The road to the Abyss began beneath Noctyra.
Not beyond the city.
Not outside its walls.
Beneath it.
Aurelia followed Veyne through tunnels older than the kingdom itself. The walls were covered in symbols that seemed to move whenever she looked away.
Some depicted a crowned figure surrounded by stars.
Others showed a woman holding a sword of light.
And beneath every carving was the same sentence.
WHEN NIGHT LOVES DAWN, THE WORLD WILL END.
Aurelia stopped.
"Veyne."
He kept walking.
"Look."
He finally turned.
His expression changed when he saw the inscription.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
"That wasn't in the legends," Aurelia whispered.
"No."
"You knew about it?"
"No."
She stared at the words.
"Then why does it mention us?"
Veyne's answer was almost inaudible.
"Maybe it doesn't."
They continued deeper.
The air became colder.
Then warmer.
Then neither.
Time itself seemed to behave differently.
Aurelia's footsteps echoed long after she stopped moving.
Veyne noticed it too.
"We're close."
"To the Abyss?"
He shook his head.
"To the beginning."
They entered a vast underground chamber.
There was no floor.
No ceiling.
Only darkness.
In the center floated a single door.
Aurelia stared at it.
"That's impossible."
Veyne stepped forward.
The door opened before he touched it.
Beyond it was a room.
A bedroom.
Small.
Old.
Dust covered everything.
A wooden cradle sat beside a window.
Aurelia slowly approached.
Inside the cradle was a faded piece of black cloth embroidered with a silver crown.
Veyne froze.
"I know this place."
Aurelia looked at him.
"How?"
He couldn't answer.
Then the memories came.
Not memories from childhood.
Memories from before childhood.
A woman holding him.
A voice singing.
A black sky outside the window.
And someone standing behind the woman.
Aurelia.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakably her.
Veyne stumbled backward.
"No."
Aurelia stared at the vision.
"I wasn't there."
The room began to shake.
The image changed.
The woman holding the infant Veyne turned toward the older Aurelia.
"You promised."
The older Aurelia answered:
"I'll keep him safe."
The vision vanished.
Silence returned.
Veyne looked at Aurelia as if she'd become a stranger.
"You knew me before we met."
"I didn't."
"You promised to protect me."
"I don't remember."
"You're lying."
"I swear I'm not."
Then the door slammed shut.
A voice spoke from everywhere at once.
"Because she hasn't remembered yet."
Aurelia's blood ran cold.
The darkness behind Veyne began to take shape.
A figure emerged.
Tall.
Crowned.
Its face was hidden beneath a veil of stars.
The Night King.
But it didn't attack.
It bowed.
To Aurelia.
Not Veyne.
To her.
Veyne stared.
"Why are you bowing to her?"
The figure raised its head.
"Because she is the reason I exist."
Aurelia's breath caught.
The Night King continued.
"And you are the reason she was created."
The chamber vanished.
Aurelia saw the truth.
Not a hero.
Not a chosen warrior.
Not a woman born with divine power.
A weapon.
Centuries ago, humanity had discovered the Night King and realized they could never destroy him.
So they created something capable of defeating him.
A being made from concentrated human hope.
A living vessel of light.
Aurelia.
But there had been a flaw.
She needed darkness to survive.
So the creators found a newborn child whose blood could contain the Night King's power.
Veyne.
They placed the darkness inside him.
And sealed Aurelia's memories.
Then they separated them.
For years, they believed the plan had worked.
Until they met.
Aurelia looked at Veyne.
Her voice barely existed.
"They created me to kill you."
Veyne said nothing.
"And they created you to contain him."
Still nothing.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Then our meeting wasn't fate."
Veyne finally looked at her.
"No."
A long silence followed.
Then he whispered:
"It was a trap."
The Night King smiled.
"Not quite."
Aurelia turned.
"What do you mean?"
The ancient figure looked between them.
"The creators expected hatred."
Its voice echoed through the chamber.
"They expected the light to destroy the darkness."
A pause.
"They never anticipated love."
The symbols on the walls began glowing.
The prophecy changed.
Words appeared beneath the old inscription.
THEY WILL MEET.
THEY WILL LOVE.
THEY WILL BECOME ONE.
Aurelia stepped backward.
"No."
Veyne's face hardened.
"What happens when we become one?"
The Night King answered.
"You don't defeat the darkness."
The crown above its head began to crack.
"You don't save the light."
The chamber shook.
"You become something neither side can control."
Aurelia suddenly understood why the Silent Sun had reacted to Veyne.
Why her power had always felt incomplete.
Why she had felt strangely familiar with him from the first moment they met.
Why their powers became stronger whenever they were together.
They weren't opposites.
They were halves.
Two pieces of the same creation.
Veyne reached for her hand.
"Aurelia."
She looked at him.
"What?"
His eyes were filled with fear.
"If we stay together…"
"The world ends."
He nodded.
"And if we separate?"
The Night King answered for him.
"The world dies."
The chamber went silent.
Aurelia looked at Veyne.
Veyne looked at her.
For once, neither knew what to do.
Then Aurelia noticed something.
A tiny detail in the ancient prophecy.
A final line hidden beneath centuries of dust.
She brushed the stone clean.
Her eyes widened.
"Veyne…"
He moved beside her.
"What?"
She read the final words aloud.
THE WORLD WILL NOT END WHEN THEY BECOME ONE.
She swallowed.
"It ends when they remember who created them."
Veyne frowned.
"Who?"
Aurelia looked toward the Night King.
The creature was gone.
Only darkness remained.
And from somewhere behind them came a woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
Almost loving.
"Me."
Aurelia turned.
Her face went white.
Standing at the entrance was the woman from Veyne's childhood memory.
The woman who had held him as an infant.
The woman who had promised to protect him.
She smiled.
And Aurelia recognized her.
Not from memory.
From the ancient paintings.
From the statues beneath the cathedral.
From every forgotten legend.
She was the first Dawnblade.
The original creator of Aurelia.
And the mother of Veyne.
She looked at them both.
Then smiled.
"Children," she whispered.
"I've been waiting centuries for you to come home."