Chapter 6:

The Veil's Warning Aurelia tried to steady her breathing, her mind reeling from the vision. The future she had seen—the destruction of Lysandra, her own cold, bloodstained hands—felt too real, too vivid to dismiss as mere imagination. The Veil had shown her a future she never wanted to live, but what if it was inevitable? “No,” she whispered fiercely. “I won’t let this happen.” But the future version of herself simply stared back, unmoved by her defiance. There was no emotion in those cold eyes, only a dark certainty that chilled Aurelia to the core. “You think you can change it?” the other Aurelia asked, her voice mocking. “You think you can escape what the Veil has shown you? The future is already written. You will be the one to bring about the fall of Lysandra.” “No!” Aurelia shouted, stepping forward. “I’ll change it. I won’t become you.” The other Aurelia’s smile widened, and she began to fade, her form dissolving into mist. But her voice lingered, echoing in the air around her. “The Veil shows only truth. And truth cannot be undone.” The vision faded completely, leaving Aurelia alone once more in the darkness. She tore the Veil from her head, gasping for breath as reality snapped back into place. She was back in the Keeper’s shop, the scent of incense thick in the air, the candle flickering weakly on the table. The old man was watching her, his expression unreadable. “Now you understand,” he said quietly. Aurelia stared at the Veil in her hands, her mind racing. The truth she had seen—the devastation of Lysandra, her own twisted future—was almost too much to bear. Could it really be inevitable? Was she destined to become the very thing she feared most? “I can change it,” she muttered to herself, more to convince herself than anyone else. “I can’t let that future happen.” But even as she said the words, doubt gnawed at her. The Veil had shown her the truth. And the truth was rarely kind.