The Council did not sleep.
Aeris knew this because the White Cell pulsed brighter with every passing hour.
They were feeding power into the temple.
Preparing.
For purification.
Or execution.
She sat unmoving within her seal, exhaustion pressing against her bones. Across from her, Kael remained still, eyes half-lidded as if resting.
He wasn't.
She could feel it.
The shadow inside her responded differently when he was near. Not submissive. Not hostile.
Aware.
"You said both sides erased something," she said quietly.
The luminar stone hummed.
Kael opened his eyes.
"Yes."
"What?"
He studied her for a long moment, as if measuring what she could endure.
"Three centuries ago, there were not two Orders," he said.
Her brows furrowed.
"That's impossible. The Great Sundering divided Light and Dark. It's written in the Temple archives."
Kael's lips curved faintly.
"Written by whom?"
She didn't answer.
He continued.
"Before the Sundering, magic was not separated. It was one current. One source. It had aspects, yes—but not war."
Her pulse slowed.
"That's a Noctari myth."
"It is history."
The luminar runes along the walls flared, reacting to the rise of shadow in the conversation.
Aeris felt something tug inside her memory.
Fragments.
Whispers from the night before.
Unbalanced worlds create balance eventually.
"If that's true," she said carefully, "then why divide it?"
Kael's expression hardened.
"Control."
The word settled heavy in the air.
"Light feared what it could not regulate," he continued. "Shadow feared annihilation. So the High Luminaries of that era performed a ritual."
Aeris's breath caught.
"What ritual?"
"They split the current."
The chamber trembled faintly.
"Light was declared pure. Shadow declared corrupt. Those born with both…"
His gaze met hers.
"…were executed."
The word scraped through her chest.
"That's not possible," she whispered. "There would be records."
"There are," Kael said. "Hidden."
A memory flickered suddenly in her mind.
A mural in the Hall of Ascension.
A faded section near the ceiling she'd once asked about as a child.
Her tutor had changed the subject.
"They erased them," she murmured.
"They erased balance," Kael corrected.
Silence fell.
The light in the chamber seemed less steady now.
Less confident.
Outside, distant voices rose.
The Council chamber was not far above.
Aeris focused inward.
The light within her felt structured. Ordered.
The shadow felt vast.
But neither felt wrong.
If anything—
They felt incomplete without each other.
"You believe I'm proof of this?" she asked.
Kael's voice lowered.
"I believe you are the consequence."
Before she could respond—
The White Cell door burst open.
High Archon Valerius entered with three Council elders.
Their robes shimmered with concentrated luminar glyphs.
Execution robes.
Aeris rose slowly.
Kael did not move.
The High Archon's gaze swept over her like a blade.
"We have reached a conclusion."
Her heartbeat thundered.
"You will undergo Separation."
The word struck colder than chains.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It means," one elder said sharply, "we will extract the corruption from your body."
The shadow inside her recoiled violently.
"No," she said instantly.
"It is the only path to preserve your life," Valerius said.
Kael laughed softly.
All eyes snapped to him.
"You cannot separate what was never meant to be divided," he said.
"Silence, Noctari," Valerius snapped.
The elders stepped forward, raising their hands.
The runes on the floor expanded outward, overlapping her seal.
Aeris felt it immediately.
The light inside her surged forward obediently.
The shadow resisted.
Pain tore through her chest as the two forces were forcibly pulled apart.
She dropped to her knees, screaming.
"Hold the shadow!" an elder shouted.
Golden beams struck her shoulders, pinning her down.
Kael's chains flared brighter as he tried to move.
"Stop!" Aeris gasped.
The shadow began to peel from her skin like black smoke being ripped from bone.
It felt like losing air.
Like drowning in reverse.
The light expanded violently as it was isolated.
Too violently.
Cracks splintered across the luminar walls.
The chamber shook.
"Contain it!" someone yelled.
The extracted shadow mass formed in the air before her—
Not chaotic.
Not monstrous.
It hovered.
Dense.
Alive.
And then—
It turned.
Not toward the Council.
Toward her.
The shadow rushed back into her chest with explosive force.
Every rune in the chamber shattered.
The elders were thrown backward into the walls.
The High Archon crashed against a column.
Kael's chains snapped.
The White Cell went dark for the first time in history.
Real darkness.
Thick.
Breathing.
Aeris floated inches above the floor, both eyes blazing now—gold and black intertwined.
Her voice echoed layered and immense.
"You cannot tear the sky in half and call it holy."
The words were not entirely hers.
The temple trembled.
Above them, the Blessing Flame roared.
Half the city's torches extinguished at once.
When Aeris dropped back to the floor—
The luminar stone around her seal was cracked beyond repair.
The elders lay stunned.
Kael stood.
Free.
And he did not look surprised.
He looked vindicated.
Footsteps pounded above.
Guards.
Chaos spreading through the temple.
Aeris stared at her hands, shaking.
"I didn't mean to—"
"You defended yourself," Kael said calmly.
"They will kill me now."
"Yes," he agreed.
Honesty, not cruelty.
"They will call this proof of corruption."
"They attacked first!"
"And history belongs to the victors."
The door at the end of the hall burst open.
White guards flooded in.
Spells charged in their palms.
Kael stepped closer to her.
"You must choose now."
"Choose what?"
"Stay and die proving them wrong."
Or—
His hand extended toward her.
"Leave and learn the truth."
Behind the guards—
Her father appeared.
Sword drawn.
His eyes locked on hers.
Pain. Conflict. Duty.
"Aeris," he said hoarsely, "stand down."
The shadow inside her whispered.
They will not stop.
The light inside her pulsed.
You cannot heal a blade aimed at your throat.
Guards advanced.
Spells flared.
Kael's hand remained steady.
For one suspended second
She was still the High Justicar's daughter.
Then a guard released a binding spear of concentrated Light
Not at Kael.
At her.
Instinct took over.
Shadow lashed outward, shattering the spear midair.
The backlash knocked the guard unconscious.
The temple erupted.
And Aeris made her choice.
She took Kael's hand.
Darkness surged.
Light followed.
And the White Cell exploded in a vortex of intertwined magic
Leaving only fractured stone behind.
Outside the temple walls
Two figures emerged from a collapsing wave of shadow.
Aeris stumbled forward onto cold marble steps.
Kael steadied her.
Behind them, the High Temple alarms began to ring.
Across the city
White banners trembled.
War had just become inevitable.
Kael looked at her.
"No more cages."
Her breathing steadied.
"No more lies."
Above them, storm clouds gathered unnaturally fast.
And in the highest chamber of the temple
The High Archon rose slowly from the rubble.
His expression no longer fearful.
But furious.
"Prepare the Purge," he ordered.
And this time
It would not be quiet.