The Valthor they now faced was no longer the king they had known. His human form had fused with primordial darkness, creating an imposing silhouette that seemed to absorb the very light around him. His eyes were pools of liquid amber, and when he spoke, his voice echoed as though it came from the depths of time itself.
"The Unveiled Veil," Sarynne whispered, horrified. "He has become what only the oldest scriptures mentioned— a being that exists between reality and the void."
The cosmic child ran behind Elyria, her small fingers clutching at her cloak. "He smells of ancient darkness, mother. The darkness that came before the song of the stars."
Valthor laughed, a sound that made the stars around them flicker. "Before? During? After? Time has no meaning here. This place exists beyond your insignificant understandings."
Rhaevan positioned himself defensively in front of Elyria and the child, his sword glowing with a silver light that seemed to pain Valthor's eyes. "What have you done to yourself, Valthor?"
"I evolved," the being that was once Valthor replied, extending a hand that was more shadow than flesh. "While you all played with politics and power, I studied the deepest truths. The Heart of Nyxara was never meant for her— it was created to contain something much greater. Something that now whispers through me."
Lysarion threw a dagger that cut through the cosmic air, only to vanish within the darkness that made up Valthor. "Looks like blades are useless against him."
"All weapons are useless here," Valthor said, and with a casual gesture, Lysarion's daggers disintegrated into stardust. "This is the cradle of reality. Here, only will matters."
It was then that Aelinor stepped forward, her face marked by a terrible understanding. "The Unveiled Veil… the prophecies were true. You are not Valthor anymore— you are a host for what was behind the Veil."
The being that was Valthor tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Finally, someone who understands. Yes, Aelinor Varnholt. Your husband suspected it before I… persuaded him to stop his investigations."
Elyria felt the words like a physical blow. "My father? You killed my father because he discovered what you were planning?"
"Killed? No." The being smiled, showing teeth that were miniature constellations. "I offered him. A necessary sacrifice to open the first portal."
The cosmic child sobbed softly, and the stars around her dimmed for a moment. "He lies, mother. The man of light was not offered— he offered himself to stop the unveiling."
"The child speaks the truth," Kaelith whispered, her voice now so faint Elyria could barely hear it. "Your father… he was a guardian… like Rhaevan…"
The pieces began falling into place in Elyria's mind as she looked at Rhaevan, then at the child, and finally at the being before them. "My father was a Duskryn," she realized aloud. "He was of the same lineage as Rhaevan."
The being that was Valthor seemed irritated for the first time. "Enough with the revelations. The Heart awaits me."
He extended both hands, and the space around him began to warp. The stars stretched like threads of light, weaving a web of energy that moved toward the pulsating Heart.
"He's trying to merge with the Heart!" Caelan shouted. "If he succeeds…"
"Everything will end," Sarynne finished, her face pale. "The Veil will be fully torn, and what lies beyond it will consume our reality."
Rhaevan looked at Elyria, his eyes filled with fierce determination. "You feel it, don't you? What needs to be done."
Elyria did feel it— a resonance between her blood, the Heart, and the child who clung to her. She looked at the cosmic child. "Who are you, little one?"
The child lifted her face, her tears tiny supernovas falling into the void. "I am what remained of her after the Veil was woven. The piece that still cares."
Understanding struck Elyria like lightning.
The child was not Nyxara— she was the remnant consciousness of the goddess, the fragment that refused to become the hungry entity Valthor now served.
The being that was Valthor roared in frustration when his web of energy met an invisible barrier around the Heart. "What is this? Who dares interfere?"
It was then that Lysarion did something unexpected. He moved not toward Valthor, nor toward the Heart, but toward the shadows among the stars. "There is more here than just darkness," he said, his hands tracing patterns in the air. "There are memories. Stories."
To everyone's surprise, the shadows responded to Lysarion's movements, forming images of a time before time—showing the first weaving of the Veil, the separation of realities, and the terrible price that was paid.
"Lysarion?" Elyria whispered, confused.
He looked back at her over his shoulder, and for the first time, she saw who he truly was. His eyes glowed with the same light as the stars around them. "My family did not serve the Order of the Veil, Elyria. We were the weavers of the Veil. And I am the last."
The being that was Valthor screamed in rage. "A Weaver? Impossible! They were eradicated!"
"Almost," Lysarion corrected, his hands now moving with ancestral precision. "But my mother hid me among those I was supposed to fear. And now…" He looked at Elyria. "Now I complete the work my ancestors began."
The space around them began to rearrange, the stars shifting into complex patterns that formed a cage around the being that was Valthor. The cosmic child let go of Elyria's cloak and ran to Lysarion, her small hands joining his in the weaving.
"The star boy and the shadow girl," the child sang softly. "Together again, as was destined."
Elyria felt something inside her unravel and reform. She looked at Rhaevan, then at Lysarion, and understood the truth that had always been before them. They were not pieces in a game—they were guardians of different realities, destined to meet and to complete one another.
The being that was Valthor fought against his stellar prison, his form twisting into impossible patterns. "You cannot contain me! I am what comes before the beginning! What remains after the end!"
It was then that Aelinor did something no one expected. She walked toward the stellar prison, her face calm. "You are wrong," she said softly. "You are only an echo. A whisper that forgot to fall silent."
And before anyone could stop her, she touched the cage of stars. A pure white light exploded from her body, fusing with the stars and solidifying the prison around the being that was Valthor.
"Mother!" Elyria cried, feeling Aelinor's sacrifice as a physical pain in her own chest.
Aelinor smiled at her, her body beginning to dissolve into light. "Some seeds need to be planted in soil watered with blood, daughter. But others… others need light to grow."
When the light faded, the being that was Valthor was contained in a prison of stars and shadows, and Aelinor was gone. But her presence remained, infused into the very structure of the reality around them.
The cosmic child walked up to Elyria and took her hand. "She chose to become the new guardian of the Veil. Now, you must choose what you will become."
Elyria looked at the pulsating Heart, then at the child, and finally at the two men watching her—one with the eyes of an earthly warrior, the other with the eyes of a cosmic weaver.
The true power of the Heart of Nyxara awaited her decision.