Chapter 15 - The Matriarch’s SecretWith a deafening groan of bending metal and warped space-time, two of the vanguard vessels collided mid-air, bursting into brilliant showers of harmless stellar dust. The sudden turn of events forced the celestial matriarch to beam down directly onto the Aethelgard summit, her silver starlight armor humming with lethal energy.
She landed mere yards from Elina and Richard, her eyes locked onto the shifting void of Elina's face.
“You foolish child,” the matriarch spat, the cold perfection of her face cracking to reveal a deep, underlying sorrow. “Do you think we hunt you out of malice? The barrier between the Sky-Wept Reach and the mortal realm is collapsing. Without your core stabilizing the gate from this side, an ancient entity from the outer dark will consume both our worlds!”
Elina lowered her hands slightly, the cosmic storm around them quieting just enough for conversation. “Then why lock me away in iron? Why hide my truth from the very world I am meant to protect?”
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The matriarch’s gaze softened, her ethereal projection flickering under the emotional weight of the question. “Because your mortal father feared losing you to the cosmos before your time. He sealed your signature to buy you a human life. But time has run out. The outer dark is already breaching the veil.”
As if on cue, the violet rift in the sky behind the armada turned pitch black, and a massive, writhing mass of shadow and crimson eyes began to push its way through the tearing fabric of space.
