Arc 2, Final Chapter: "The Breaking of the Cocoon"
"The caterpillar must endure the darkness of the cocoon before it can embrace the sky."
—Ancient Proverb
---
Lilith does not think of him as Zane.
She does not think of him as Alekzander.
She does not think of him at all.
He is an inconvenience. A remnant of something unnecessary. A string left uncut.
The Scholar stands beside her, watching the way her gaze lingers on the unconscious man at her feet.
He tilts his head, waiting.
"Shall I dispose of it?"
It.
Not him.
Lilith exhales, her expression unreadable.
"He does not need to die."
The Scholar raises a brow. Amused. Intrigued. Calculating.
"A surprising answer, little sister."
Lilith does not answer.
Because she does not know why she answered that way.
She looks at him—at the useless, fragile thing sprawled on the ground. She had wanted to end him. End this charade once and for all.
And yet—
And yet—
"Huh."
The sound leaves her lips before she even realizes she has spoken.
The Scholar's smirk widens.
"Fascinating."
Lilith clicks her tongue. Annoyed.
"Take him. Leave Earth."
The Scholar does not argue. But he watches.
He watches as something flickers across her face—something momentary, something foreign, something she does not yet have a name for.
He does not say what he is thinking.
But she knows.
She knows.
And she hates that.
---
The Breaking of the Cocoon
The moment the Scholar vanishes, the world fractures.
The stars overhead ripple. The air tightens. The ground beneath her feet shudders.
Because Lilith is not standing on Vatra.
Lilith is standing on Earth.
And Earth is—
Dying.
No.
Not dying.
Changing.
Her fingers twitch.
She presses her palm to the soil.
And she feels it.
The slow unraveling.
The whispered echoes of a world that had long ceased to be.
This was never Vatra.
It had always been Earth.
And she had always been a part of it.
A cocoon cannot last forever.
She understands that now.
---
Somewhere, deep beneath the surface—
Earth stirs.
The rivers churn. The mountains shift. The wind carries a name that is not hers but is hers.
Lily.
Lilith.
One was old. One was new.
And soon—
There would be no difference.
Because the cocoon must break.
Because she must become whole.
Because she was never meant to remain like this.
She was never meant to be incomplete.
---
The sky splits open.
Light erupts from the ground.
The oceans roar. The forests tremble.
And in the center of it all—
Lilith stands.
Unmoving. Unyielding.
Becoming.
And then—
She takes Earth into herself.
She breathes it in.
Every stone. Every root. Every fragment of what had been.
Every memory.
Every loss.
Every scream that had been swallowed by the void.
And—
She lets go.
She lets the old world die.
She lets herself die.
Because she knows now.
She was never meant to be a guardian.
She was never meant to remain.
She was never meant to be left behind.
She was meant to evolve.
---
And so she does.
The earth crumbles.
The sky implodes.
The atmosphere breaks apart.
Lilith does not scream.
She does not cry.
She does not fight.
She simply exists.
And then—
She ascends.
---
A Glimpse at Arc 3: The Child of Nowhere
Somewhere—far away, in the vastness of space—
A being watches.
Not the Scholar.
Not something known.
Something else
Something that has been waiting.
And when the light of Earth's destruction reaches its gaze—
It smiles.
Because it knows.
Lilith is coming.
And she will not be alone.