Chapter 68: The First Lie

Darkness swallowed them whole.

For a heartbeat, Kael was weightless, suspended in a void so absolute it pressed against his skin like a physical force. Then his knees hit hard-packed earth, the impact jarring up his spine. Around him, the darkness thinned, revealing a cavern so vast its ceiling vanished into shadow.

Lucian landed beside him with a snarl, his sword already drawn. "Where—?"

The stranger stood before them, Aurelia's dagger still in hand. The boy from the village was gone. The air here smelled of damp stone and something older—like the scent of an ancient tomb newly opened.

"You're asking the wrong question," the stranger said, their voice still eerily similar to Aurelia's, though colder. More deliberate. "It's not where. It's when."

Kael pushed to his feet, his fingers brushing the hilt of his own dagger. The cavern walls were covered in carvings—familiar, yet subtly different from those in the previous timeline. Here, the figures were sharper, their poses more violent. At the center of each tableau stood a hooded figure, arms outstretched, shadows pooling at their feet.

"You said to call you Mother," Kael said carefully. "Why?"

The stranger smiled, and this time, Kael saw the difference—where Aurelia's smiles were all sharp edges and mischief, this one was slow, calculated. The smile of a predator who knew its prey couldn't escape.

"Because I am the first," they said, running a finger along the dagger's edge. Blood welled, black as ink. "The original. The one your Aurelia was modeled after."

Lucian made a low, warning sound in his throat. "Aurelia wasn't modeled after anyone."

"Wasn't she?" The stranger tilted their head. "Tell me, vampire—have you ever wondered why she never spoke of her earliest years? Why she knew languages dead for millennia? Why the earth itself obeys her?"

Kael's mouth went dry. He remembered the black veins crawling up Aurelia's arms, the way the ground had trembled at her command. The way Nyx had called her sister.

The stranger stepped closer, their boots leaving no prints in the dust. "The Veil didn't create the ancient beings. They woke them. And the first thing that crawled out of the dark?" They spread their arms. "Was me."

A chill crawled down Kael's spine. "Then Aurelia is—"

"A copy. A failed one." The stranger's smile widened. "Too human. Too soft. She was supposed to be a vessel, but she developed something... unfortunate." They tapped their chest. "A heart."

Lucian's grip on his sword tightened. "You're lying."

"Am I?" The stranger turned toward the cavern wall, pressing their bloody finger against the stone. The carvings shifted, rearranging to show a new scene—a younger version of the stranger standing over a kneeling figure, their hands on either side of the figure's head.

Aurelia's head.

"The process was supposed to erase her memories," the stranger murmured. "To make her blank. Willing. But something went wrong."

The image changed again—Aurelia, eyes flying open, her mouth stretched in a scream as black tendrils erupted from her skin.

"She rebelled," the stranger said, almost admiringly. "Broke free. Stole pieces of my power and ran." They turned back to Kael and Lucian. "And now, after all these centuries, I finally have a way to find her."

Kael's dagger was in his hand before he realized he'd drawn it. "We won't help you."

The stranger laughed, the sound echoing off the cavern walls. "You already have." They held up Aurelia's dagger, the blade now glowing faintly. "Blood calls to blood. And now that I have this..." Their eyes locked onto Kael's. "I can trace her anywhere."

The ground beneath them trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling as the carvings began to bleed, dark liquid oozing from the stone to form words along the floor:

FIND ME.

The stranger's grin turned feral. "Oh, I intend to."

Then the cavern collapsed around them.