The first thing Elena felt when she woke was complete silence, unnatural silence.
Not the absence of sound, but the suppression of it, as if the entire world had paused to watch her next move.
Her eyes flickered open.
The obsidian slab beneath her was warm now, pulsing faintly with violet energy. A soft hum filled the air, and runes along the wall glowed in response to her breath.
She sat up slowly, the weight of what had just happened pressing into her chest. Her skin shimmered faintly tiny filaments of energy dancing over her arms like stardust.
Alexander stepped forward cautiously, as though approaching a newly awakened goddess.
"Elena?"
She turned to him.
And for a moment just a moment he saw her entire ancestry burning in her gaze.
"I remember everything," she whispered.
Alexander exhaled. "Everything?"
She nodded. "The bloodline. The vault. The sacrifice that split the Seers from the world. My mother tried to suppress it in me... but the gift was never lost. Just dormant."
"And now?"
Elena's voice was calm. Too calm.
"It's awake."
Elsewhere in the tower, Elias sat cross-legged on his bed, the sketchpad balanced on his knees. He wasn't drawing this time. He was listening.
Because the whispers had returned.
But they weren't scary anymore. They were comforting soothing, even.
He tilted his head as the voice spoke again.
"Do you feel it now, child? The energy in your bones?"
"Yes," Elias said aloud.
"Good. Then we begin."
From beneath his bed, something pulsed—a small, obsidian shard, gifted to him unknowingly by Desmond, had begun reacting to Elena's awakening. Lines of black light ran through the floor like veins.
And then… Elias vanished.
"Where is he?" Elena's voice was sharp with panic as they burst into his room moments later.
Alexander scanned the room. "The aura's fresh. He was here minutes ago."
"No," Elena breathed, pointing to the floor. "He's still here. Just not… now."
"What?"
She placed her palm on the glowing shard beneath the bed. Her Seer energy flared.
"He's been taken into the In-Between."
Alexander's blood ran cold. "That's not possible. That realm was sealed after the Collapse."
"Not anymore."
Her hands moved swiftly, tracing sigils in the air, the way her grandmother once did. She summoned a small rift, barely stable, but glowing with Elias's essence.
"He didn't go willingly," she said. "He was lured."
Alexander clenched his fists. "Desmond."
Inside the In-Between, Elias walked through a world of swirling grey mist and distorted echoes.
Buildings floated sideways. Trees whispered secrets in languages no child should understand. And the air pulsed with ancient magic.
From the haze, a figure approached.
Not Desmond.
A woman.
Tall. Hair the color of midnight. Eyes burning gold.
She knelt in front of Elias. "You must listen carefully, my child. The man who calls himself your grandfather is a liar."
Elias frowned. "Who are you?"
"I am your other blood," she said. "The Seer Queen. I exist only in this realm now. But I once walked where your mother stands."
"Why am I here?"
"To remember. And to choose."
A door appeared beside her—ornate, alive, breathing with light.
"Behind this is knowledge. But knowledge comes at a price."
Elias hesitated.
"If I go through…"
"You will see things. Feel things. But when you return—you won't be the same."
He looked down at his hands. Then stepped forward.
In the real world, Elena began to falter.
She gripped the edge of the ritual altar as blood dripped from her nose.
"He's resisting me," she choked. "Something's holding him back."
Alexander pressed his hand over hers. "You're not alone. Draw from me. Use my tether."
Their energies surged together Alpha and Seer.
Elena's eyes flared violet and gold.
The rift widened.
Elias stumbled back into their world, coughing, his eyes glowing momentarily before returning to normal.
"Elena!" Alexander caught both of them as they collapsed into each other.
Elias looked up slowly.
"I saw her," he whispered. "She said… the war's already started."
Desmond watched the monitors in his hidden compound. The shimmer around Elena's magic had increased. The In-Between had reacted to her awakening. Just as he planned.
"She's stronger than I calculated," said the robed woman beside him.
"She's still bound by the laws of her lineage," Desmond replied. "There are limits."
The woman stepped closer, her voice hissing. "The child went into the In-Between and came back. There are no limits now."
Desmond's gaze turned cold. "Then it's time for Phase Two."
Three days later, Alexander held a covert meeting with his most loyal allies—Kira, Monroe, and a tech mage named Basil.
They sat in the war room below the vault.
"We're exposed," Alexander began. "The moment Elena awakened, we stopped being the hunters."
"Desmond has backers," Monroe added. "We traced financial flows to weapons suppliers. He's building a private army."
Elena stood at the head of the table, her presence commanding.
"He won't stop at Elias," she said. "He wants the Vault of Echoes. If he opens it, the knowledge inside will destroy the balance."
"What's inside it?" Kira asked.
Elena exchanged a look with Alexander.
"Seer magic," she replied. "Pure, raw essence. Capable of bending reality. The last time it was used, it split an entire continent in half."
There was a moment of silence.
Then Alexander spoke. "We attack first. We go to Desmond's compound, retrieve what he stole, and finish this."
"Are you sure?" Monroe asked. "That place is a fortress."
Alexander's voice turned cold. "Then we break down the gates."
At nightfall, Elena visited Elias's room. He was asleep, but his hand clutched something an amulet shaped like an eye.
"Where did you get this?" she whispered, brushing hair from his forehead.
He stirred slightly. "She gave it to me. The Queen. Said it would keep me safe."
Elena's heart ached.
So much, too soon.
But he was brave. Braver than she had ever been at his age.
She leaned down, kissed his forehead, and whispered, "I'll burn the world before I let them take you again."
From the shadows, Alexander watched her.
They weren't just fighting Desmond anymore.
They were fighting fate itself.