The Gods Beneath

Selene

The night bled into dawn without warning.

Selene stood alone in the upper tower—where the veil between worlds thinned and the wind whispered like it knew her name. Her skin buzzed. Not with fear. But with something else.

A presence.

Watching.

Waiting.

She'd been training for days now. Harder. Deeper. Kael guided her through bloodcraft, flamebinding, and memory-walking. Her body ached. Her soul bruised. But she needed control.

She would not let her mother's shadow dictate her fate.

"I want to summon it," Selene said to Kael that morning. "The thing inside me."

He went still.

"You don't summon the blood," he said. "You survive it."

She raised her chin. "Then let me try."

He saw the look in her eyes.

And he agreed.

---

Beneath the World

Far below the fortress, where sunlight had never touched and mortal time had no meaning, the first god opened its eye.

It had no form.

Only a hunger.

Its name was unspoken. Its purpose long forgotten by mortals. But in the language of curses, it was called Vel'Kharin—the Binder of Blood, the God of Eternal Chains.

It had waited.

For her.

For the Vessel to awaken.

A second eye opened in the dark.

And a voice—cracked and molten—hissed:

"She remembers. She resists. That makes her worthy."

---

Kael

He'd trained with warriors, kings, monsters.

But never someone like her.

Selene moved like a flame—wild, elegant, uncontained. Her magic responded faster now, obeying her thoughts before her lips could shape them. Fire, blood, and light. She was becoming something. Not the Queen.

Something else.

"She's different," he said aloud, though no one asked.

He stood at the edge of the training ring, watching as she cast a binding rune mid-spin, catching a wraith-target in midair and collapsing it in a pulse of light.

Not elegant. But effective.

He almost smiled.

Then the sky screamed.

---

Selene

A rift tore across the clouds above the fortress—dark red and ancient.

Magic pulsed from it, so heavy it drove her to her knees. The wraiths vanished. The wards shattered.

Kael caught her just before she collapsed.

From the sky, lightning twisted into a symbol she had never seen—but somehow knew.

Vel'Kharin.

She felt it stir inside her.

Not rage.

Not fear.

But recognition.

"They're waking," she gasped.

Kael looked toward the rift, jaw clenched. "The gods?"

"No," Selene whispered. "The ones who made them."

---

Final Scene – The Knight

The silver knight stood beneath a bleeding moon, watching the sky break.

He smiled behind his mask.

"The chains rust," he said softly. "Soon, they'll snap."

He turned toward the east, where a long-dead city slept beneath ash and silence.

And began the walk to awaken the second god.