Chapter 32
The door slammed shut behind them with a soundless thud, though no one had touched it. The moment it closed, the lights embedded in the glyph-lined chamber flickered—then stabilized into a haunting blue hue.
Astern stood unmoving, eyes fixed on the cocoon.
The chains around it trembled faintly, as though something inside stirred in response to his presence.
Kaela reached for her weapon. "This thing... it knows you."
Lunaria stepped closer, gaze sharp. "It isn't trying to escape. It's observing."
The whisper came again—not aloud, but woven into the air itself.
"You wear the mark… of forgotten royalty."
Astern flinched.
The chains glowed faintly. They weren't just for restraint—they were preserving whatever lay within, holding its essence in stasis.
"What is this place?" Kaela whispered.
Astern's voice was distant, as if pulled from elsewhere. "This is the Core. The origin of Sanctum Astrae. The place they sealed what they couldn't kill."
Lunaria turned. "How do you know that?"
"I don't."
But his hand ached. His emblem—the Umbrenox crest hidden under his collar—burned against his skin like molten gold.
A deep rumble echoed from the cocoon, and then—
A fragment of memory pierced him like a blade.
—A battlefield under a dying star. Wings of black flame. A voice shouting his name. A hand pulling him into the void.—
He staggered.
Kaela caught him.
"You need to get out of here."
"No," Astern gasped. "We all do."
The glyphs in the floor cracked. Chains vibrated violently now. Something was interfering. The seal wasn't just reacting to them—it was reacting to something above.
An intrusion.
Kaela turned toward the exit. "The door's gone."
Lunaria narrowed her eyes. "No—it's folded. We're not locked in. We've been… hidden."
Suddenly, a pulse of light erupted from the cocoon—blinding and silent. The chamber froze in time. In that moment, Astern found himself pulled into a dreamlike projection.
A field of stars, each pulsing in rhythm with a heartbeat not his own.
Before him stood a being cloaked in twilight. Not demon, not angel. A fusion. Familiar.
"You are the heir to both ruin and salvation," it said.
Astern tried to speak, but the being raised a hand.
"Your chains are not shackles. They are keys. When the stars fall, only those bound by both realms may rise."
Then the light faded.
Time snapped back into motion.
The cocoon dimmed. The chains went still.
And the door to the chamber silently opened again.
None of them spoke until they were far from the Core, racing up the stairs toward moonlight.
Kaela finally broke the silence. "Astern… what just happened?"
He looked down at his emblem, now scorched faintly at the edges.
"Something is coming," he said. "And whatever it is… it's already watching."