For a heartbeat, the world felt unreal.
Three radiant silhouettes knelt before her in the courtyard—wings folded like molten starlight, shadows bending away from them as though afraid to touch their presence.
Amelia's voice trembled.
"Why… are you bowing to me?"
The celestials lifted their heads.
Their faces were blurred by shimmering light—neither male nor female, ageless, too beautiful and too terrifying to truly see.
But their voices came through as one:
"Because you have awakened the First Light."
Amelia's breath hitched.
Kael stepped forward instantly, hand on his blade."No. That bloodline was wiped out. She can't be—"
The celestial nearest him shifted slightly—almost amused.
"You, Slayer, speak of what history recorded, not of what survived."
Master Xuan swallowed hard.
"The First Light… belonged to the Dawn Sovereign. But that lineage was hunted to extinction."
The celestial responded without hesitation:
"Extinction is a mortal concept."
Amelia Tries to Understand
Amelia pushed herself up, still shaky, her fingers digging lightly into the grass for balance.
"I don't understand," she whispered. "I'm just a cursed girl. My mother—she made a pact. She stole power. How… how could I be something like you're describing?"
The celestials lowered their gazes again.
"Because you are not merely her child."
Amelia froze.
Kael's head whipped toward the celestial."What are you implying?"
The courtyard dimmed as the celestial's glow softened.
"Your mother's pact was not to gain power… but to protect a secret."
Amelia's pulse skittered.
"A secret?"
"Your soul."
The Revelation
Master Xuan's hands began trembling—something Amelia had never seen.
"Her soul…?" he breathed. "You mean—she wasn't born as an ordinary mortal?"
The lead celestial stepped closer, wings stirring the night air like rippling silk.
"Before your mortal birth, you were sealed."
Amelia's vision blurred.Not from weakness—from something pulling inside her chest.
"Sealed… from what?"
All three celestials spoke together:
"From your true nature—the last fragment of the Dawn Sovereign."
Kael's breath escaped him in a violent exhale."No… that's impossible."
But the celestial's glow intensified, burning through Kael's denial.
"Your presence alone proves it, Slayer. Her awakening calls to every surviving remnant of the celestial realm."
Amelia touched her chest.
"But if that's true… why did I suffer so much? Why was I cursed? Why was I killed—"
Her voice broke.
The courtyard fell silent.
Then the celestial answered, and the words sliced through the night like a blade:
"Because every realm wants a piece of what you are."
The Mark Appears
A sudden flash seared across Amelia's collarbone.
She gasped.
A symbol—glowing gold and crimson—formed on her skin, intricate and ancient.Kael lunged forward, ready to sever whatever force touched her, but Master Xuan grabbed him.
"No!"His voice cracked."That symbol—Kael, that's the Sovereign Crest!"
The celestials bowed even lower.
Amelia clutched her chest, breath shaking.
"What… is happening to me?"
The celestial nearest her finally rose to its full height.
"Your awakening has begun. But so has the hunt."
The air turned sharp—charged.
Kael immediately stepped in front of her.
"Who's hunting her?"
The celestial's wings lifted slightly, casting a glow across the courtyard.
"Everything that crawls in shadow."
A pause.A darker whisper.
"And everything that once crawled in light."