The night after the storm brought no rest.
Eform's condition stabilized just enough for Helios to breathe again — but the peace it gave her was thin, fragile, a single thread fraying in silence.
The empire continued to move under her command. Orders were obeyed, trade resumed, and her enemies trembled — but her mind wasn't on conquest anymore. It was on the faint, uneven rhythm of a heart that could stop at any moment.
In her private chamber, the room bathed in moonlight, Helios stood before the great map of the world etched across the wall. Pins and marks dotted it like scars — alliances, rebellions, territories under her rule.
But one mark glowed faintly red: The House of Nox Aeternum — a forgotten sect whispered to deal in forbidden rites.
Kael entered quietly, setting a report on her desk. "You asked me to look into it. The House of Nox… it's not a place, not anymore. It's a cult, scattered and hunted. But some of its practices still linger — resurrection, mind binding, memory transference."
Helios didn't turn. "Memory transference?"
Kael hesitated. "It's said… it can restore life. But it demands a price. The soul that returns doesn't always remember what it left behind."
Silence filled the room. The moonlight caught her eyes — hard, unyielding, but glimmering with something else.
"How long," she asked, "until I can find someone who knows the ritual?"
Kael shook his head. "My Empress, this isn't wise. You know what the Council will do if they find out you're—"
She turned sharply, her voice low, cutting through the air like a blade. "Let them try. If they stand between me and his life, I will burn the council to ash."
Her tone left no room for doubt.
Kael bowed his head. "I'll make the arrangements."
When he left, Helios sank into her chair. The flicker of candlelight danced across her face — revealing the woman beneath the crown. She took out a small locket from her coat. Inside, a single faded photo of her and Eform during their early days — before the empire, before the crown, before the darkness.
Her thumb brushed against his face. "You kept me alive when I wanted to disappear," she whispered. "So now I'll keep you alive, even if it means you forget me."
Outside, the wind howled softly through the balcony doors, carrying faint whispers — not from the living, but from the world she was about to disturb.
And somewhere in the depths of the city's ruins, cloaked figures stirred — sensing her intent.
A voice echoed faintly through the night:
"The Empress of Shadows seeks the light of the forbidden… she will pay dearly for it."
The candles flickered out. Darkness filled the chamber.
And Helios, unshaken, whispered back into the void,
"Then let the darkness collect its due."