Light.Heat.A heartbeat that did not belong to a human girl.
That was what Amelia returned to.
Her eyes snapped open—gold and red swirling violently—and the spiritual wards in the room shattered like glass the moment she inhaled.
The air recoiled from her.
The ground trembled beneath her
Kael froze.
Because the girl lying in his arms…
was not the same girl who fainted.
Her power felt ancient.Vast.Wrong.
And heartbreakingly familiar.
"Amelia?" he whispered.
Slowly—too slowly—she turned toward him.
Her voice was soft.Echoing.Layered.
"Kael."
But it wasn't a human voice.
It was the kind of voice you'd hear in creation myths or old celestial hymns—something divine wearing the shape of a mortal.
Kael's chest tightened with terror.
And love.
And grief.
The First Mistake
The High Guardian stumbled into the room.
The moment he sensed her aura, he dropped to the floor in a shaking bow.
"L-Lady Dawnbringer—"
Amelia blinked.
"Who?"
Kael's stomach twisted.
Because confusion flickered on her face—
—but the title the Guardian used?
She responded to it.Instinctively.Like a reflex she didn't understand.
The Guardian swallowed.
"That is your true name… before rebirth. Before your exile to the mortal realm."
Kael stepped in front of her immediately.
"Don't speak to her as if she's not Amelia."
"But she isn't!" the Guardian cried out.
Kael's wings flared open.
"She. Is. Amelia."
Amelia lowered her gaze, staring at her hands.
Her fingertips glowed faintly, gold leaking beneath the skin like molten veins.
"I… don't feel like myself," she whispered.
Kael knelt in front of her.
"You are yourself. Whatever else is happening—whatever past you had—none of it erases who you are now."
Her lashes trembled.
But she wasn't convinced.
Not yet.
Not when the Devourer's voice still echoed through her chest:
"You chose me first."
The Wrong Awakening
A crack split across the Sanctuary's ceiling.
Dust rained down.
A deep, distant roar echoed from the undercity.
Kael stiffened.
"He's waking up faster than we thought," he muttered.
But the Guardian shook his head in terror.
"No. It wasn't him.It was her awakening that shook the city."
Kael turned back toward Amelia.
His breath caught.
Because the sigil on her collarbone—
the mark burned into her skin by the Devourer's curse—
was no longer the Devourer's.
It had reshaped itself into something older.
Holier.
Impossible.
The Guardian whispered, voice trembling:
"That is the sigil of the Eternal Dawn."
Kael froze.
"That would make her—"
"Yes," the Guardian rasped."—the counterpart to the Devourer."
Kael felt his pulse fall out of rhythm.
Amelia wasn't just connected to Raeth.
They were two halves of a primordial duality—
Dawn and Dusk.Light and Ruin.Creation and Devouring.
"Amelia…"
Kael reached out to touch her face.
But when his fingers brushed her skin—
light burned him.
He recoiled in pain.
"Ah—!"
Amelia gasped and grabbed his hand before he could pull back.
It didn't burn her.It didn't burn when she touched him.
Only when he touched her.
"I don't want this," she whispered, tears forming."I don't want to hurt you."
Kael forced a smile, even as pain pulsed in his palm.
"You're not hurting me.This awakening is. It's temporary."
But the Guardian shook his head.
"No. It will get stronger.Light rejects those who fall."
Kael's jaw clenched.
Because he was fallen.He was no longer celestial enough to withstand her full power.
He could protect her from monsters.
From curses.
From fate.
But not from herself.
The Devourer Makes His Move
The room suddenly darkened.
Shadows poured across the walls.
A familiar voice whispered through the Sanctuary like a caress:
"Little light…"
Amelia stiffened.
Her breath caught.
Her pulse jumped.
Kael grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't listen to him."
But it was too late.
Because Raeth's presence wasn't calling her this time.
It was answering her.
"You are waking up," the Devourer purred from the shadows.
"And soon… you will remember everything."
Amelia shook her head violently.
"No. Stop. You're twisting my mind. These memories—they're not real!"
A deep, dark chuckle vibrated through the walls.
"Oh, they're very real.You simply preferred to forget."
Kael stepped forward.
"Show yourself, coward."
Raeth ignored him completely.
Because his attention was solely on her.
On his other half.
"You don't belong in that fragile mortal body, little dawn."
His whisper slid under her skin.
"We were made for each other.You bring the dawn.I bring the end.Together, we complete the cycle."
Amelia trembled.
Because something inside her responded.
A pulse.
A longing.
A recognition.
"Stop," she whispered, clutching her head. "Stop—please—"
Raeth's voice softened dangerously:
"You feel it, don't you?The wrongness of your human shape.The ache in your spirit.The hunger to return to what you were."
Kael's eyes blazed.
"She is Amelia, not your dawnbringer!"
Raeth's shadow stretched across the walls—
—a silhouette with horns, wings, and one burning red eye.
"She is both," he whispered.
"And when she remembers fully…you will lose her."
The Breaking Point
Amelia covered her ears.
"Stop! Stop talking!"
Kael grabbed her arms, steadying her.
"You don't belong to him," he said fiercely.
"You belong to yourself."
But Raeth's final whisper slid through her heart like a blade:
"No, little light.She belongs to the truth."
The shadows evaporated.
Silence crashed down.
Amelia collapsed to her knees.
Kael caught her immediately.
Her voice was barely a breath:
"Kael… what if he's right?"
He pulled her close, refusing to let her go.
"Then I'll fight destiny itself," he whispered,
"because I'm not losing you to him."
Amelia's hand curled into his shirt.
Trembling.
Conflicted.
Afraid.
Because deep inside her—
buried beneath her human heart—
something ancientvastand devastating…
had begun to open its eyes.