The Secret Spark

Location: Gaia HQ – Divine Isolation Chamber, Morning

The aftermath of the Celestine Ruins expedition had been hailed as a resounding success—externally. The corrupted seraph was cleansed, the Abyssal surge quieted, and the temple's divine sigils sealed by Eun-Ha's resonance with Solmaria. Yet in the halls of Gaia, behind the reverent whispers and congratulatory nods, a different truth whispered in corners only few dared to approach.

Inside the Divine Isolation Chamber, Eun-Ha knelt within a circle of radiant script carved into the obsidian floor. The room hummed gently—designed to amplify divine synchronization and suppress errant resonance.

Her cross-staff floated before her, spinning slowly, as golden feathers of light began to flicker at its base—then fracture.

She opened her eyes.

"No… not yet," she whispered.

But the divine current buckled again. A thin crack appeared in one of Solmaria's amethyst shards. A warning.

Location: Gaia HQ – Surveillance Tower

Cyg stood beside Thea, watching the monitoring glyphs display Eun-Ha's ether fluctuations.

"It's been happening since the seraph," he muttered.

Thea nodded. "Divine contamination isn't just a theory. That relic didn't cleanse her. It responded to her."

Cyg crossed his arms, voice low. "She'd never tell anyone she's breaking."

"That's why you need to see it before she does."

Later – Garden of Hollow Light

Eun-Ha sat alone beneath the blossoming ebonlotus tree, petals drifting around her like fragile paper stars. She closed her eyes, letting the quiet soak into her skin—her breathing nearly imperceptible.

She whispered something to herself in Korean again.

"Even light can betray you if you burn too long in silence."

Then she heard a step. She didn't turn. She didn't have to.

"Cyg," she said softly.

He sat beside her, arms on knees, eyes on the stars. "Are you okay?"

"The seraph… saw something in me."

"So did I."

"It was broken."

"So are we all."

She looked at him then. Truly looked—past the warrior's edge and tactical focus. She saw the boy who once stood alone, blade at his side, watching the others from a distance.

"You chose to come with me that day."

"Because I couldn't let you walk alone."

She lowered her gaze. "I didn't deserve it. I still don't."

"You're wrong," he said. "You're carrying something no one else can see. And maybe it's breaking you. But let me carry it with you."

She hesitated.

Then, for the first time in years, she wept—quiet, soundless tears.

Cyg didn't speak. He just held her hand.

Flashback – Eun-Ha's Monastic Childhood

The sun was fading over the mountains. A young Eun-Ha sat by a cliffside shrine, hands folded. Her mentor, a blind priestess named Miji, touched her shoulder.

"You were born different, child. The gods do not roar through you—they whisper. That is your gift."

"But the others hear them loud. Why not me?"

"Because you were not made to follow the light."

She leaned in and smiled.

"You were made to become it."

Present – Gaia HQ, Medical Wing

Sylvia stepped through the sterile corridors with a warm smile.

"Eun-Ha," she said gently, "I brought tea."

"Thank you."

Sylvia studied her, then asked, "Have you… told him?"

Eun-Ha blinked. "Told who?"

"Cyg. About what's happening to you. To your heart."

Eun-Ha looked down. Then: "He already knows. Without me saying it."

Sylvia's smile dimmed. "Then that's why it hurts."

Later That Night – Eun-Ha's Private Chamber

Solmaria hovered in the air before her again, glowing dimly. The crack had spread.

A voice—soft, low, not hers—breathed out from it.

"You are not who you once were."

Her heart stopped.

"Who… are you?" she whispered.

"I am Solmaria, yes. But I am also what you buried."

"What do you mean?"

And from the fractured shard, a flicker of memory burst forth—her as a child, standing before a ruined village, the only one left alive. Her hands glowing. The divine symbols swirling around her. A voice crying in the wind:

"Monster!"

She clutched her chest, trembling.

The voice again:

"You sealed me away to protect yourself. But now… the seal weakens."

Elsewhere – Observation Deck

Cyg stood watching the stars again. But this time, he held a memory chip—a recording of Eun-Ha's last pulse reading from the ruins. Julius had sent it anonymously.

"Divine contamination not from Abyss… but from inside."

He gripped the rail.

"What are you hiding, Eun-Ha?"