In the lowest chamber of the Cradle's black citadel — far beneath Labyrinth Theta — seven figures gathered in silence around a flame that cast no heat.
They called themselves The Circle of Still Flame.
Their names were not spoken.
Their faces were not shown.
Only their voices moved — slow, deliberate, ancient.
---
"The resonance has begun," said the figure in gold. "D-1 and D-9 are more than compatible. Their memories align."
"They were once ours," said the one draped in bone-colored robes. "And they broke us."
"Correction," the voice in the shadows rasped, "he broke us. She tried to stop him."
The air in the chamber shifted.
A mirror floated above the flame — not reflecting light, but possibilities.
Within it, Kael and Lira slept in containment fields.
---
"We let them see the past," said the gold-cloaked one. "Now they will fear what comes next."
The mirror rippled — and showed a great wall of light devouring cities. The First Collapse. The result of a war no one remembered.
Or was meant to forget.
---
"We must wake the Core," said another, voice silk-wrapped and cold. "It stirs because of him. He was the original conduit."
"Too early," said a voice with echoing layers. "The binding is incomplete. The scroll resists. It must be chosen, not forced."
"Then force the girl," said the bone-robed figure.
"No," snapped the gold one. "Her presence stabilizes him. Without her, we lose control of the gate."
The fire dimmed.
And then...
A final voice spoke.
Soft. Feminine. But heavy with authority.
"The experiment proceeds," she said. "But you forget the greater truth."
The others froze.
"We are not using Kael to open the Core," she continued.
"We are using the Core to unlock Kael."
---
The chamber went silent.
Even the flame seemed to still.
---
High above, in a chamber of mirrors, Matron Vohr stood watching the ritual logs scroll across a glowing screen.
"The fracture runs deeper than we thought," she murmured. "He remembers more than intended."
A figure emerged behind her — Riven, the shadow-hunter Kael once wounded.
"You want me to intervene?" he asked.
Vohr shook her head. "No. Not yet."
She turned, eyes glowing beneath her veil.
"We want them to fall in love first."
---
Because love... breaks them.