The Cradle Keepers stood like sentinels of eternity — cloaked in flowing robes made of woven constellations, their faces hidden beneath hoods laced with cosmic light. They neither bowed nor spoke. They simply watched.
Then, one stepped forward.
A woman, though her form shimmered like flame wrapped in silk. Her voice echoed in the soul more than in the ears.
"You come to seek answers," she said. "But this is not a place of comfort. The Valley does not give… it reveals."
Her gaze turned to Seraphina. "You, the Bearer of the Seed, must face your fear."
Then to Ravon. "And you, Son of the Ruined Flame, must face your heart."
Before either could speak, the ground beneath them shifted.
Not crumbled — shifted. As if reality itself bent, unraveling around their feet. The stars above spun wildly, and suddenly…
They were no longer in the valley.
---
Seraphina stood alone.
The air was cold.
She looked down.
Her hands were stained red.
And before her… was her child — older now, cloaked in shadow, eyes blazing with fire.
The child looked at her with sorrow. "You failed me."
Seraphina stumbled back, breath catching. "No… I would never—"
The child lifted their hand, and the world behind them burned — cities falling, oceans boiling, the Veiled Gate yawning open behind their shoulders.
"You let fear guide you. You tried to protect me… by controlling me."
Seraphina dropped to her knees. "I only wanted to keep you safe…"
"And in doing so," the child said, "you denied me the chance to choose."
Then the child's form shattered into dust.
And Seraphina screamed.
---
Ravon, elsewhere, was in a place he hadn't seen in centuries.
The battlefield of his betrayal.
The day he first took a life to save his kingdom — and awakened the demon in his blood.
He turned — and saw himself, cloaked in the full, terrifying glory of his former self — red-eyed, fanged, drenched in flame.
"Do you really think she can love you forever?" the shadow version snarled. "When she sees what you are?"
"I'm not that man anymore," Ravon hissed.
"You are me."
"I was you. But she made me more."
The shadow lunged — blade drawn — and Ravon, without raising a weapon, opened his arms.
"If you must kill me to prove I've changed, then do it."
The blade stopped, inches from his chest.
The shadow stared… then vanished in smoke.
---
Both Seraphina and Ravon gasped awake — returned to the valley.
They were kneeling, hand in hand.
The Cradle Keepers stood unmoving… until finally, the woman spoke again.
"You have faced what most never dare. You passed through fire… and returned with truth."
Another Keeper stepped forward, taller than the rest, with wings folded across their back like living moonlight.
"The child you carry will bring balance… only if you remain balanced. Between power and love. Between fear… and faith."
Seraphina stood shakily, heart pounding. "And if we fail?"
The Keeper's voice was grave. "Then the Veiled Gate will open… and what lies behind it will not care for your love."
---
A cold wind swept through the valley.
Above them, the stars shifted again — this time aligning into a new, strange symbol: an eye weeping flame.
The Watcher stepped forward, his voice low. "Your child has already been sensed by what sleeps beyond the Gate."
He turned to Seraphina.
"It is no longer a question of if they will come. It is when."