Zurich – Below the Theater, Throne Room Remnant | 2:15 AM
The air was thick—dust, tension, and something else. Something ancient.
Selina stepped down the crumbling stone stairs, her jaw tight, each heel click echoing like a countdown. Her coat flared with every stride, her hand never far from the gun holstered beneath the fabric.
The underground hall was colder than outside. Time had no meaning here.
At the far end, under a single flickering light, her son stood.
Alone.
"Ethan!"
Her voice broke—sharp, desperate, mother.
The boy looked up. His expression was unreadable. Still. Too still for a child.
This wasn't just about a throne. Or an empire. Or bloodlines.
This was about what had already been taken.
They hadn't hurt her by kidnapping him.They had rewritten him.
His eyes didn't shine like before. There was calculation. Caution. Something Selina recognized all too well.
He looked like… her.
Worse—he looked like Eclipse.
Selina dropped to one knee. Her voice softened.
"Baby, come to me. Please."
Ethan blinked slowly. "He said you would lie."
Selina froze.
"He said you only fight for yourself. That you built your kingdom from corpses, not courage."
Her heart twisted.
"Do you believe that?"
The boy tilted his head. "I don't know what to believe anymore."
The words hit her like shattered stained glass—beautiful, familiar, but sharp enough to bleed her from the inside out.
From the Shadows
Eclipse emerged, dressed not in armor—but in tailored grief. Calm. Serene. Like a priest conducting a funeral.
"She never told you, did she?" he said. "About what she did to earn that seat?"
Selina stood up slowly. "Don't."
"Why not? Afraid he'll see you for who you are?"
"No." Her eyes locked on his. "Afraid he'll see you for what you're not."
Selina knew this was never about Ethan inheriting a throne.
It was about rewriting the past. About vengeance dressed as justice. About a brother who wanted to be the savior by becoming the very villain who had abandoned him.
"Tell me the truth," Ethan said quietly. "Was Grandpa a killer?"
Selina closed her eyes.
Yes.
And so was she.
But not like Eclipse.
Never like him.
This moment was a razor's edge—and the next word would either mend a heart or sever a bond that could never be regrown.
A rumble. The floor beneath them shifted.
An ancient mechanism—awakened.
The throne behind Ethan rose, glowing with inscriptions long buried.
Eclipse smiled.
"Welcome to the choosing."
Selina's blood ran cold.
On the throne, two handprints lit up.
One the size of a man.
The other—a child.
"What is this?" she asked.
Eclipse stepped forward. "A binding. One parent. One heir. Only together can they claim the crown."
He looked at Ethan.
"The question is… which parent do you choose?"