Ceres frowned as she glanced at the booklet Luna had placed in front of her. She was busy rearranging the bouquet of flowers Zeus had given her, while her little assistant lay fast asleep on the bed, exhausted from the day's elaborate tea party.
"What is this, kitten?" Ceres asked, picking up the booklet, her eyes narrowing with mild curiosity.
"Tofu asked me to give that to you. Comet will explain," Luna replied as she sat across from her and began assisting with the floral arrangement.
Outside the Empress's chamber, Comet waited in silence, his posture respectful but alert.
"You may enter, Comet," Ceres called, without looking up.
"Thank you, Your Highness," he said, bowing deeply as he stepped inside.
"This book has been passed down in our bloodline to the eldest son," Comet began, his voice reverent. "I gave it to Cosmo, since he was mated to three demi-humans at the time, and I believed he would father the next heir. I was already in service to Mistress Luna then. According to our father, this book once belonged to the Celestial Solmara himself. It's said to contain the true account of the world's creation."
Ceres took the booklet into her hands. To her surprise, she felt nothing, no pulse of energy, no divine aura. Just an ordinary book.
She handed it to Seiryu, who stood tall behind her.
"You said you once walked with Solmara. Is this his?" she asked.
Seiryu took the booklet, bringing it close to his face. He sniffed it delicately, as if the scent would tell more than the magic.
"I don't believe so, Your Highness," he said, returning it. "There's a faint Celestial energy, but I'm certain it's not from Lord Solmara."
"Then why would Cosmo give it to me?" she pressed.
Comet stepped forward. "According to him, when he saw you yesterday… the book reacted. It responded to your presence."
Ceres tilted her head, thoughtful. "Why didn't you offer it to Caelum instead?"
At that, Comet hesitated. His gaze flicked toward Luna, then dropped to the floor with a sigh.
"Because neither Cosmo nor I ever felt it react to the Demon Lord's presence. And more importantly… we believed that what's written in that book could reveal the true reason the Demon Lord came to Solmara. If he discovered it, he, and his children, might choose to leave." Comet's voice faltered. "We didn't want that."
Ceres leaned back slightly, intrigued. "What changed?"
Comet took a steadying breath. "We always knew the Demon Lord's family awaited the arrival of his beloved. And now… since you're here in Solmara, there is no longer a reason for them to leave."
He suddenly dropped to his knee before Luna. "Forgive me, Mistress, for my selfishness."
Ceres raised a teasing brow, glancing toward Luna with a knowing smirk.
"Mother," Luna said, narrowing her eyes. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not happening. And you know why."
"Of course I do," Ceres grinned. "I've personally experienced just how possessive Tuf can get. But let's not crush Comet's hopes just yet. Who knows, maybe one day, your Tofu softens a little?"
She winked.
Comet's lips curved slightly, even as he remained in a bow. A flicker of longing danced across his features before he lowered his gaze again.
Luna groaned softly, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Stand up," she said firmly. "What's done is done. But just so we're clear, if you're right and you kept this from me, there will be consequences."
"I'll accept any punishment, so long as I can stay by your side, Mistress," Comet said sincerely.
Luna rolled her eyes again, this time more dramatically.
Ceres, meanwhile, returned her attention to the strange little book. She tried to pry it open… but it wouldn't budge. It was sealed tight, as if by an invisible lock.
"How do you open it?" she asked.
Without a word, Comet stepped forward. Using his sharp nail, he pricked his fingertip and let a single drop of blood fall onto the center of the book's cover.
Instantly, a crimson glow spread across the surface.
The lock dissolved.
And the book slowly opened.
Ceres's frown deepened as her eyes scanned the strange markings on the open page.
"I can't read this," she muttered, glancing up at Comet. "Can you?"
Comet shook his head solemnly. "Though it has been passed down through our bloodline for generations… none of us have ever been able to read it."
Ceres turned to Luna and Seiryu, silently asking with her eyes. They both examined the page briefly, but shared the same response, gentle shakes of the head.
It was just ink to them. No language they recognized.
Ceres sighed and took the booklet back, flipping to the very first page.
As her fingers brushed the edge, a whisper bloomed in her mind, a voice she hadn't heard in weeks.
'The Veiled Chronicle of Lucifer & Lilith: A Testament by Uriel, Keeper of Heaven's Secrets.'
The words echoed clearly in her thoughts.
Her heart stilled.
'Ori? You can read it?' she asked in her mind, startled.
'Yes, Your Highness,' came the calm, ageless voice of her inner guardian.
'Wow. It's been a long time since I heard anything from you that wasn't "I cannot answer that question, Your Highness." Why now?' she teased.
A pause, then the same familiar reply.
'I cannot answer that question, Your Highness.'
Ceres raised a brow, her lips twitching with annoyance and amusement. Typical Ori.
But at least… she now had a way forward.
"Mother?" Luna's voice brought her back to the room. She blinked and turned toward her daughter, who had noticed her zoning out.
"I may know a way to read it," Ceres said quietly, her gaze distant but resolute. "But I need to concentrate."
Luna nodded without question.
Ceres picked up the booklet again and rose from her seat. She stepped quietly toward the veranda, her bare feet whispering against the polished floor as she moved. Alone now, with only the still evening wind brushing her skin, she sank into one of the chairs facing the Black Tower.
She held the book close to her chest and whispered in her mind, 'Read it to me, Ori.'
And Ori obeyed.
'The Veiled Chronicle of Lucifer & Lilith: A Testament by Uriel, Keeper of Heaven's Secrets'
'In the beginning, before time bore names and stars took form, there was the Creator, Aetherion, the Origin of All Light. From His breath came the Celestials, first among them the Morning Star, Lucifer, most radiant, most beloved.
And from the first sigh of the void came Lilith, born not from bone nor dust, but from desire and defiance, shaped in the Creator's mirror image of freedom.'
Ceres felt a strange pulse in her chest. The words didn't just echo in her mind, they settled in her bones.
'Lucifer, the bearer of light.
Lilith, the flame that dared to burn without permission.'
'They were never meant to meet, yet they found each other in the seams of silence. In her, Lucifer found the only shadow he could touch without fear, and in him, Lilith saw the only light that did not demand her to bow.
Together, they became a flame so perfect that darkness fled, and therein lay the problem.'
Ceres gripped the arms of the chair. The story felt… intimate. Dangerous. Ancient.
'The Creator, in all His vastness, loved His son. He needed Lucifer to be what he was made to be, not only the Morning Star, but the Contrast, the Divider, the Shadow-Caster.
"For how shall My children know the light," He whispered to the stars, "if no one walks the path of shadow?"'
'But with Lilith, Lucifer could no longer be that shadow. He refused the cold. He refused the role.
And so the Creator did what He must.
He tore them apart.'
A wind stirred through the palace. Ceres didn't move.
'Lilith was cast into sleep across dimensions unknown, veiled in time, erased from memory even in the realm of angels. Her name was stripped from tongues and tablets.
Lucifer was left behind with his radiance, and his rage.'
'He fell not from pride, but from longing.'
Ceres sat completely still, the weight of those words crushing against her chest like a distant ache.
'While the other Celestials created their own realms to learn the Creator's will, Lucifer built his world not to understand, but to remember.
He named it Solmara, meaning "Light Seeks Her."
A world filled with wonders and war, sorrow and splendor, every mountain carved like the curve of her smile, every storm a scream of his grief. He built it not as a lesson, but as an offering. A kingdom to give her the moment she returned. A throne for the Queen who never got to reign.
He carved the sky in her image. And then he waited.'
The wind outside the veranda went still, as if even the breeze held its breath.
Ceres sat unmoving, fingers curled around the edges of the glowing booklet, Ori's voice, calm, precise, echoing in her mind like scripture unearthed from the deep.
'In the oldest temple of Solmara, guarded by the Crimson Bloodline, an ancient scripture lies hidden. It is written in a language that only a soul favored by the heavens can read. Within its pages, a single prophecy endures.
"She shall return… when the Three Threads are tied."'
Her heart pounded.
'The First Thread. The Blood of Adam's Kin.
She will be reborn through the bloodline of Adam, but not just any, he must be of kings, of lines that remember the cost of love. He is a man who waits, endlessly, unshaken by time or temptation, bearing the curse of longing in silence.'
Zeus.
It had to be him.
'The Second Thread. The Tear of Heaven's Favorite.
A soul beloved by the heavens, born of grace and tragedy. One who weeps not for herself but for others. Her tear, shed in pure, selfless sorrow, will light the path back to Lilith's soul.'
Ceres pressed a hand to her chest.
The ache there was familiar.
Too familiar.
'The Final Thread. The Sacrifice of the Shadow-Bearer.
One born of shadow must offer their body and magic to veil Lilith's return, creating a divine shroud so that even the Creator may not see her reawakening. They will cloak her with darkness not to hide her, but to protect her.'
Luna.
Her curse.
Her gift.
'And finally, when she takes breath again, she must be named.
Not Lilith, but a new name, whispered in love by a soul forgotten by the heavens. A soul who once lost everything, and remembers what it means to want nothing.'
Ceres's lips parted in a silent gasp. Her breath shook as realization fell like thunder through her soul.
'Lucifer does not move hastily. The millennia have made him patient, ruthlessly so. He walks through every age of Solmara, wearing a thousand names, planting myths, forging bloodlines, watching for souls that shine in darkness.
And when the time is right, when the three threads draw near…
He will come.
Not with war, nor fire, but with a gift in his hands.
A crown not forged in Hell, but in longing.
A world not made to conquer, but to love her freely.
Solmara itself.
A world he will place at her feet when she returns.
He does not want thrones.
He wants her hand in his.
And this time, when the stars tremble and the Creator turns His gaze to stop them…
He will not find her.
She will be veiled.
She will be free.
She will be his.'
Ori's voice faded, the final word lingering in Ceres's soul like a caress too tender to bear.
She didn't speak. She couldn't.
Silent tears ran down her cheeks, slow and hot.
Her chest ached, not with confusion, not with fear, but with something far more damning.
Understanding.
Lucifer hadn't just created Solmara to understand. He had crafted it as a monument of love. A prayer disguised as a battlefield. A trap not for his enemies, but for fate itself.
Lucifer wasn't just playing the long game.
He wasn't just defying the divine.
He was gambling.
Not against them.
But against the Creator Himself.
And in that gamble… they weren't the pawns.
They were the allies he was silently counting on.
The deal with Zeus…
The strange patience.
The divine waiting.
It had never been about saving the demi-humans.
No.
Lucifer wanted Zeus to wait, because he knew Zeus would pass the test.
Because he knew Zeus was the First Thread.
Because his true aim… was to bring back the woman he loved.
Zeus.
The First Thread.
Ceres.
The Second.
Luna… the Final Thread.
Ceres exhaled shakily, her voice barely a whisper, bitter and stunned as she looked up at the night sky.
"Fuck you, Lucifer. How can I hate you now?"
The wind carried her words into the stars, and somewhere in the shadows beyond time,
someone was listening.