The stars above the Sanctum tower pulsed.
Not with light—but with awareness.
Aethra's breath trembled as she sat upright on the crystal-laced bed. Her hands were clenched in the sheets, her knuckles white. Her silver-violet hair drifted as though caught in invisible currents.
The moment Isaac awakened, something inside her shifted.
A boundary had broken.
She could feel him—not just know of him, but feel him. Like a part of her soul had been stretched across the world and had finally tugged back.
> "He's real," she whispered.
> "He remembers."
The runes across her arms began glowing. Not just magical symbols, but ancient markings that even Grand Seer Aram had failed to identify. Their meaning was lost to time, but Aethra understood one thing:
They were tied to him.
Aram burst into the chamber moments later, robes whipping with wind. "The readings just surged. His awakening—"
Aethra met his eyes. "He saw me."
Aram stopped mid-step. His expression turned grim. "So the mirror link exists."
Aethra stood slowly. "More than that. I remember him. Not his name, not his face—but his presence. It was always… behind the veil."
She walked to the crystal window, placing her palm against it. "We were sealed apart."
Aram's voice was soft. "That seal wasn't only to protect you. It was to prevent convergence."
Aethra turned to him. "Then you know what happens if we cross."
"Doom," Aram said simply. "The Prophecy of the Dual-Tear. If your paths align before the Balance chooses its guardian, the Realms will crack open."
"I don't care," she said. "I want to see him. To understand what we are."
Aram stepped forward. "And if seeing him means you destroy the only being strong enough to carry the Balance?"
Aethra frowned. "Who?"
"The Nephalem child," Aram said. "Rizz."
The name sparked something inside her. Another echo. Another thread.
"I don't know him," she whispered. "But… he's burning. Like a flame that shouldn't exist."
Aram nodded. "Three souls now rise under this sky. One bound by soul and time. One cursed by balance and blood. And one… who holds the key."
"The girl born of the glass," he continued. "The boy who broke the mirror. And the child who walks in shadowed light."
Aethra's hands tightened. "We're being moved like pieces."
"No," Aram said. "You're becoming players."
Suddenly, a sharp pulse of pain struck her chest. She collapsed to one knee, gasping.
> "The rift… opened."
She clutched her heart. A new vision flooded her mind:
A valley of broken light. Black mist swirling around shattered stones. And above it, a boy with golden and silver wings descending toward something alive.
Rizz.
Aethra opened her eyes, tears and fire flickering behind them.
> "He's going to face it alone."
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