Lestel Umbraxis lowered his hand, the Axiom Reliquary dissolving back into shadow as its function concluded.
"The lineage cocoon is now bound to this location," his bound announced.
"It will remain fixed above Dareldht unless the Axiom Rewrite is undone or the relic destroyed," he continued.
"This does not eliminate danger," the bound said plainly, "but it changes its nature."
"Enemies will no longer hunt the hollow black across the world," he explained, "but they will know precisely where the heart of Nocthe stands."
The implication settled heavily, as lords and marshals alike understood that protection of the First Child now equated to defense of the capital itself. The Black Sovereign observed the cocoon's stillness without expression.
Kael Eidolon remained silent within his grasp, unaffected by the shift, his presence unchanged by the tether now severed.
"The protection phase has ended. The other reason for the attendance of everyone is. A calamity cocoon would always burst into existence shortly after the lineage cocoon opened." Lestel's bound concluded as he went back to his seat.
The bounds of the Black Sovereign and Lord Lestel stood side by side, their eyes fixed on the sky as they are prepared for the inevitable calamity manifestation.
Lestel Umbraxis's bound adjusted a glowing lens to his eye, sweeping his gaze across the cocoon sky expanse. He was looking for the telltale tear, the ruptured membrane of a cocoon.
By all historical records, these calamities possessed an innate, predatory instinct to immediately sense and attack the First Child. Yet, as the time ticked away, the lens revealed nothing.
They waited steadily for a veil, but their vigilance yielded absolutely nothing.
Breaking the heavy silence, Regent Vilad's bound stepped forward, his voice tinged with confusion. "Lord Lestel, is it possible that the calamity cocoon simply did not manifest this time?"
Lestel remained seated, as his mind raced through impossible scenarios. "Did it really fail to manifest?" he thought. He mentally scanned the vast archives of his ancestor, Arstal Umbraxis. Through lustres of recorded history, there was absolutely no precedent for a calamity skipping its cycle after the First Child declaration. Or, a darker thought occurred to him, "Has it already manifested?"
Beside him, Lestel's bound lowered the lens, sighing in frustration. The sky above was choked with billions of drifting cocoons. Searching through them blindly for a single anomaly was like looking for a specific grain of sand in a desert. It was an impossible task.
Sensing the rapidly ticking clock, the Black Sovereign turned to Lestel, a rare urgency through his regal demeanor. "Lord Lestel, what do you suggest?"
The Sovereign's mind wasn't just on the missing calamity; it was racing back to his own high-stakes deception of memory. He rewrote the memories of everyone present, but there was one crucial person who had been absent from the convergence hall... the one person whose unchanged mind could ruin everything. He needed to get to Lady Vestera, the true mother of the First Child, and alter her memory before she woke up.
Lestel's bound spoke up, voicing the grim consensus. "A full veil has passed, and there is no sign of an assault. It is highly likely that the calamity has skipped this cycle entirely. However, the Nocthe must be placed under strict scrutiny to identify any anomalous threats that might have already landed undetected. If a calamity did breach, and it hasn't blindly rushed to attack the First Child... then we are dealing with an entity that possesses a terrifying level of intelligence even at its birth. What kind of nightmare will it be this time?"
The Black Sovereign's bound took authority of the room, his voice booming through the hall. "Everyone is dismissed. Stringent restrictions are to be enforced across all domains immediately until this potential calamity is identified and neutralized."
As the Lords and Marshals began to disperse, the Queen sat quietly, their expression neutral as their mind rapidly adapted to her memories. They were already calculating how they must present themselves.
~~
Meanwhile, the Black Sovereign did not waste any more time. Shrouding himself in darkness, he vanished from the convergence hall and materialized within the quiet corridors of Vilad's estate, cradling the infant Kael protectively in his arms. He slipped into the master bedroom, where Lady Vestera lay fast asleep, completely unaware of the shifts occurring around her.
Stepping up to the bedside, the Sovereign weaved a delicate web of false memories to overwrite her memories. He began rewriting her identity, shifting her truth from being Vilad's honored wife to becoming his own secret concubine.
"False Memory."
Just as it took root, the doors swung open. Regent Vilad walked in.
The Black Sovereign snapped his head, his bound's eyes flashing with dangerous glaze. "Regent Vilad. Why are you here?"
Caught in the suffocating aura of his brother, Vilad's knees buckled. He hit the floor heavily, confusion and terror warring in his eyes. "It... it was a mistake, My Lordship," Vilad stammered, looking around the room in a daze, genuinely questioning his own mind as to why he had walked into this specific chamber. "I just... I steered myself toward this room unknowingly."
Seizing the moment of vulnerability, the Sovereign subtly controlled the fragment of his shadow he already shot initially into Regent Vilad. As it seamlessly rewrote his memories to align with the lie: Vestera was not his wife; she was his brother, the Sovereign's concubine.
"Your mistake is forgiven," the Black Sovereign said, his voice dropping to a smooth, commanding calm. "I shall withdraw from your estate now, and I am taking my concubine with me."
Gently scooping the sleeping Vestera into his free arm alongside Kael, the Sovereign looked down at Vilad. A fleeting, genuine pang of guilt struck his heart. "I am sorry, my brother but it had to be done," he thought silently. Then, swirling into the shadows, he vanished.
~~
A/N: Vilad lost his son and his wife in a matter of days. Poor him.