Chapter 2: Alchemist’s LullabyModern Timeline - Clock Tower Crypt

The key from Amberleigh's pocket fit St. Lorraine's abandoned bell tower. Lynette descended into a Victorian-era lab where formaldehyde tanks held wolf-human hybrids, their eyes tracking her through glass.

"Curiosity killed the Spiritborn." Caelum materialized behind her, throwing a glove woven with Celtic runes. "Wear this unless you want Isolde's wraiths puppeteering your corpse."

Typewriters clicked autonomously, spitting out reports: "Project Spiritborn #499 terminated... #500 (Lynette Rivers) exhibits successful soul-fragment implantation..."

A photo fluttered down – her mother unconscious on a gurney, Isolde injecting glowing serum into her pregnant belly.

"Your entire life," Caelum said coldly, "was a 17-year alchemy experiment."

The air reeked of ozone. Lynette's glove erupted in blue flames as a preserved werewolf corpse smashed its tank. Caelum drew a katana fused with a crucifix hilt, severing the creature's spine.

"Go!" He tossed her a 1943 newspaper clipping showing his face beside a bombed London church. "Find the Librarian at B2 – he'll explain the Elemental Convergence!"

Ancient Timeline - Blood Oath

Caelum stared at Elspeth's grave, Isolde's laughter echoing: "My son wears your face, your crown, even your memories... Who's the monster now?"

He sliced his palm over the runestone, howling the forbidden vow:

"Let frost preserve our sins,

Let blood eclipse the moon,

Hunt me through endless skins,

Till we meet at the world's tomb."