In the cellar's waterlogged reflection, Alyssa saw her ten-year-old self learning harp on her mother's lap. Ripples tore the vision—reality found her fingers clawing stone grooves, trying to extract silver spikes from her ribs. Sulfur and blue copper dust mingled with phantom iris perfume from her mother's vanity.
"Nostalgia's worst timing." Layne's clockwork hand shattered the childhood mirage. Behind him, blood seeped through contract-covered walls, signatures swimming in crimson—Alyssa recognized her father's handwriting from seventh birthday calligraphy lessons.
Moonflare hatchling erupted in violet mutation upon hitting the wall. Flames revealed unseen memories: pregnant mother burying azurite vials under the altar, her swollen belly branded identically, while a younger Layne recorded the ritual.
"Surprised?" Present Layne licked bloodstained contracts. "Your mother was... cooperative." His elongated fangs pierced his lip, black blood crystallizing into micro-gears on her hand.
Discordant harp notes echoed deeper underground. Crawling toward the sound, childhood memories resurfaced—six-year-old Alyssa trailing her mother to this forgotten lab during a storm. Through cracked doors, not lab equipment, but marriage contracts pinned with prenatal reports.
"Why show me this now?" She headbutted an iron cabinet. Shattered preservative vials seeped into wounds as Moonflare hawk unlocked a hidden chamber.
Bio-luminescent moss illuminated her mother's workstation. An open journal read: "14th fusion failed. Lothar demands fetal reboot." Dated three days pre-birth. A broken pocket watch ticked backward, engraved with Layne's true name and maternal fingerprints.
Evelyn's perfume spiked. A phantom version of her sister materialized, caressing a pregnant belly: "Think you're special? Just spare parts." The specter raised an amber pendant containing twin embryos—Alyssa and a malformed mass.
Layne's footsteps approached reeking of father's cigars. Clutching the watch, Alyssa heard gear-grinding within her bones. Moonflare phoenix ignited, incinerating ceiling-dried roses into ash-moths spelling mother's final diary fragment:
When timepiece rewinds thrice The forgotten heir shall rend lies' veil Remember, beloved True covenant is etched in...
The page combusted. Amid ashes lay Layne's ring, its interior rotating astral maps syncing with the resonator buried in her womb.