"Third point of view"
The scent of scorched stone and blood hung heavy in the throne room's air.
Sebastian didn't move. Couldn't.
Before him stood the woman he had buried with his own hands. Seraphine — once his first queen, the most ruthless of his consorts, the woman whose betrayal had triggered the collapse of his empire.
And now she stood reborn, wrapped in violet fire, her black eyes glinting with amusement.
"You look surprised, love," she said sweetly, circling the throne. "Did you think the Gate would open without offering me a key?"
Lilith snarled, stepping forward. "You died. We burned your body and scattered the ashes. This isn't possible."
"Oh, Lilith. Still the loyal lapdog." Seraphine's gaze flicked over the high priestess. "You always hated sharing."
Zira's blade was out, the tip gleaming under the flickering light. "Say the word, Sebastian. I'll cut her down like we should have the first time."
"Try it," Seraphine purred, lifting one graceful hand.
The air pulsed. Zira dropped her dagger with a gasp, her body freezing mid-motion as if time itself had clenched its fist around her spine. A strand of crimson energy curled around Seraphine's fingers, feeding off Zira's aura.
"She's tapped into the Veil," Elyra whispered, pale as moonlight. "No mortal should have that power. Not anymore."
Sebastian rose slowly from his throne. Every nerve in his body screamed to lash out, to command, to destroy — but centuries of war had taught him that the greatest threats smiled before they struck.
"You were the first," he said. "The first to take the Oath. The first to betray it."
"And the first to rise," Seraphine replied, stepping onto the dais. "I gave you power, Sebastian. I gave you loyalty, blood, my body, my soul. And when I reached beyond the veil, you called it treason. You burned me. Now, I return with the truth."
Her hand hovered near his chest — close enough to feel the heat of his psionic tattoos.
"There's a war coming," she whispered, "and your little harem won't be enough to stop it."
He slapped her hand away.
The violet flame flickered, but Seraphine only laughed.
"I should kill you where you stand," he growled.
"You should," she agreed. "But you won't. Because the Archon's awakening wasn't an accident. Something deeper is moving in the black. And you need me alive… if you want to keep your crown."
Lilith stepped forward. "We don't negotiate with traitors."
"Then prepare to die with the rest of his pretty toys."
Sebastian raised his hand. "Enough."
The room froze. Even Seraphine paused at the force behind his voice.
"You think I came back for thrones and temples? For harem politics?" he said, eyes burning. "I came back because the seal on the Void Heart is cracking — and this empire will burn again if I don't fix it."
Elyra whispered, "The Void Heart is still alive?"
Seraphine smiled. "Not just alive. It's hungry."
A pulse shook the floor beneath them. Far below the palace, something ancient stirred — slower this time, deliberate, aware.
Kaine groaned from where she lay, clutching her ribs. "Something's clawing at my soul… It's not the Archon. It's worse."
Zira stumbled to her feet, recovering her dagger. "Then let's kill it before it gets out."
"You don't kill the Void Heart," Seraphine murmured. "You feed it."
Sebastian narrowed his gaze. "Why are you really here, Seraphine?"
"I'm here because I saw what you refused to. The empire doesn't need a king, Sebastian. It needs a god. And I found one."
The words hit like thunder.
A second presence surged through the chamber — not the Archon, not the Void Heart, but something else. A whisper of wings. A shadow of teeth.
Sebastian's psionics flared. He looked to Lilith, Zira, Elyra, Kaine — then finally to Seraphine.
"What did you bring with you?"
Seraphine smiled, slow and terrifying. "A new contender."
And then the wall exploded.
A shockwave of black crystal shards and violet mist tore through the eastern tower. Rubble rained down in a tidal roar. Zira threw herself over Elyra. Lilith leapt in front of Sebastian. Seraphine stood untouched, arms open in welcome.
A shape stepped through the breach.
Tall. Horned. Wearing robes stitched from shadows and crowned in bone.
Its voice was silk and rot: "I have come to claim my bride."
Sebastian's blood froze.
Seraphine turned, eyes glittering. "Meet Lord Morvain. King of the Hollow Star Court."
A god of the Outer Realms.
Lilith hissed. "You brought a Hollow One into Ashkara?! You've doomed us all!"
Sebastian's chest ached. Betrayal was one thing. This — this was treason on a divine scale.
Seraphine turned back to him, smiling unfadingly. "You built a harem to conquer a kingdom. I'll build one to conquer fate."
Morvain stepped closer, his shadow blanketing the dais.
"Sebastian Vortheris," he said, his voice distorting the stones. "Kneel, and I may let your women live."
Sebastian stepped forward.
"I've knelt to the gods before. I burned them all."
He lifted both hands.
The tattoos on his chest erupted in crimson light. The throne behind him cracked. Lightning forked through the roof. The old magic — the kind sealed by blood and lust and death — came alive.
Lilith screamed, "The seal—!"
Too late.
Sebastian unleashed the psionic blast.
The throne room exploded in red fire.
When the light cleared, the throne was dust. The Archon's corpse smoldered in one corner. The breach in the wall was sealed in molten glass.
And Sebastian stood, bleeding and furious, over Seraphine's unconscious body.
But Morvain was gone.
Or worse — still watching.
Elyra knelt beside Kaine. "She's alive. Barely."
Zira looked around, dazed. "What the hell just happened?"
Sebastian's voice was raw. "We've been invaded. And it wasn't by the Archon."
Lilith turned toward him, pale. "What now?"
He looked down at Seraphine's unconscious form. His jaw tightened.
"Now," he said, "we hunt gods."