Chapter 23: The Queen’s Path

Chapter 23: The Queen's Path

The world whispered her name in reverence and fear.

The Night's Queen.

The Ruler of the Moon and Stars.

The Daughter of the Sun.

In different lands, she was known by different titles, but no matter what they called her, all knew she was one.

And all knew not to anger her.

Aetheria Nyx Lunaris Solis stood at the edge of a crumbling mountain peak, her violet eyes gleaming beneath the moon's cold light. She had not moved for hours, her gaze locked on the distant horizon, where the empire of mortals stretched beneath the sky.

To them, the heavens belonged to the gods.

To her, the heavens were nothing more than a barrier she would tear apart.

She lifted a hand, her long fingers tracing through the air as the moonlight itself bent to her will. The silver glow surrounded her, flowing through the sky like ribbons of ethereal mist, pulsating with the power of a queen who had never bowed to anyone.

For centuries, she had walked the path of solitude, her existence veiled in mystery, her power feared by both the divine and the damned.

She was not a god.

She was not a servant of fate.

She was Aetheria Nyx Lunaris Solis.

And she was coming for him.

The stars trembled as if sensing her resolve.

A small smile tugged at her lips—cold, knowing, dangerous.

Far away, in the heart of the strongest empire, Leonhardt Valerian Everhart stood before a grand mirror in his chambers. The golden glow of candlelight flickered against his reflection, highlighting the deep red undertones in his ashen-black hair. His crimson eyes, flecked with gold, burned with quiet intensity.

The preparations for the upcoming ball had begun.

The grand hall of the Everhart estate had been decorated in an extravagant display of wealth and power, meant to showcase the status of the Grand Dukedom to the world. Nobles, dignitaries, and high-ranking officials from across the empire were expected to attend.

The Emperor himself would be watching.

Leonhardt, however, cared little for any of it.

The noble traditions, the political games, the whispered alliances—they were insignificant compared to the only goal that mattered.

Breaking the seal.

He had felt it again.

The faint pulse.

Aetheria's presence.

Somewhere beyond the reach of mortals, she was fighting. Searching.

For him.

His grip tightened around the silver clasp of his cloak.

The gods had sealed them away, believing that time would break them, that they would fade into nothing.

They were wrong.

Time belonged to them.

And he would make the gods understand what that meant.

Leonhardt turned away from the mirror, his expression cold and unreadable. He had no need for reflections.

He had already seen the future.

And in that future, she stood beside him once more.

In the Depths of the Forbidden Lands

Beneath the earth, in a realm untouched by light, ancient magic stirred.

Aetheria moved soundlessly through the ruins of a forgotten temple, her fingers tracing against the cold stone as she walked.

The inscriptions on the walls were old, older than even the gods who ruled the heavens.

Before them, there had been others.

Beings who had existed beyond the reach of divine law.

Aetheria's lips curled into a smirk.

The gods had worked tirelessly to erase them from history, to bury their power so deep that no mortal could ever uncover it.

But she was not a mortal.

Her violet eyes glowed faintly as she channeled her magic into the ruins, awakening the dormant energy that had been sealed away. The air around her trembled as ancient whispers filled the darkness, voices of those who had once defied the gods.

She did not fear them.

They, too, had been prisoners.

And she was here to free herself.

The moment she completed the spell, the ground beneath her cracked, and a blinding silver light erupted from the temple's core.

Power surged through her veins.

She clenched her fist, feeling the raw energy pulse beneath her skin.

It was not enough to break the seal.

Not yet.

But it was a step closer.

Aetheria closed her eyes.

Her time was coming.

She would not be kept from him much longer.

And when she returned to the world, she would remind the gods why they had once feared the night.

The Empire Moves

Back in the empire, the nobles whispered among themselves in anticipation of the upcoming event.

The heir of the Grand Dukedom was about to be introduced to the world.

The boy who would surpass his father.

The young genius whose name had already spread beyond the empire.

But behind the admiration and awe, there was fear.

Because power like his did not come without consequences.

Even the Emperor himself had taken an interest.

Leonhardt could feel it—the watchful gaze of the imperial family, the silent calculations of those who saw him as both an asset and a threat.

Let them watch.

Let them plot.

None of them mattered.

His path had already been decided.

The world could play its petty games of nobility and power.

But in the end, only he and Aetheria would decide their fate.

And they would decide the fate of everything else.

Far Beyond the Mortal World

In the celestial realm, where the gods resided, an unseen tension loomed.

The Sun God, Ra, sat upon his golden throne, his radiant eyes locked onto the world below.

He could feel it.

The movement.

The shift.

His daughter was growing stronger.

And the boy…

He had always known that Leonhardt Valerian Everhart was not normal.

Ra's expression darkened, his divine aura rippling through the heavens.

The gods had believed that sealing them away would be enough.

But they had underestimated love.

They had underestimated obsession.

And now, the world was on the brink of something unstoppable.

Ra exhaled slowly.

The sealed king and the night's queen…

Their time was approaching.

And when it came, even the gods would not be able to stop it.