The Sanctum of Reflection, deep within the Lucerion capital, was built with silence in mind.
Its walls shimmered with white stone, polished so smooth they reflected light like still water. Incense smoke curled from golden braziers, and the echo of distant chanting rolled softly beneath the dome.
Saintess Liceriana Celeste Lucerion knelt before the altar, eyes closed, hands folded over her heart.
She had been praying for hours. But not for answers.
For peace.
And yet something inside her had started to wake.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't bright. It was like the first warmth before sunrise—quiet, steady, unshakable.
---
Behind her, the temple doors opened. Voices drifted in—measured, cloaked in robes, cautious.
"Her training progresses too quickly," one elder whispered.
"The visions come too often."
"She's only a child. The light should not awaken this soon."
Liceriana didn't move.
But her hands grew warm. A soft glow peeked between her fingers.
She hid it quickly.
---
High above, in a chamber lined with sacred scrolls, Emperor Eryx Lucerion stood in front of a sealed crystal case. Within it lay a faded map—old, fragile, nearly forgotten.
The map showed a hidden valley, marked only by a symbol: five lights surrounding a single gate.
He traced the edges of the symbol with one finger.
The Sanctuary.
A place spoken of only in old rites. A school, a refuge, a home for divine bloodlines—opened only when the world was close to breaking.
And now, it seemed, the locks were beginning to shift.
---
Later, he met Liceriana beneath the crystal trees of the palace courtyard.
She sat in silence, gaze fixed on the reflection of the moon in the fountain pool.
"You feel it, don't you?" he asked gently.
She nodded.
"It's not just inside me," she said. "It's calling from somewhere else."
Eryx sat beside her.
"Then you must learn to follow it. But in silence. For now."
She looked up at him, not afraid—but aware.
"Do you believe I'm ready?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then: "You are not ready, child. But you are chosen. That makes it the same thing."
---
In the far distance, behind the clouds and the quiet, five other lights had begun to answer.
---