Lyria's POV
"Don't go in there!"
Kael's shout came too late. My feet were already moving toward the hidden passage, pulled by the sound of my own voice singing from the darkness. I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to.
The singing was beautiful—hauntingly sad, filled with longing and pain. Every note felt like a piece of my soul calling out to be made whole again.
Kael grabbed my arm, spinning me around. His silver eyes were wide with something I'd never seen in them before: fear.
"Lyria, listen to me." His grip tightened. "That's not your voice. It's a trap."
I shook my head and pointed frantically at the passage. That WAS my voice! I could feel it in my bones, in the empty space where my voice should be. It was mine!
"It's an echo," Kael insisted. "A fragment of memory trapped in this realm. If you go in there without knowing how to protect yourself, it could kill you."
I yanked my arm free and glared at him. He didn't understand. He had his voice. He could speak whenever he wanted. But me? I'd been silent for so long I couldn't remember what my own voice sounded like. And now it was right there, just beyond that dark passage, calling to me.
I was going in whether he liked it or not.
I turned back to the passage and took a step forward.
"Fine." Kael moved in front of me, blocking my path. "But I'm going first. If something attacks you, I can actually fight it."
He had a point. I nodded reluctantly.
Kael created a ball of silver light in his palm—it floated above us like a small moon, pushing back the darkness. Together, we entered the hidden passage.
The walls were rough stone, damp and cold. Water dripped somewhere in the distance. But the strangest thing was the sound—or lack of it. Our footsteps made no noise. My breathing was silent. Even the water dripping made no sound.
"We're in the deepest part of the Silent Realm now," Kael explained quietly. His voice was the only thing I could hear. "This is where I keep things I want to stay hidden. Things even other gods can't find." He glanced at me. "I didn't know this passage existed. You must have created it before you fell."
Before I fell. Before my sister betrayed me. Before everything was taken away.
The singing grew louder as we walked deeper. My heart pounded faster with each step. We turned a corner, and the passage opened into a small round chamber.
In the center sat a chest.
It was made of dark wood, covered in a thick layer of dust. Strange symbols were carved into its surface—they glowed faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat. And the singing was coming from inside it.
"A sealed chest," Kael breathed. "Lyria, this is powerful magic. Divine-level sealing. Only you could open this."
I approached the chest slowly. My hands trembled as I reached for the lock. It was old and rusted, but when my fingers touched it, the metal grew warm.
The singing stopped abruptly.
The sudden silence was worse than any sound. My ears rang with the absence of it.
"Lyria, wait—" Kael started.
Too late. The lock clicked open on its own.
I lifted the lid, and golden light exploded outward. I stumbled backward, shielding my eyes. When the light faded, I looked inside the chest.
Two objects lay there, both glowing softly.
The first was a mirror. Old and dusty, with an ornate silver frame covered in more of those strange symbols. I picked it up carefully, wiping away the dust with my thumb.
The second object was a journal. Leather-bound and thick, with my name embossed on the cover. I lifted it out with shaking hands and opened to the first page.
In handwriting I recognized as my own, I'd written:
"To remember who I was before they made me forget."
My throat tightened. Past-me had known this would happen. She'd known Selene would steal her memories. So she'd left herself clues.
I flipped to the next page, desperate to read more.
It was blank.
I flipped again. Blank. Every single page was empty except for that first line.
No! This couldn't be happening! I needed answers! I needed to know what I'd hidden, what Selene was afraid of, how to get my voice back!
Frustrated tears burned my eyes. I almost threw the journal, but Kael caught my wrist.
"Wait. Look at the mirror."
I glanced down at the mirror in my other hand. At first, I just saw my own reflection—messy hair, tear-stained face, desperate eyes. But then the reflection started to change.
The girl in the mirror smiled, even though I wasn't smiling. Her hair turned golden and began to float around her face like she was underwater. Her torn dress transformed into beautiful robes that glowed with soft light.
And her throat—oh gods, her throat was glowing. Pure golden light poured from where her voice should be, so bright it made everything else look dim.
"That's you," Kael whispered in awe. "That's who you really are."
I stared at the goddess in the mirror. She was beautiful and powerful and everything I wasn't. She opened her mouth, and even though the mirror made no sound, I could somehow hear her voice in my head:
"Don't trust the silence, sister. Don't trust the song. Trust only what burns."
The mirror went dark. The reflection disappeared. I was staring at my own normal face again, pale and frightened.
"What does that mean?" Kael asked. "Don't trust the silence? Don't trust the song?"
I shook my head. I had no idea.
But then the journal in my other hand grew warm. I looked down and gasped.
Words were appearing on the blank pages. Not written—they were burning themselves into the paper, glowing like embers. Line by line, the truth revealed itself:
"I discovered what they're doing. The Supreme Council. Selene. All of them."
"They're harvesting mortal souls to feed their immortality. Thousands of souls. Maybe millions."
"I tried to tell the other gods. They called me a liar. Selene played her part perfectly—the concerned sister worried about my 'delusions.'"
"She's planning to steal my voice. I heard her talking to Theron. They're going to do it at the Moon Ceremony."
"So I'm hiding the evidence. The one thing that can prove everything."
"I'm hiding it in—"
The words stopped. The rest of the page stayed blank.
"No, no, no!" I wanted to scream. Where? Where did I hide it?
I shook the journal. I flipped through every page. But nothing else appeared.
Kael leaned over my shoulder, reading. His face had gone very pale. "Soul harvesting," he said quietly. "If that's true, if the Supreme Council has been killing mortals to sustain themselves... Lyria, that's the kind of secret gods would kill to protect."
I looked up at him, and he met my eyes.
"Your sister didn't just want you silenced," he continued. "She wanted you erased. Because if you ever remembered where you hid that evidence—"
A sound echoed through the passage behind us. Not footsteps. Something worse.
Wings. Massive wings beating the air.
Kael's entire body went rigid. "No. It's impossible. Nothing can enter my realm without my permission."
The sound grew louder. Closer.
Then a voice—cold and beautiful and utterly cruel—rang through the passage:
"Hello, little sister. Did you really think you could hide from me in the realm of a fallen god?"
I knew that voice. I'd heard it in my memories, in my nightmares.
Selene had found me.
Kael shoved me behind him, shadows gathering around his hands. "How did you get in here?"
Selene's laugh echoed off the stone walls. "Oh, Kael. Sweet, predictable Kael. You really thought I didn't know about your little hideaway? I've known about the Silent Realm for centuries. I just never had a reason to break in before."
Her shadow appeared at the entrance to the chamber—tall and elegant and radiating power. Even as a silhouette, she was terrifying.
"Now," Selene said, and I could hear the smile in her voice, "give me back my worthless sister, and I might let you live."
Kael's hands blazed with silver light. "You'll have to kill me first."
"That can be arranged."
The shadows around Selene exploded outward. The entire chamber shook. Pieces of stone fell from the ceiling.
Kael grabbed my hand. "When I say run, you run. Don't look back. Don't stop. Find Nyx and tell her to seal the realm."
I shook my head frantically. I wasn't leaving him!
"LYRIA!" He turned and gripped my shoulders. His silver eyes burned into mine. "You're the only one who can stop her. You're the only one who knows where the evidence is hidden. If you die, millions of souls die with you. Do you understand?"
Tears streamed down my face, but I nodded.
"Good." He kissed my forehead quickly. "Now RUN!"
He pushed me toward a crack in the wall—another hidden passage I hadn't noticed. I stumbled through it just as Selene's attack hit.
The explosion threw me forward. I rolled across stone, skinning my hands and knees. Behind me, I heard Kael scream.
I wanted to go back. Every part of me wanted to turn around and help him.
But I ran.
I ran through the dark passages, clutching the mirror and journal to my chest. I ran until my lungs burned and my legs threatened to give out.
Finally, I burst out into Kael's bedroom, gasping silently.
"Nyx!" I tried to call, but no sound came out.
The shadow servant materialized instantly. "Goddess? What's wrong? Where's Master?"
I couldn't speak. I couldn't explain. So I did the only thing I could think of.
I held up the journal and pointed to the words about soul harvesting. Then I pointed back toward the passage.
Nyx's white eyes widened. "Selene. She's here." It wasn't a question.
I nodded, tears streaming down my face.
Nyx looked at me for a long moment. Then she said something that made my blood run cold:
"Then Master Kael is already dead. Nothing survives a direct fight with the Goddess of Moonlight." She paused. "But you can. I can hide you where even she can't find you. Deep in the realm where—"
A massive boom shook the entire palace. The walls cracked. Windows shattered.
And through the broken window, I saw something that stopped my heart.
A pillar of silver light shot up from the passage—Kael's power, unleashed fully. It was beautiful and terrible and—
The light flickered. Weakened. Went out.
"No," Nyx whispered.
The palace went completely silent. Even the ever-present whisper of wind through the halls stopped.
Then I felt it. A presence behind me. Cold as death. Powerful as a star.
I turned slowly.
Selene stood in the doorway.
She looked exactly like my memories—tall, elegant, with hair like moonlight and eyes like ice. She was covered in silver blood. Kael's blood.
And in her hand, she held something that made me want to vomit.
A crystal. Glowing with golden light.
My voice. She'd brought my voice with her.
"Hello, dear sister," Selene said, smiling. "I believe it's time we had a talk. One that you can actually participate in."
She held up the crystal, and I saw something move inside it.
My own face, trapped in the crystal, screaming silently forever.