In the obsidian hall of the Broken Crown, high above the smoldering pits of the Forsaken Isles, Veltherion sat upon a throne carved from the bones of fallen gods. His jagged crown glowed with cursed runes, pulsing with sickly crimson light. Beside him, Queen Lorelei lounged like a serpent coiled in silks, her long talons tapping the armrest in tune with her rising irritation.
A shimmering screen of corrupted magic hovered in the air before them....Faenet.
It blazed with excitement and light, showing Rhiannan's newly built kingdom, her glowing baby bump, and her ever loyal court of misfits and monsters. The barracks. The village. The laughing children. The training soldiers. The buzzing trial of valor countdown.
Lorelei hissed, eyes narrowing. "Disgusting. She's playing goddess with her ragtag circus of consorts and rejects."
Veltherion grunted. "She's no goddess. Just a little girl with too many toys."
"But those toys include the relics now," she snapped. "And a prophecy that bends the realms around her womb."
He said nothing for a moment, staring into the vision of Emberreach's glowing lanterns and thriving people. Then slowly, a cruel grin curled his lip.
"We strike during the trial," Veltherion murmured, voice laced with rot. "Let the people see the truth of her, that she cannot protect them. That her light is an illusion."
Lorelei smirked, fangs showing. "Tear down their hope. Burn it to ash."
Veltherion stood and moved toward the great chasm just beyond his throne, a cursed volcano that belched sulfur and fire into the sky. He knelt and whispered something ancient and vile into the magma, his voice echoing like a curse through time.
The lava hissed and roared.
From the hellfire, twisted forms began to rise.
Undead, deformed demon warriors with melted armor fused to their bodies and weapons grown from bone. Eyes like burning coals, mouths stitched shut until battle. A volcanic army, born from hate and pain.
"The Bone Seer has foreseen many outcomes," Veltherion growled, "but if they finish growing in strength, our reign ends. We end it first."
He reached into the flames, pulling out a burning black seed pulsing with dark magic. With one breath, he cast it into the core of the volcano, and the army began to multiply.
"We'll unleash them during the trial, and not just to kill." Lorelei stood beside him now, her gown sizzling near the heat. "We'll shatter their trust. Crush their pride. And let the world watch the goddess bleed."
High above the realms, where stars breathed and comets bowed, Nythera, Goddess of Light and MoonBlood, stood barefoot on a glowing expanse of sky. Her silver hair floated like smoke, her celestial eyes narrowed as a sick ripple of darkness slithered across the constellations.
The air stank of rot and sulfur.
She turned slowly, her cloak of starlight billowing behind her. "The fool thinks I won't notice," she whispered.
Below, the magma pits of the Forsaken Isles churned like a hellmouth in labor. Nythera could see every twisted creature forming from bone, flame, and vile spellwork, Veltherion's grotesque little army. He thought he could unleash it in secret. He thought wrong.
Nythera raised her hand.
"Guardians," she whispered.
From the stars emerged six glowing beings, her personal protectors, forged from moonlight and the last breath of fallen titans. They hovered behind her like wrath given form.
"Send this," she commanded, her voice like a lullaby laced with doom.
A tidal wave of MoonBlood magic burst from the sky, streaking across dimensions like a divine comet. It hit the volcanic army mid formation, incinerating half of it on contact.
Screaming. Shattering. Melting.
Veltherion staggered back as the smoke curled around his throne. His scream ripped through realms as he tried to slam his magic into the veil separating their worlds.
Exactly what she wanted.
Nythera smirked, eyes glowing pure white. She reached into the tear he created and caught a tendril of his shadow. Before he could retract, she yanked hard, and dove straight into his mind.
He didn't see her coming.
She tore through every memory, every plan. The timing. The weakness in his bond to Lorelei. The secret pact he made with the Bone Seer. The cursed relic hidden in the Scorched Tomb. Everything.
When Veltherion finally roared and flung her out of his mind, it was already too late.
He collapsed into Lorelei's arms, bleeding magic and screaming curses.
Back in the sky, Nythera exhaled.
"Well then," she murmured, brushing stardust off her fingers. "I suppose we'll give the girl a little head start."
She closed her eyes, focusing on her chosen oracle.
Reyna awoke gasping for the second time that night, the vision crackling behind her eyes.
Lava. Screams. A dying army. Veltherion broken and Lorelei panicking.
She scrambled for her smart brain.
"I need to talk to Rhiannan," she whispered. "Now."
The castle was silent, moonlight spilling in soft blue ribbons across the stone floors. Most of the court slept soundly, bodies exhausted from the endless preparations and expansion of their kingdom.
Until the hallway thundered with footsteps.
Reyna burst through the bedroom doors without knocking, her chest heaving and eyes wild with divine fire. Her aura crackled. Sparks of moonlight shot from her fingers like warning shots.
"WAKE UP!"
Rhiannan jolted upright, instantly alert. Her mates were up in a heartbeat, Kaleb already shifting, Arwen reaching for his sword, Sable growling, fangs bared.
"What the actual fuck, Reyna?!" Azarion boomed, standing between her and Rhiannan like a living shield.
"Two visions," she gasped. "Back to back. One from the goddess, one from me."
"Talk," Rhiannan said, voice deadly calm. "Now."
Reyna grabbed her wrist. "Veltherion is growing a fucking undead demon army inside a volcano. Lorelei is with him. Watching Faenet. Mocking us. They want to attack during the trials to crush morale, make people think you can't protect them."
Rhiannan's heart slammed against her ribs.
"And the goddess?" Liam asked, voice tight.
"She struck first. Sent a divine blast of MoonBlood magic and wiped out half of the magma army. But she also… invaded his mind. She knows everything now. She sent that vision to me for a reason."
Rhiannan's eyes flashed.
"We need to act."
But before she could say another word, a cry ripped from her soul. "Gailia."
She snatched the crystal communicator and whispered a single word: "Answer."
Gailia's glowing face appeared in the orb, confused and sleepy, until Rhiannan's face told her everything.
"It's her, isn't it?" Gailia whispered. "My mother. She's with him."
"I'm so sorry," Rhiannan said softly.
Gailia let out a strangled sob and collapsed, falling backward as her dragon twins caught her and carried her from the screen.
Rhiannan gripped the sheets, the pain of watching her break slicing through her like steel.
Arwen's jaw clenched. His skin paled. His mother. The fucking Queen of Rot herself.
"She has to die," he said coldly, voice like a dagger. "And I want the honor."
Rhiannan reached for him, pulling him close. Kaleb joined, wrapping around her other side, her mates surrounding her in a shield of love and fury.
Azarion pressed a kiss to her bump. "We will protect what's ours."
Sable climbed into bed without a word, laying down and curling an arm over her hip. "Let the fuckers try."
Liam paced, fists clenched. "If they so much as look in your direction again, I'll burn their names from history."
One by one, her mates settled around her, pulling her into their warmth, their protection, their fury.
Reyna collapsed in a chair, eyes wide and wild, still glowing faintly.
"Thank you," Rhiannan whispered. "We'll be ready."
Outside the window, a storm rolled in, soft at first, like a whisper.
But it would grow.
So would they.
And when the king and queen of shadows came to strike… they'd find a goddess, her kingdom, and her lovers already waiting with teeth bared and hearts burning.