The cave walls flickered with torchlight, casting long shadows over the assembled survivors. Deep underground, shielded from the gods' gaze, the resistance licked its wounds. Sarive sat in silence, back against the cold stone, his knuckles still swollen from the blow he'd given Valen earlier. Across the chamber, Valen sat on a bench of stone, holding a cloth against the cut on his lip. He hadn't said a word. Not in hours. Not since Sarive had leveled him with those punches in front of everyone.
Mia walked in with fresh bandages. Her armor was scuffed, but she carried herself like a general. Her eyes passed over Valen, then Sarive, then the girl who sat between them—the child they were all fighting for.
Hope was asleep, her head cradled in the lap of a cloaked woman with long white hair. Diana. Silent and watching.
"They're here," Mia said. "Scouts say Aurelia's brother is on the move. With reinforcements."
Sarive stood. "He's coming for us?"
"No," Mia replied. "He's coming for her."
They all looked at Hope.
In the sacred halls of a shattered temple, Aurelia's brother, Caelin, paced before a broken statue of the God of Judgment. His armor gleamed silver-white, etched in the runes of the Celestials, and his sword was sheathed at his back like a promise of vengeance.
A knight approached, kneeling. "Lord Caelin, our spies confirm it—Valen is alive. And Aurelia has been found."
Caelin's jaw clenched. "I warned him. I warned them all what would happen if he tainted her bloodline with mortal recklessness."
The knight hesitated. "Should we prepare to strike?"
Caelin's voice softened. "No. We go to speak. To offer reason… one last time."
But behind his words, fury stirred. He had trained his whole life to protect his sister—and to destroy anyone who endangered her. Yet still, he hesitated. He knew what Aurelia would want. And he knew what his father had done.
Meanwhile, in the hideout, Chris returned from a scouting mission. His once-black armor was dulled from battle and time, but the panther emblem on his chest still gleamed. He caught Sarive in the hall.
"You ready for this?" Chris asked.
Sarive nodded. "I've been ready since I was ten. Just didn't know what for."
Chris looked at him. "You look just like your brother when he first put on the suit."
"That's not a compliment," Sarive muttered.
Chris smiled faintly. "I didn't say it was."
Later that night, Valen and Chris stood over a map of the region. Caelin was closing in. The ancient demon clans had stirred in the west. And rumors spoke of a group of rogue demons beginning to gather near the Veil Rift. The gods were not far behind.
Valen tapped the map. "If Caelin listens, we may have a chance to break Aurelia out before the gods reinforce the prison."
Chris shook his head. "He won't listen. Not to me."
Valen looked up. "But he might to me."
"You think you can reason with him?"
Valen's voice was low. "I know what it's like to lose a sister. He doesn't know what it's like to almost lose a daughter."
The next morning, as dawn crept over the ragged peaks, the group set out—Chris, Valen, Sarive, Mia, Diana, and a few others. Hope rode with Diana, silent but observant. The child had not spoken since the cave. Her powers had begun to shift again, and sometimes, the ground trembled when she looked too hard at the sky.
As they approached the broken ruins where Caelin waited, the team fanned out, watching the shadows. The tension was thick.
Caelin stood alone in the clearing. But Sarive saw them first—his soldiers. Dozens, hidden in the ridges above.
Valen stepped forward.
"Brother of Aurelia," he called. "I didn't come to fight."
Caelin's eyes burned. "You already did. The day you stole her heart."
Valen held up a hand. "She came with me willingly. You know your father would've killed her. Or worse—Hope."
At the mention of her name, Caelin paused.
"You brought the girl here?"
"She's not a weapon," Valen said. "She's a child."
Caelin's eyes shifted, and Sarive stepped forward, his own rage brimming. "You want to take her back? To the very people who ripped your sister from her home?"
Chris spoke, calm but firm. "You don't have to like Valen. Hell, I don't. But you know what your sister is. What she fought for. Don't let your anger blind you."
Caelin lowered his sword just slightly.
"Let me see her."
Hope stepped forward, her small hand in Diana's.
She looked up at Caelin, her glowing blue eyes full of both fear and something else.
Recognition.
Caelin's armor shimmered faintly. His expression broke.
"She has her mother's eyes."
For the first time, Valen saw the man behind the soldier.
"I'll help you," Caelin said, finally. "But if this goes wrong—"
"It won't," Valen said.
And in the sky above, unseen by them all, a rippled eye blinked open in the fabric of reality. One of the ancient demons had taken notice.
And it was hungry.