Zurich – Forgotten Chamber Beneath the Throne | 2:31 AM
The air had stilled. Even time seemed to hold its breath.
The glowing throne loomed behind Ethan, ancient symbols crawling across its surface like veins lit by prophecy.
Selina's eyes shimmered—not with tears, but with a fury too deep to name. Her lips parted slightly, chest rising and falling with barely controlled urgency. She took a step forward, but Ethan held up his hand.
"Don't come closer."
It shattered her—more than any betrayal, more than any bullet ever could.
That voice… her son's voice… it sounded older.
Not because of age.
Because of doubt.
Because Eclipse had wrapped his words around the boy like a noose made of silk.
"I don't know what to believe anymore," Ethan whispered.
And Selina felt it then—not fear, not grief.
But guilt.
For all the secrets.For all the protection that looked like control.For every time she had silenced the past instead of explaining it.
She had built an empire—but failed to build trust.
Her heart didn't break—it peeled, like old wallpaper in a forgotten room, revealing rot beneath what once looked whole.
Eclipse stepped forward, slow. Sure.
"You have two hands, Ethan," he said, smiling. "One for each of us."
The handprints on the throne began to pulse—blood-red for Eclipse, gold for Selina.
Selina spoke, voice low, trembling with rage.
"This isn't a test of worth. This is a manipulation."
"Everything is," Eclipse replied, calm as poison.
Ethan turned his face from one to the other—his lips quivering, fists clenched, a single tear sliding down his cheek.
Then—
He stepped toward the throne.
Placed one hand in the red.
Selina didn't scream.
She didn't collapse.
She stood still—like a monument, like a storm's eye—while her entire world cracked open.
And then… Ethan turned his head.
"You told me once, Mom…" he whispered."The truth doesn't destroy us. Hiding it does."
He placed his second hand in the gold.
The room shook.
Symbols flared.The throne let out a low, inhuman hum.
And then—nothing.
Silence.
Eclipse stared. Confused.
"That's not—how it's supposed to—"
A beam of light rose from the throne, splitting into two:
One struck Eclipse—who screamed.
The second surrounded Ethan and Selina, lifting them gently above the ground.
A voice—ancient, echoing—spoke in a language no one had heard in centuries.
But Selina understood every word.
"Balance chosen. Lineage corrected. In blood and fire, the heir is forged."
When they landed, Eclipse was gone.
Not dead.
Vanished.
And in the silence, Ethan turned to his mother and said:
"Now that I've chosen both… what happens to me?"
Selina's breath hitched.Because the light had left something behind on his palms—symbols, carved into his skin.
And her instincts screamed:
He's no longer just my son.
He's something more.