The quake did not stop.
Stone groaned beneath their feet like some beast rumbling in its sleep. The floor trembled again but not violently, but persistently, as though the world itself was holding its breath.
A straight, thick line of gold shimmered across her skin like a brand carved by fate itself( an X mark). It hadn't been there before.
"Han Liuhua's legacy, mom's legacy" she whispered.
The earth gave a low, guttural rumble, Lucian hadn't moved. His gaze flickered between her face and the gate slowly lighting up behind her, the ground beneath them still shifting subtly.
"That mark," he murmured, "I've seen it on Han Liuhua once".
Allison said. "It's the Han Line, my mother's line. It appeared when the Gate of Origins trembled. When… "
As if summoned by her words, the tremors deepened,a dull crack echoing somewhere in the walls. Dust rained softly from the ceiling.
Lucian stepped forward, his voice hushed.
"You carry both the First Flame from your mother and the Binding from the seal."
Allison didn't flinch.
"And you," she said, "are the son of the Devil."She had just heard a whisper, she wasn't so sure.
A silence heavier than magic settled between them underscored by the persistent groan of stone beneath memory.
Lucian didn't deny it.
"Elarian is not just a name. He's not a monster from stories. He's my father and he's no longer asleep."
---
Years Ago
The boy was born under a sky where the stars turned their faces. His mother, a witch of moon-blood hid him from the world, from Elarian, afraid of what he might become.
But the devil always claims his own.
Elarian came cloaked in smoke and hunger, his voice too low for mortals to survive and yet, when he saw the child, he smiled.
"He will be mine. Or he will be broken."
But the boy Lucian refused both fates when he grew older.
---
Lucian expression was unreadable, the firelight from her mark reflecting in his eyes, the ground still shivering faintly underfoot.
"He's watched you since the womb. Even back then, your mother knew it. That's why she asked me to stay. To make sure the power stayed yours and not his."
Allison gave a nod of understanding.
"He can't have me," she said.
A moment passed. Her hand trembled at her side but her spine didn't.
She was the daughter of Han Liuhua. she would not kneel to darkness.
---
The Elarian stood far above the mountains
He stood again at the mountain's edge, watching the wind bend to Allison pulse. The tremors had reached even here, the peaks cracked faintly, disturbed by some long-buried power.
"She wears it now," he whispered. "The golden X. She should be fully awakened."
The silver-eyed man beside him bowed slightly.
"She will have to choose," the silver-eyed man said.
"Between what?"
"Between power and purity. Between fate and love."
Lu Villa — Nightfall
Inside were sketches of the golden mark drawn decades before Allison was born.
Han Liuhua had seen it in visions, beside a note:
"If she bears it, then she is the gate and the flame.
The key and the curse.
And Elarian would want to claim her"
Beatrice slammed the book shut. She was confused. The gate was portal but if the keys are in her then she's the gate ?
She looked out the window, where the horizon glowed strangely like fire behind clouds.
A low quake rippled through the ground.
"Allison ," she whispered. "Don't let him take it from you."
She gripped the edge of the window frame. For a split second, the stars blinked not out of existence, but as if they had turned their gaze to Earth.
Beatrice eyes narrowed. "She is the key. She's the passage to the door."
Not just carrying the power to open the door. Not possessing it like a lockbox or a guardian.
She was the lock, and the doorframe itself.
And that meant…
She was the main vessel.
---
Beneath the Sacred Earth
Allison's breath was shallow, but her heart seems to beat louder than the quake.
The golden X still shimmered across her face, glowing with threads of ancient flame. Her skin burned not with pain but memory. Like it wasn't her first time standing here.
"Do you feel it?" Lucian asked.
Allison didn't answer. She could hear voices - old, echoing, layered over each other like an ancestral choir.
'The flame returns when the gate stirs.
A child born of the sealed blood will awaken all threads.'
"The mark isn't just a symbol," she murmured. " I am the gate."
Lucian stepped closer. "And Elarian intends to use you to control both realms."
She looked at him, her eyes glinting.n"What happens if he succeeds?"
He didn't hesitate. "The Gate will feed on you. Not just your power but your will. He'll chain your soul to it and walk freely in both world through you."
"And if I destroy it?"
A pause.
"You die or mom can find a spell to help you detach yourself from being a vessel " .
" Can she ?"
Lucian didn't answer. He wasn't sure she could.
---
The silver-eyed man tightened his grip on his staff. "She has not chosen yet."
Elarian said nothing. A crack of light tore through the clouds behind them, illuminating the lines of his hollow face.
His voice was like thunder folding into itself.
" She knows what she carries"
The silver-eyed man turned. "And if she chooses you?"
Elarian lips curled faintly.
---
Lu Villa — Moments Later
Beatrice burst into Allison's room.
Ren was already there, clutching Tianlei in his arms. The child was asleep, but his little fists were clenched tight as if dreaming of storms.
She was shocked to see him there. She thought he never acknowledged his child and he was their enemy. But she needed his understanding on something.
"Look at this," Beatrice said, slamming the journal on the bed.
Ren skimmed the pages, his lips tightening. "So… she's the key and the gate?"
Beatrice nodded, breath shallow. "Allison was never supposed to just wield the First Flame. The prophecy wasn't about inheritance. It was about rebirth of the Flame coming in a physical form."
"And Elarian?"
Beatrice hesitated.
"Wants to merge with her," she said finally. "Not possess, not control. Fuse and become unstoppable."
Ren's face darkened.
He didn't know Elarian in person but he knew that the silver eyed man worked for Elarian. A master manipulator. He was grateful that he wasn't as consumed as Li Anya.
---
Allison stepped forward. Her mark pulsed with light.
"Do you trust me?" she asked without turning.
Lucian didn't answer immediately.
"With more than my life."
The gate cracked, light spilling out like molten threads. Gold and red.
Lucian reached for her, but the light pushed him back gently, but firmly.
Allison was alone now, standing before the Gate.
"I am Allison .
Daughter of Han Liuhua.
Bearer of the First Flame.
I reject Elarian.
I reject fate"
The Gate trembled, resisting.
"And if I must live," she whispered, "then I'll live on my own terms."
The mark exploded in light — the X searing upward into a tower of flame.
Somewhere far above, the stars blinked again.
---
Elarian staggered back, a line of smoke slashing across his chest.
"She's fighting it."
The silver-eyed man didn't move.
"She is rejecting your will."
Elarian's face contorted, fury and desire locked in a celestial snarl. He had thought she was soft hearted.
Lu Villa
Ren clutched Tianlei tighter as the entire house rattled.
Beatrice didn't blink.
"She's doing it," she whispered. "She's choosing to fight him."
Gate of Origins
Allison fell to her knees, sweat pouring from her skin, fire coiling from her back like wings she hadn't grown yet.
And then they heard a voice.
"You are not the gate anymore. You are the keeper.
The key is within you but your will decides who may open it."
Allison blinked, turned her back."Understood". She said before walking out with Lucian trailing behind her.