrored arch across the chamber, wrapped in threads of time that shimmered like falling dust.
"You feel it too," she murmured.
Kaelira didn't answer immediately.
Then:"Yes."
Nyxara appeared next—her eyes unreadable, her illusion trailing ink behind her steps.
"It's not pain," she said. "It's deeper. Older."
"Someone touched him," Virelya whispered from the vines above, voice trembling slightly. "Someone from before us."
Kaelira clenched her fists.
Her flames roared higher, as if mirroring her heart.
"No one is allowed to leave a scar in him but us."
But none of them spoke aloud the name forming in their minds.
Astraea.
Luneth said it first.
From the shadows of the central lens, her voice sharp as a truthblade:
"She's returned."
And no one—not even Kaelira—could deny the heat of jealousy…the burn of fear.
Because whoever she was,Ren had let her too close.
POV: RenLocation: My Home — Surface World
The house was quiet.
Exactly as I'd left it.
The faint hum of electricity in the walls. The subtle scent of rain-soaked leaves outside the window. Even time seemed to move slower within these walls. Or maybe it simply obeyed me more here.
I sat at the dining table, tea in hand, uniform pressed and ready for the day. The morning light filtered in through the curtains, touching the documents beside me—the ones that finalized the lie I'd written into the world.
Across the room, Astraea moved like she belonged.
She padded barefoot through the hallway in soft gray shorts and an oversized black hoodie, her silver hair tied back in a loose braid. Casual. Soft. Disarming.
But nothing about her had ever been safe.
She was performing now—pretending, adjusting. Learning the shape of her role.
A sister.
That was what the world would see.
That was the mask she'd wear.
She sat on the couch and stretched lazily. "Mm. All these lies. You've gotten better at them."
I didn't respond. There was nothing to say. Lies were a language I had mastered long before she ever left.
She stood and walked toward me, her steps unhurried. I didn't look up until she was beside me, crouched down, close enough to smell the citrus in her hair.
"You've drawn the lines carefully," she murmured, "But tell me..."
She placed a single finger on my collarbone.
"Are you going to satisfy all the conditions of this lie?"
I met her gaze.
No hesitation.No emotion.
"Yes. I will."
Her eyes searched mine, waiting for something more. A crack. A flicker. But there was nothing for her to find.
She didn't smile.Didn't press further.
She simply nodded—like someone accepting a verdict they never wanted to hear.
That night, she moved through the house as if she'd lived here her entire life. She opened drawers without asking. Used my towel instead of her own. Laughed quietly to herself when she found the cupboard where I kept the same tea she used to drink.
She didn't ask permission.
She didn't need to.
Her presence filled every quiet space in the walls.
I watched from the security feed as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror, tying it into a neat ponytail. Her face was neutral, but her lips moved as she spoke softly to her reflection.
I couldn't hear the words.
But I didn't need to.
The Next Morning
Location: Harunaka High School
The gate creaked open with familiar sound. My steps were slow, calm. One earbud in. Books tucked in the crook of my arm. Expression gentle.
The persona: intact.
Airi stood near the bike racks, hands in her blazer pockets. She looked at me the way she always did—bright, eager, possessive.
"Ren!" she called, voice light and sweet.
But before I could respond—
"Ani-san!"
Her voice sliced through the air like a blade through silk.
Astraea's tone was perfectly cheerful, just loud enough to draw the full attention of the courtyard. She rushed up beside me, waving with the kind of familiarity only siblings could get away with.
All around us, heads turned. Whispers began. Stares landed.
A calculated entrance.
"I'm Astraea," she said, giving a practiced bow. "Ren's sister."
She delivered it flawlessly.
And the lie held.
On the surface.
But I was already watching the ones who mattered.
Airi's smile didn't disappear—but her hands curled slightly at her sides. Her eyes didn't blink. The spark behind them flickered.
Suspicion.
Minako stood on the second-floor balcony, frozen mid-step. Her hand gripped the railing. Her eyes locked onto Astraea—then shifted to me.
She didn't smile.
She didn't even blink.
She just stared.
Analysis.
Two minds already parsing the story.Two hearts already doubting the narrative I'd prepared.
Astraea, of course, made it look easy. She smiled at Airi with soft politeness. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"You never mentioned a sister," Airi said, too calmly.
"She wasn't staying with me until now," I said. "It was a last-minute change."
"Mm." Airi's smile faltered. "Strange. You never talk about your family at all."
Astraea chimed in with a soft laugh. "Ren's always been reserved. It's part of his charm, isn't it?"
Minako reached us just in time to hear that. Her voice was low, amused in the wrong way.
"She doesn't look much like you."
"We're not related by blood," Astraea replied easily. "But I've known Ren for a long time."
Minako's eyes narrowed.She caught it.
The layers in that phrase. The truth veiled as familiarity.
I said nothing.
Because I didn't need to.
Let them believe whatever they needed to believe. Let the mask do its work.
But as Astraea and I walked inside—side by side, sister and brother to the world—she leaned in just slightly.
Only loud enough for me to hear.
"Tell me, Ren… is this still control?"
I didn't answer.
But for the first time in a long time…
I wasn't sure anymore.