The Executioner knelt in silence.
Before him rose a throne of living silk — a tower of golden thread that moved like breathing skin. Draped across it sat a woman in black and violet robes, her silver hair suspended weightlessly, as if underwater.
Eyes closed. Silent.
Waiting.
Until she spoke.
> "You failed."
---
✦ The Queen of Spindlehall
Her name was Seraphyne — called the Weaver Queen, ruler of Spindlehall, one of the four hidden dominions of the Loom. She did not serve fate.
She manipulated it.
Behind her floated dozens of threads — each connected to someone's life. Some twisted. Some burned. Some were missing entirely.
> "You struck with a cleansing blade," she said.
"And still the boy breathes."
The Executioner bowed lower. "He is no longer just a boy."
> "No. He is a vessel. For Kael."
---
✦ A Broken Past
She stood.
The threads behind her responded like snakes.
> "I knew Kael. I loved Kael. I fought beside him. And when the world turned on him — I didn't run. I was the last to hold his thread."
She stepped toward a crystal orb pulsing with echo-thread.
Inside it: a flickering image of Aiden, glowing from the inside, eyes distant with grief.
> "He's not Kael. But something in him is awakening. Something… reckless."
The Executioner spoke carefully.
> "Do we kill him, then?"
Her voice dropped.
> "Not yet."
---
✦ Seraphyne's Plan
> "You remember the Fractured Star?" she asked.
The Executioner froze.
> "We locked it away. It's forbidden. Even the Seers—"
> "Unlock it."
The air twisted.
> "If Aiden truly is becoming Kael's echo, then we cannot control him. But we can… tempt him."
Seraphyne waved her hand, and one of the threads in her tower snapped — vanishing into the void.
Far away, a dream stirred.
A girl.
A shadow.
A memory calling out.
---
✦ Elsewhere: A Dream Awakens
A young girl sat up in a dark chamber — her eyes wide.
She didn't know who he was.
Didn't know the boy with star-eyes or the temple fire.
But she had just dreamed his name.
> "Aiden…"
And far above her, in the deep vaults of Spindlehall, her thread — the one Aiden had lost — began to reweave itself.
---