Flashback: Five Years Ago – The Night Aelira "Died"
The pyre burned too bright.
Veyrion remembered the heat first—the way it clawed at his skin even from twenty paces back, the way the smoke stung his eyes until they watered. Or maybe those weren't from the smoke.
He remembered the chains. Cold iron, wrapped around her wrists, her ankles, biting into flesh that had once touched his with reverence. Her violet eyes didn't beg. They didn't even look at the crowd, at the council, at the executioner.
They looked only at him.
"You're wrong," she had whispered, so soft only he could hear it. "About the gate. About the war. About everything. And when you see it—when you finally understand—you'll wish you'd burned with me."
Then the flames took her.
At least, that's what they'd told the kingdom.
But Veyrion knew the truth.
Present Day – The Shattered Archives
Veyrion moved through the kingdom's restricted archives like a blade through silk—silent, precise, leaving only the barest trace of his presence. The room smelled of dust and old ink, of secrets left to rot.
He stopped at a shelf marked "War Tribunal – Classified."
Pulled a scroll.
Unrolled it with hands that did not shake.
The report was crisp, official, stamped with the royal seal.
"Subject Aelira Veyrienn – Executed for high treason. Body confirmed destroyed. No remains recovered."
A lie.
Because Veyrion had seen her walk out of the flames that night.
Not as a ghost.
Not as a memory.
But as something else.
Something that had looked at him with eyes full of stars and whispered—
"This isn't over."
Then vanished into the smoke.
Elsewhere – The Hollow Cathedral
Aelira stood before a broken altar, her fingers tracing the grooves of ancient carvings. The air here was thick with the scent of damp stone and old blood.
Behind her, a figure emerged from the shadows—hooded, face obscured, but the voice was unmistakable.
"He's looking for answers," the figure said.
Aelira didn't turn. "Let him look."
"And when he finds them?"
She smiled. "Then he'll finally see what's really behind the gate."
Veyrion's Quarters – Dawn
The AI stirred.
Just once.
Just a flicker.
A single phrase, whispered in a voice that wasn't his own, in a language no living being should know:
"The gate opens both ways."
Then silence.
To Be Continued…