CHAPTER 33 – The Self That Never Was

---

My hand was still tightly gripped by the figure before me—myself, but not me. Her face mirrored the one that had haunted my nightmares, only now clearer, more vivid. Her gown was neither Elara's nor Seraphine's. It was armor—dark, embroidered with threads of blood and ancient magic.

"I am Astaria," she said. Her voice echoed like a chant of spirits in an endless void. "You... before everything was taken. Before they created Elara, before Valeria, before the curse."

I tried to pull my hand back, but her grip was like steel sprouting from bone.

"Let me go!" I hissed.

"Not until you know who you truly are," she replied calmly. "You think everything began with Elara—with failed love and a blood-stained throne? You're wrong. Elara was merely a vessel. And Seraphine... just the third reincarnation. But I, Seraphine, I am your first self. The one who made the pact with Valion."

"What?" I gasped.

Behind me, Valion laughed—a slow, cruel sound.

"You thought the curse was passed down through love? No, Seraphine. Through ambition. Through fear of losing everything. Astaria was the first to open my door. She... you... are the root of it all."

I turned to Astaria, eyes blazing. "Then why didn't you end this from the beginning?"

Her face softened. "Because I was a coward."

I fell silent.

"I loved someone," she continued, her voice quiet. "Someone I couldn't protect without power. So I chose power. But power demands a price, and Valion gave it to me... in exchange for the souls of those I loved. That's where the curse began. With me."

I whispered, "And now\... I have to kill you?"

Astaria met my gaze. "No. You have to forgive me."

I shook my head. "That won't break the curse."

"No. But it will set you free."

Valion sneered as he stepped closer. "Don't listen to her. She's trying to weaken you. You know what must be done. Stab the heart. End this."

I looked from Valion back to Astaria.

"If I kill you," I said softly, "will the curse end?"

Astaria lowered her gaze. "Yes. But you'll also kill the deepest part of your soul. And you'll never truly know who you are."

I exhaled. "Maybe that's a price worth paying."

"But you are not me," she said. "You are the better choice. You love. You sacrifice. And you... are not afraid to face yourself."

I lowered my head. "Then what should I do?"

"Enter the heart," she said. "Not to destroy. But to reunite everything that was once torn apart. All of you. Elara. Seraphine. Valeria. Even me. If you can accept us, you can rewrite the curse—not with blood, but with will."

Valion hissed, "Don't be a fool! That will let the curse survive!"

"No," Astaria countered. "It will make the curse Seraphine's. No longer yours, Valion."

I stood, swaying, nearly collapsing under the magical pressure swirling around me.

"What if I fail?"

"All your souls will scatter. The world will fall. And you... will be lost forever," Astaria answered.

Suddenly, Aldric appeared at the portal's edge—his eyes wide with panic. "Seraphine! What's happening?!"

His voice struck my heart.

I turned and shouted, "Don't come in!"

"But—"

"Trust me!" I cried.

He froze at the portal's threshold, blood-red light casting over his face.

I took a deep breath.

"I'll try," I said to Astaria.

She nodded. "Close your eyes. Let your heart open."

I shut my eyes, and in the darkness, I let myself fall into the heart of the curse.

I saw everything.

Elara—standing in a field of flowers, her face twisted in tears and fury as she sacrificed love for a kingdom.

Seraphine—crying at the altar, her first blood summoning spirits from forgotten eras.

Valeria—kneeling before a grave, begging the Astorian family not to bear hatred for the war she began.

Astaria—staring into blood, the moment she first signed her pact with Valion.

And me... the Seraphine I am now. The one who loves, who failed, who tried. The one who chose to live even when the world said no.

I walked past each of them and said:

"I accept you."

Elara smiled and became light.

Seraphine held my hand, then vanished.

Valeria bowed, then disappeared.

Astaria—cried in silence, then embraced me.

"Forgive me."

"You already are," I whispered.

They all fused into me—like thousands of threads finding their knot.

And when I opened my eyes—

I stood upon the altar of blood. But the heart had changed—into crystal, clear and unscarred. Valion stood trembling.

"No... impossible...!"

I looked at him—and for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.

"The curse belongs to me now," I said. My voice... wasn't mine alone. It was the voice of every woman I had ever been.

Valion stepped back. "You've changed fate!"

"I rewrote my own fate."

I raised my hand, and light burst from my body. Valion screamed—not from pain, but from the loss of his grip on the world.

"Seraphine!" Aldric's voice echoed from beyond the portal.

I turned. The portal was closing.

I ran.

But just as my foot reached the threshold, Valion plunged a magic dagger into his own chest—and exploded into shards of shadow.

One shard pierced my body.

"AARRGH!"

I was flung out of the portal, bleeding.

Aldric caught me, his face frantic. "Seraphine!"

I trembled. "He—Valion—he's not gone. He's hiding... in the fragments..."

Lysandra stood on the other side of the altar. Her face pale. Her eyes... had changed.

Red.

"I... I feel strange," she said.

..

I tried to stand, but my body was too weak. My blood burned. My vision blurred.

Aldric held me close. "What's happening?"

I looked at Lysandra.

And in her eyes—I saw Valion's smile.

"The curse isn't over."