Chapter 12: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 12: Shadows of the Past

The night was silent, yet beneath the celestial glow of the twin moons, an unseen force stirred in the vast expanse of the world. A place untouched by time, hidden from mortal eyes, where reality twisted between shadow and light. Deep within this forgotten domain, a lone figure stood, wreathed in a radiant aura, yet wrapped in the embrace of the night itself.

Aetheria Nyx Lunaris Solis.

She was a phantom in the dark, her very presence warping the atmosphere. Her silvery-white hair cascaded like liquid moonlight, shimmering with a celestial glow. Her deep violet eyes, speckled with silver, were endless and fathomless, reflecting the eternal night sky. But within their depths, a touch of gold burned—a remnant of the sun's embrace, proof of her divine lineage. Her aura was cold, regal, commanding, but with an undercurrent of something ancient, something boundless.

She was more than mortal. More than demigod.

She was power.

The ruins around her bore the scars of time—shattered pillars, broken statues, inscriptions worn by the centuries. This place had once been great. Now, it was nothing but remnants of a past long buried, just as she had been.

Aetheria moved forward, her steps eerily soundless. Shadows twisted at her feet, stretching unnaturally, drawn to her presence. The air hummed with power as she reached a massive stone altar at the heart of the ruins. It was cracked, worn, its once-sacred carvings now barely recognizable. Yet she could still feel the weight of its significance.

Her fingers hovered above its surface, a cold light flickering in her gaze. This was a place of sealing. A place of chains.

A whisper stirred the air, neither wind nor voice—just a presence, ancient and forgotten.

"You are late."

Aetheria didn't flinch. She merely tilted her head, the faintest of smiles curving her lips—one that never reached her eyes.

"I was never expected."

Silence stretched, thick and heavy.

Then, the air shuddered.

Aetheria exhaled slowly. The seal remains unbroken.

She had known this, yet the weight of the realization settled upon her like a blade pressed to her throat. Too long. It had been too long.

Her gaze darkened. He was still sealed.

Her fingers clenched into a fist, the air around her warping under the sheer force of her presence. The seal, ancient and unyielding, had kept them apart for lifetimes. Even now, she could feel the unseen chains that bound him, just as they had bound her.

She had torn through her own shackles. Broken through the constraints of fate itself.

But he—he was still trapped.

Aetheria closed her eyes, reaching beyond the physical, beyond the barriers of time and space. Across the vast expanse of the world, beyond empires and kingdoms, beyond the illusions of mortal understanding—she felt him.

A presence like a roaring inferno, hidden beneath layers of ice. Power contained, restrained—but not destroyed. A soul that had never wavered.

He was fighting.

Aetheria's expression didn't change, but something within her shook—a sensation foreign even to her. It was not concern. It was not doubt.

It was frustration.

She had waited long enough.

She would not wait any longer.

The shadows at her feet surged, spiraling into the air, forming intricate symbols and patterns of forgotten magic. The very foundations of the ruins trembled as she spoke, her voice a whisper and a command all at once.

"Break."

The sigils flared, their glow like dying stars, pulsating against the dark. But they did not shatter.

Aetheria did not blink. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.

This was no simple binding spell. This was the work of gods—ones who had long since faded into oblivion. But their chains remained, their will lingering like a curse upon the world.

Aetheria's lips curled into a quiet, humorless smile.

They thought they had won.

They thought she had been erased.

How foolish.

She lifted a single hand, the golden flecks in her violet eyes flaring like distant suns. Magic older than this world itself surged at her call, bending to her will.

The gods may have forged this seal, but she would be the one to break it.

For him.

For the only one who mattered.

Aetheria Nyx Lunaris Solis would not be denied.

Across the world, beneath the grand halls of the Everhart estate, Leonhardt Valerian Everhart's fiery crimson eyes snapped open.

His heart pounded, the remnants of something—someone—lingering in his thoughts. He sat up, breath even, expression unreadable.

A moment passed.

Then, ever so faintly, his lips curved into the barest hint of a smirk.

She was moving.

Good.

Neither of them would stop until the seal was nothing more than dust in the wind.