The neon haze of Virelia dimmed as stormclouds gathered above its steel towers. From the highest floor of the Dravien Syndicate's obsidian skyscraper, the city looked like a pulsing circuit of blood and light—alive, restless… dangerous.
Inside the council chamber, the Dravien family gathered.
A hall of glass and black stone, its walls etched with mafia sigils that shimmered under dim crimson light. At the center—resting in a crystalline case—was the Serpent's Crown.
Even sealed, its green-silver aura bled across the floor like spilled venom.
Kael Dravien stood at the head of the table, silent, brooding. His blade leaned against his chair, faint storm-aura licking along its edge like restrained lightning. His presence alone kept the council in check—
Though whispers still spread like smoke.
Elaris sat at his side, circuits glowing faintly beneath her skin, her mechanical wings folded tight. She had not spoken since they left the serpent's cavern.
The runes that had appeared there—the murals of prophecy—were now etched faintly across her arm, pulsing in sync with the Crown.
"Kael," one of the elders muttered, voice heavy with warning, "artifacts carry their own curse. You bring danger to our bloodline."
Kael didn't even look at him.
His reply was a storm contained in a single word.
"Silence."
The room froze.
But Xyren didn't.
His neon-green eyes scanned the glass walls, glowing like a fractured star. "Someone's coming. The prophecy wasn't just about the Crown…"
His voice dropped.
"…it spoke of a flower that blooms from ash."
The heavy double doors creaked open.
And she walked in.
Lysira Nyte.Codename: Bloomfall.
Every step she took was slow, deliberate—elegance sharpened into menace. A velvet-black gown trailed behind her, woven with threads of shifting holographic petals. Her wings—crystalline, edged with obsidian thorns—glimmered as if they were meant to cut, not fly.
She wasn't just beautiful.
She was dangerous in a way that made people forget to breathe.
"Kael…" she purred, voice smooth and venomous, "…still chasing crowns instead of thrones?"
The entire council went still.
Eyes shifted. Tension thickened.
But Kael didn't move.
His gaze locked onto hers—too long… too familiar.
Elaris rose slowly from her seat, sparks running beneath her skin. "You must be Bloomfall."
Bloomfall's lips curved, sharp and knowing. "And you… must be the machine who pretends to be a fairy."
The insult slid clean and cold.
Elaris didn't flinch.
Her metallic feathers lifted slightly, light flaring at her core. "Better a machine who can feel… than a fairy who knows only how to betray."
Silence.
Heavy.
Electric.
Bloomfall's eyes flickered—amusement… and something darker.
Then—
She stepped closer to Kael.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Close enough that the air between them shifted.
"You've changed," she murmured softly, eyes tracing his face like a memory she refused to forget."But the storm in your eyes…"
A faint smile.
"…that part still remembers me."
Behind him, Elaris's wings lifted just a fraction.
Not fully spread.
Not calm either.
A warning.
The council chamber suddenly felt smaller.
Like a storm waiting to break.