Chapter 68
Chapter 68 – The Throne of Thorns
"To sit on the throne, you must bleed for it."
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The wind howled through the Hollow Expanse like a scream that had forgotten its source. Selene's cloak billowed behind her, soaked with the dust of shattered time. Beside her, Valerian walked in silence—his stride long, steady, but taut with tension.
The bond between them burned hot now. Completed, irreversible, it pulsed under their skin, in their bones, in every thought that turned toward one another. They didn't need to speak. They felt.
And what they felt now?
A storm coming.
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Ahead, the ruins gave way to jagged obsidian spires, twisted and unnatural—growing not from the earth but from some cursed, ancient will. The Blackroot Keep.
And within it, the Throne of Thorns.
Selene paused as the first spire bled shadow over her boots. "This is where the prophecy leads, isn't it?"
Valerian nodded, his voice low. "This is where the Night Kings were made. And where the first Omega was taken."
She turned to him, eyes wide. "Taken?"
He didn't answer. His silence was its own kind of violence.
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Inside the Keep, the air shimmered like oil over fire.
Their boots echoed on bloodstone steps. Every wall bore murals of gods and monsters with eyes scratched out—testaments to a forgotten war. The scent of iron, ash, and grief lingered in the bones of the place.
And at the end of the long corridor: the Throne.
Thorns coiled around it like a nest of serpents. Its base was made of ancient skulls, and above it—etched in gold and darkness—was a single symbol:
∞
The mark of the Abyss Crown.
Selene stepped forward, drawn to it. "It's calling me."
Valerian reached out, grabbed her hand. "Selene, wait. You don't know what that seat does. It doesn't just crown you. It tests you."
"I know," she said. "And I'm not afraid."
But he was.
Because the last Queen who sat there… never came back.
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She ascended the dais. With each step, a whisper:
> Omega… Sister of Flame… Last of the Line…
The throne pulsed. The vines writhed. And as Selene's hand brushed its armrest—
It struck.
Thorns pierced her palms, her spine, her chest. Not killing—unlocking. Her blood hit the roots, and the Keep shook. A scream tore from her lips, and magic exploded outward in a spiral of light and shadow.
Valerian surged toward her, but was flung back by the burst of power.
Then—
Silence.
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Selene opened her eyes.
She sat on the throne.
But the Keep was gone.
She was somewhere else.
A realm made of stars and smoke, with shadows shaped like wolves pacing the edges. And before her stood a woman.
Pale. Crowned in bone. Eyes as endless as the void.
The First Omega.
> "So… you wish to claim the Night King.
You wish to break the curse.
You wish to change the end?"
Selene didn't flinch. "Yes."
The woman tilted her head, smiling.
> "Then you must wear the Crown of Thorns.
And bleed not once, but a hundred times.
Starting now."
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Back in the Keep, Valerian clawed through the thorns, desperate.
"Selene!" he shouted. "Come back to me!"
The throne pulsed—then cracked.
From it burst a scream—hers—and then silence.
Her body was gone.
And Valerian fell to his knees.
Not in defeat.
But in rage.
Because now… he would burn the realm to bring her back.
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End of Chapter 68 – Next: Chapter 69, Ashes of the First Omega