Chapter 96
Chapter 96 – The First Flame Reignited
The skies above the Night Realm shifted.
For the first time in a century, the stars rearranged themselves into the constellation known only to the ancient vampires—The Flamebringer's Crown.
Every elder across the four courts felt it. The pulse of fate. The rise of the omega.
Valerian stood at the edge of his war chamber, fingers clenched around the hilt of his ancestral sword. The steel shimmered as if awakening, veins of red gold surging through the blackened blade. It only reacted to one thing—prophecy fulfilled.
Lucien entered, quiet. "We've found her."
Valerian didn't turn. "Is she alone?"
"No," Lucien said. "She's never been."
Valerian's silence was a storm held still. His mind spiraled through lifetimes—Selene's voice whispering promises, her smile fading with time, the sound of her soul echoing into Selis. It wasn't just memory. It was her—reborn, returned, reawakened.
"She's coming to the Blackwood Crossing," Lucien added. "Tonight."
Valerian turned at last. His eyes gleamed crimson-gold.
> "Then so shall I."
---
Blackwood Crossing
Selis didn't know why she was drawn to the bridge—only that her feet moved as if commanded by something deep within her.
Each step closer made her breath catch.
The trees around her whispered in old tongues. The air shimmered like the veil between dreams and dawn.
Then she saw him.
Valerian.
Clad in obsidian and starlight, standing in the middle of the stone bridge where the prophecy first marked her. He hadn't changed, and yet… he had. Older. Wiser. Tired, but not weakened. As if time itself dared not diminish him.
She paused.
So did he.
The silence crackled between them—charged, thick with memory neither could speak aloud.
"You remember," he said, not a question.
"I never forgot," she echoed, her voice trembling, full.
She stepped forward, and so did he.
When they met in the middle, he lifted a hand to her cheek.
"You burned through time to return to me."
"No," she said, eyes wet. "I was sent to burn again."
Lightning split the sky.
The mark on her wrist glowed like a beacon.
And Valerian—for the first time in centuries—bowed.
Not because she was his queen.
But because she was the key.
---
The Hidden Room Below the Court
At that very moment, in a chamber sealed by fate and guarded by time, a vault door began to groan open.
Inside sat a cradle of flame.
Not a weapon.
Not a crown.
A memory—sealed in fire, waiting for two souls to reunite.
The flame began to spin, creating a mirror.
Inside it, a vision appeared:
Selis—older, ruling beside Valerian.
A child in her arms.
War behind her.
Peace ahead.
But the mirror shattered before the future could take full shape.
Something had seen it.
Something jealous.
---
The Faceless One
Far in the depths of the bloodbound mountains, the faceless being screamed in fury.
"They've found each other," it hissed.
"They've awakened the line."
A clawed hand slammed into a stone tablet, cracking it in two.
"Prepare the harbingers," it growled.
"Let the cursed soldiers rise. Let them bleed the prophecy dry."
---
Back on the Bridge
Selis gasped and stumbled into Valerian's arms.
She clutched her wrist, where the mark now burned like a brand.
He caught her, held her, his breath shuddering.
"I saw something," she whispered. "A cradle. A child. A war."
Valerian's voice dropped into his chest like a vow.
"Then fate is already moving."
And as the two stood locked in each other's arms, a wind began to rise—one not from nature, but from the prophecy itself.
It whispered:
> "The first trial comes with the next moon.
When blood is spilled and fire chooses.
One shall fall. One shall ascend.
And love must either break the world—
Or save it."
---
We're in the final stretch now—everything is building toward destiny's most dangerous choice.