Seraphina's smile was too soft for the crimson that clung to her fingers.
"Did you achieve what you wanted?" Elowen asked, her voice hesitant, eyes lingering on Seraphina's pale face.
"Of course," Seraphina murmured. "Proof of my love."
She rested her right hand on her belly, rubbing slow circles as if calming the life inside.
Elowen's gaze drifted to Seraphina's left hand. "What is that?"
"Oh… this?" Seraphina lifted a small red pouch, strings darkened with fresh dampness. "Nothing important."
Without waiting for another question, she slipped into her room and shut the door with a quiet click.
Inside, silence welcomed her.
"Look, dear…" she whispered as she reached into the pouch. "Proof of our love."
She lifted Alaric's severed head gently,as if afraid to wake him,and kissed the cold, dead lips.
Then she pressed the head's mouth against her belly, her voice tender, trembling.
"Look at your father… he's with us."
Outside her window, the sun broke over the horizon in a flare of gold.
A single bird,its feathers molten and gleaming rose from the light as if born from the first spark of dawn. A tail of golden thread unfurled behind it, swaying like a banner in the wind. Without sound, without weight, it glided over endless ocean waters, wings carving ripples in the air.
When land unfurled beneath it, the world turned strange.
Fields moved,stone golems lifting plows, mud dolls carrying bundles, all under human shouts and whistles. Beyond them, the kingdom rose like a dream carved with impossible ambition.
The bird climbed higher.
From above, the kingdom resembled a grand terraced realm ascending into the heavens,layer after layer of cities stacked toward the heavens.
At the base: the Commoners' City, vast and circular. Markets chattered, gardens breathed green, and houses sprawled
loosely, with wide green spaces breathing between them.
At its heart stood a great crimson ring,a stacked structure of five rising circles. Windows glittered like watchful eyes, and on its topmost floor hung a colossal bell beneath an ancient clock.
A garden surrounded it,winding paths, small ponds, stone boulders placed like sleeping beasts. Knights in green coats stood guard at the entrances, swords engraved upon the red buttons at their collars. Their colors blended into the garden .
Behind the school's outer boundary towards the south,stretched a vast pond, its surface unnaturally still and blue. Beyond the fence, four strange beings drifted above the water, their hair floating as if underwater though no breeze touched them. Their crystal-blue eyes swept slowly across the pond's mirror-like surface,a place that never gathered dirt or shadow.
Inside the boundary, rows of workers' buildings stood quiet and ordered, a stark contrast to the eerie guardians drifting just beyond the fence.
Above this lay the Magnets' City,a floating disc invisible from below but heavy with presence.
In its center glimmered an immense reservoir, reflecting the sky like a polished mirror.
And above that, suspended ,the Noble Disc.
Shimmering, immaculate, casting no shadows over the lands beneath.
Then the sky dimmed.
A glowing cloud descended from the heavens, spiraling like a celestial cyclone until it hovered above the nobles' realm.
Upon it sat the Royal City,small yet radiant. From its edges stretched the Ascendant Stairs, great shimmering paths that cascaded downward from realm to realm: first to the Noble Disc, then to the Magnetic Ring, and finally to the distant Commoner Grounds.
But the stairs obeyed the laws of hierarchy.
Those above could see and descend; those below could not see and could never climb unless chosen by those above.
From the golden bird's eyes, the kingdom aligned into perfect tiers,power stacked upon power, stones rising to touch the clouds.
The bird's silhouette thinned into nothing, and the gaze drifted earthward, tracing the lands beyond the pond ,far, but within reach. Beyond the invisible wall, the dense forest held its wild beasts at bay, while the Commoners' district stretched quietly beneath the soft touch of dawn, like a worn tapestry slowly waking to light. The morning air was still, broken only by a gentle tapping that echoed softly through the silence.
Knock. Knock.
Nolan froze. His wife clutched the baby tighter.
"Stay here," he whispered. "Protect the child. No matter what happens… don't come out."
Sophia nodded, trembling. The newborn in her arms,dark green eyes, tufts of soft black hair, began to cry as the door shut behind Nolan.
"Hush… hush, baby…" Sophia murmured, rocking him. "Please don't cry… please…"
Outside, a knight in a long green coat waited, sword gleaming like it had tasted blood before breakfast.
Nolan bowed low. "How can I serve you, Sir?"
"You bastard."
The kick slammed into Nolan's chest. He hit the dirt with a gasp.
"Sir...please...mercy!" Nolan choked, pressing his forehead into the earth.
"Mercy?" the knight hissed. "That rice you sent last time,full of stones. My lord nearly broke a tooth."
"I...I'll prepare it myself next time! No stones, I swear! On my life!"
The knight sneered, tired of the pleading. With a lazy swing, he sliced the wooden door in half and walked away, boots crunching over the splinters.
Nolan dragged himself up, shaking. Sophia hid behind the closed door, clutching the wailing infant.
But the knight wasn't finished with the street.
Ahead, a floating litter hovered above the ground,decorated, cushioned, protected by knights whose long coats swayed with every step.
Below it, chaos.
A woman screamed, reaching toward the litter.
"No! Not my daughter! Take me instead!"
Her husband lay behind her, pinned by a knight's sword buried deep in his thigh. Blood spread around him in a sticky pool.
"Get lost, bitch," another knight spat, raising his blade.
"Kill me if you must,just let them go!" the man sobbed, shaking, his fingers clawing at the dirt.
"Cut his other leg," a knight ordered.
The sword was ripped free again. The man screamed once, then twice,until his voice broke into raw, animal sobs.
"I'll go!" the older daughter cried suddenly. "Just… stop."
She stepped forward, shaking, hands raised.
Beside her, little Lysa clutched a red ball, too confused to understand,too young to be spared the sight.
"No!" the mother screamed as the knights dragged the man back. "Not her! PLEASE!"
The older sister turned. Her face twisted, trembling.
Then she hardened.
"Take care of Mother and Lysa," she whispered to her father. "Thank you… for everything."
Lysa ran after her. "Sister! Don't go! I'll be good,I'll listen...I'll do whatever you say!"
Her sister faltered. For a heartbeat, guilt flickered across her face.
Then she muttered coldly, "Let go."
A flicker of shimmering energy burst from her hand,spinning Lysa away, tumbling onto the dirt.
"You know…" the girl said, eyes wet but voice sharp. "I never liked you. You were always a shame."
With that, she stepped into the litter.
Inside, a man waited. His bracelet caught the light,a thick silver band shaped like two serpents devouring each other's tails.
He touched her lips with that same hand, grinning.
Lysa lay sobbing in the dust until her mother dragged her close, both shaking with grief.
The litter rose.
"WAIT!" the father roared, dragging himself with his hands, leaving a streak of blood behind. "DON'T LEAVE US!"
Something fluttered loose from the rising litter.
A scrap of cloth.
He crawled to it, snatching it up with trembling hands.
A torn piece of his daughter's dress,shredded. Stained.
When he understood...
His scream shattered the morning.
A scream older than grief.
A scream deeper than death.