The tunnel whispered.
Lilac stepped carefully into the cold descent beneath the playground, the light of her enchanted pendant flickering with every breath. Her bare feet touched stone worn smooth with age. The air smelled of rust and ancient incense.
Her eyes caught movement—not real, but painted. The walls were alive with murals, drawn in crimson and black: kings drowning in rivers of blood, queens with their hearts torn out, children wearing crowns too heavy for their necks.
Then—a name etched in bone-script:
> Vharel. The Forgotten One.
The God of Broken Thrones.
The Crownless Who Wept.
Lilac stopped at the bottom.
The chamber opened into a dome, lit by a ring of blue fire that hovered without source. In its center stood a stone throne, shattered in half.
And above it—scratched into the ceiling with claws—was a prophecy:
> "When the crownless heir weds the blood-bound queen,
and the third red moon is kissed,
the sleeping god shall wake…
and madness will wear a face."
---
🩸 The Garden Breaks
Back in the garden, Lucian snapped to full alert. His heartbeat slowed to a war rhythm—something was calling to him from the stone.
> "Lilac," he said sharply. "She's not safe."
Lydia's face paled. She didn't argue.
They ran—boots crushing petals, shadows fleeing before them.
---
🕳 The Descent of the Royals
Lucian and Lydia reached the playground just as the trapdoor creaked wider. Lilac was gone. Only her brush and sketchbook remained.
Lucian grabbed the book.
> The last drawing: Lilac standing in front of a cracked throne… with something monstrous behind her. A crown made of antlers and knives. Eyes weeping black.
> Lydia whispered: "That's not just madness… that's a god."
Without another word, Lucian dropped into the tunnel. Lydia followed, trident pulsing in her hand.
---
⛓ The God Speaks
In the chamber below, Lilac stood frozen, wide-eyed.
From the shattered throne, something… unfolded.
A humanoid figure, tall and draped in what looked like chains and withered skin, rose. His face was veiled by black silk, his fingers long and jointed twice. Behind him, tendrils of thought curled like dying stars.
His voice was like gravel scraping bone:
> "You... You are not her. But you carry the scent. The madness. The child of the queen of blood."
> "Where is my heir? The one with the eyes that broke heaven?"
Lilac couldn't answer.
She simply looked up, tears falling silently—and pointed behind her.
---
🕯 Lucian Arrives
Lucian stepped into the chamber—and everything stopped.
The murals trembled. The fire dimmed. Even the god fell still.
The chained figure turned, slowly.
> "So. You wear his skin… but you do not remember me."
Lucian said nothing.
The god took one slow step forward.
> "Your blood sings with silence. Your soul is ash. But you… are him."
> "Vharel," Lucian said coldly, "you were supposed to be dead."
> "I was," the god replied. "Then your love awakened me."
A beat.
Then:
> "When you kissed her under the first blood moon… I began to dream again."
Lydia arrived next, pulling Lilac into her arms. The three of them stood as a family before a god of madness, reborn in silence and prophecy.
The air pulsed with bloodlight.
And Vharel, the Forgotten One, smiled through his veil