CHAPTER 5 – The Woman Who Returned From Death
"My daughter... I'm finally here."
The words echoed through the ruined cathedral.
Elena stared at the glowing woman standing before her.
For twenty-five years, she had visited a grave.
She had cried over a tombstone.
She had whispered birthdays, dreams, and prayers to someone she believed would never answer.
And now...
Her mother was standing only a few feet away.
"No..." Elena whispered, tears pouring down her face. "This can't be real."
The woman smiled sadly.
"I don't have much time."
Before Elena could embrace her, her hands passed straight through her mother's body.
She wasn't alive.
She was something in between.
A soul refusing to disappear.
Adrian clenched his fists.
"I burned your body. I destroyed your bloodline. You should have vanished forever!"
Her mother looked at him with calm, fearless eyes.
"You forgot one thing."
"You can destroy flesh."
"But you cannot destroy a mother's promise."
The Phoenix mark on Elena's chest suddenly erupted into brilliant golden flames.
Every ghost bride surrounding Adrian screamed in agony.
Their empty eyes filled with tears.
One by one, they began remembering who they had once been.
"I remember..."
"My family..."
"My children..."
"My name..."
Adrian shouted in rage.
"No!"
"They belong to me!"
He raised the ancient scroll and sliced his own palm with a ceremonial blade.
Dark blood splashed across the pages.
The symbols began glowing crimson.
The cathedral trembled violently.
From beneath the cracked marble floor came the sound of chains breaking.
One...
Two...
Hundreds.
A freezing wind burst through the hall.
The ground split open.
A giant black gate slowly rose from the earth.
Ancient symbols covered its surface.
Behind it...
Thousands of tortured voices screamed in unison.
Elena stepped backward.
"What... is that?"
Her mother's expression turned pale.
"It is the Gate of Ashes."
"It should never be opened."
Adrian laughed like a man who had completely lost his mind.
"For five hundred years, my family has waited for this moment."
"The Phoenix was never the prize."
He pointed toward the enormous gate.
"That is."
The doors slowly creaked open.
A massive shadow emerged.
Its glowing red eyes looked directly at Elena.
The air became impossible to breathe.
Even Adrian dropped to one knee.
The creature spoke only one sentence.
"Where... is... the last Phoenix Queen?"
Silence consumed the cathedral.
Elena looked around in confusion.
"The last Phoenix Queen?"
Her mother slowly turned toward her.
Tears filled her eyes once again.
"There is something I never told you..."
"You are not the last Phoenix."
Elena frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Her mother closed her eyes.
"You were born with a twin sister."
The entire cathedral froze.
"My... what?"
Adrian's smile vanished.
For the first time...
He looked genuinely terrified.
Her mother whispered the secret that had been buried for twenty-five years.
"I hid one daughter from the world..."
"...but the other was stolen the night you were born."
At that exact moment...
A woman dressed in black armor stepped out from the darkness behind the Gate of Ashes.
She carried a flaming sword.
The same Phoenix mark burned across her chest.
She looked exactly like Elena.
Only colder.
Stronger.
And when their eyes met...
The mysterious warrior smiled.
"My sister..."
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"I've been waiting my entire life to kill you."
To Be Continued...
