The hum of the helicopter's engine had long since faded into a dull roar, yet Mara's ears still rang with the echoes of the Archive's collapse. She sat strapped in her seat, her gaze locked on the glowing crystal in her hands. Its light had dimmed but pulsed steadily, like a heartbeat—steady, rhythmic, insistent.
Adrian sat across from her, unusually silent. His eyes never left the crystal either.
"What is it doing?" Mara finally asked.
"Calling," Adrian replied without hesitation.
She frowned. "Calling who?"
He hesitated, then answered with a calm she found chilling. "Everyone."
---
By the time they landed at the safehouse—a cloaked sanctuary hidden deep within the Elrian forest—the sky was already turning a bruised shade of indigo. The trees here were impossibly tall, their bark embedded with runes meant to repel unwanted spirits and dark magic. Birds no longer sang in this part of the world, and every gust of wind carried a whisper, as if the forest itself remembered things better left forgotten.
They were met by Alric, a silver-haired scholar whose robes were covered in ink stains and ash. His eyes widened when he saw the crystal in Mara's hands.
"You found it," he whispered, taking a cautious step forward. "The Third Seal... it exists."
"We need answers," Adrian said, his voice sharp. "The Archive showed us the Mirror King's origin. This Seal—whatever it is—was tied to his transformation."
Alric nodded, then turned on his heel. "Come. There's something you need to see."
The interior of the sanctuary was a mix of ancient stonework and modern technology. Crystals pulsed in the walls, providing light, while monitors displayed maps of the world—highlighting areas where strange magical spikes had been reported in the past 24 hours.
Mara noticed it immediately: every spike had occurred after they recovered the Seal.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Awakenings," Alric replied. "Small at first. Dormant energies stirring. But it's only the beginning. You've reactivated a fragment of the old magic—the same that binds the Seals. The Mirror King will feel it."
"He already has," Adrian muttered.
Alric approached a side chamber. Inside, a stone dais bore the etching of a familiar crest—an eclipse wrapped in thorns.
"The Order of Nocturne," Mara whispered.
Alric nodded solemnly. "The original guardians of the Seals. Long thought extinct. But in truth, they went underground after the Mirror King's betrayal. Some say they vanished entirely. Others say... they're still watching."
Mara stared at the symbol. It was identical to the mark that had appeared on her shoulder weeks ago—the same day she had first touched the Caelestis relic.
"Why me?" she asked aloud. "Why was I chosen?"
Alric turned to her. "Because you're not just any Caelestis, Mara. You're the last of the hybrid line."
She blinked. "Hybrid?"
Adrian tensed.
Alric sighed. "It's time you knew. The Caelestis were not purely human. Long ago, a treaty was formed between a powerful vampire noble and a human mage. Their union created a bloodline capable of wielding both blood magic and celestial energy. You're the last living descendant of that union. That's why you can hold the Seal without being consumed."
Mara staggered back. "You're saying I'm part vampire?"
"Yes," Adrian said softly. "It's why the Mirror King will hunt you above all others. Because your bloodline is the only one that can seal him again."
She felt her heart pounding. Everything she thought she knew about herself was shifting beneath her feet like sand in a storm.
"I need air," she muttered and turned before either man could stop her.
---
The forest outside was cold and alive with unseen movement. Mara leaned against a tree, trying to steady her breath. She had always felt different—growing up, her wounds healed faster, her dreams more vivid, her senses keener than others. She had chalked it up to her training, her determination. Never to blood.
Now it made sense.
All of it.
"You okay?" Adrian's voice came from behind her, soft and cautious.
"No," she replied honestly. "But I will be."
He stepped beside her. "You're handling this better than most would."
"I don't have the luxury of falling apart," she said. "Too much depends on this."
Adrian studied her face. "There's more. Isn't there?"
She nodded slowly. "When I touched the Seal... I saw something else."
His brow furrowed. "What did you see?"
"A tower. Not here. Somewhere... ancient. Buried in sand. And a voice—whispering in a language I didn't recognize, but I understood anyway."
"What did it say?"
Mara turned to him. Her voice was barely a whisper.
"'When the Third awakens, the Fourth shall rise.'"
Adrian went still.
"That's a prophecy," he said. "One we hoped was apocryphal."
"But it's not," Mara said. "And whatever the Fourth Seal is—it's coming."
---
The next morning brought worse news.
Reports were flooding in from across the continent. Villages in the northern isles had gone silent. Cities near old vampire ruins were experiencing mass hallucinations. One report from a scout spoke of a "mirror storm"—a spiral of floating glass shards moving through the sky like a living thing, whispering names and draining blood from anything that came near.
The Mirror King wasn't just stirring.
He was waking.
And the world was responding in kind.
---
Alric arranged for a gathering that night—a council of the last known keepers of vampire lore. Scholars, hunters, defected bloodlords, even a few reformed thralls. Most joined via magical projection, their images flickering around the great stone table in the sanctuary's main hall.
Mara stood at the center, the crystal in her hand.
"You've felt it," she began, her voice clear. "The surge. The magic. The dreams. The Mirror King is no longer bound by silence. And now... the Third Seal has returned."
Murmurs rose among the council.
A tall woman in black armor leaned forward. "Do we know what the Third Seal does?"
Alric stepped in. "Not fully. But our records suggest that each Seal binds a part of the Mirror King's essence. The First binds his flesh. The Second his soul. The Third—"
"His mind," Mara finished.
Silence followed.
"If that's true," said another councilor, "then breaking the Third would allow him to think again. To remember. To plan."
"He already is," Adrian said. "He sent his Sentinels into the Archive. Tried to erase the truth before we could find it."
A hooded figure raised a trembling hand. "And if he regains his full strength?"
No one answered.
Because they all knew.
He would remake the world.
In his image.
---
That night, Mara couldn't sleep. The crystal sat on the table beside her, pulsing like a second heart. She sat by the window, staring out at the dark forest. Her thoughts were a whirlwind—memories, fears, fragments of prophecies and bloodlines and choices she hadn't asked for.
But deep beneath it all was something else.
A voice.
Faint. Distant. Yet growing clearer.
Mara...
She stood.
Walked toward the crystal.
Touched it.
And was somewhere else.
The forest was gone. The sanctuary, gone. She stood in a vast, empty plain beneath a black sky full of unfamiliar stars. In the distance stood a tower, just as she'd seen before—ancient, sunken halfway into the earth, its surface covered in moving glyphs.
And in front of it stood a figure.
Tall. Pale. Eyes like broken glass.
The Mirror King.
Not a vision.
Not a memory.
Him.
Truly.
Alive.
Watching her.
"You carry my chain," he said, his voice a chord of a thousand whispers. "But you cannot hold me forever."
Mara gritted her teeth. "I'll die trying."
He tilted his head. "You are already dying, little flame. Your blood is the lock. And the key. When your body breaks, the seals will break with you."
Mara stepped forward. "Then I'll live forever."
He laughed. A terrible, echoing sound that cracked the stars above.
"I did. Once. Ask me how it ended."
The tower behind him trembled.
He vanished.
And Mara awoke with blood trickling from her nose.
---
She stumbled from her room, clutching the crystal.
Adrian met her in the hall, his sword drawn. "You felt it too?"
She nodded, breathless. "He's in my head. I saw him."
"Then we're running out of time," Adrian said.
Mara looked at the crystal. "The tower is real. He's drawing me to it."
Adrian nodded. "Then that's where we go next."
"But if I go," she said, "I might not come back."
He touched her shoulder. "You're not going alone."