"So then… How did Fate ruin him? Was it through imprisonment?" His voice dipped lower. "Or death?"
The elder's eyes narrowed. She slowly shook her head. "Neither imprisonment nor death…" Her voice grew quieter. "Fate's punishment came through Her."
Julian's brows lifted ever so slightly. "Her?"
"The Mother of All Heavens," the elder whispered, each word trembling as though it risked being overheard by unseen ears.
She pushed herself up from the chair, her movements stiff, as though speaking the name alone demanded respect. "The wife of the Deity of Creation. The one who embodies the womb of all existence."
Her gaze shifted away to the window, to the faint shimmer of afternoon light spilling into the room.
"It was she who delivered the curse upon our bloodline."
Julian rose slowly from the bed, his curiosity sharpening with each passing second. "The Mother of Heavens…?" The thought intrigued him more than it frightened him. If anything, it sent a quiet thrill down his spine. So even gods have queens… and she alone carries the power to curse bloodlines.
The elder turned her back to him, her face pale, almost haunted. "This is all I can say. I cannot speak beyond this point."
Julian narrowed his eyes, studying her like a complex puzzle. What is going on? He stepped closer, and he could now see it more clearly—she was trembling in fear. Something about the shift unsettled him.
"Can't… or won't?" he asked softly, probing her for more. But the elder said nothing, her silence heavier than words. So there are still secrets even she dares not speak.
"Rael," the elder whispered, her voice barely audible. "The thing about the Mother of Heavens… it is forbidden to be spoken of. That is what Fate has ruled, and you know how far we have fallen because of our attempt to defy Fate."
Julian felt a chill run down his spine. "Forbidden by Fate itself?" he murmured, his mind racing.
The elder nodded slowly, her face pale as moonlight. "The curse that binds our bloodline—it was not just punishment. It was silencing. The Mother of Heavens ensured that none of House Seraphel could speak of what truly transpired. Every word about her, every truth about that day… it burns the tongue and blackens the soul."
She clutched her throat unconsciously, as if remembering some ancient pain.
"But you just spoke of her," Julian pointed out, watching her carefully.
A bitter laugh escaped the elder's lips. "I spoke her title, boy. Nothing more. The curse allows us that much—to acknowledge Her existence. But to speak of what she did, of why the Patriarch fell, of what he discovered about her nature…" She shook her head violently. "That is forbidden. The words simply… will not come."
"What happens if someone tries?" Julian asked, his curiosity lighting brighter than ever.
The elder's eyes widened in terror. "Rael, no. Do not even think such thoughts. I have seen it. Those who tried to speak of Her true nature, they…" She stopped, her whole body trembling. "Their minds shattered. Their souls burned from within. They became empty shells, less than human."
The room fell silent except for the elder's ragged breathing. Julian processed this information, but something wasn't adding up.
"But I remember my mother talking about it," Julian said suddenly, his brow furrowing. "Also, I am talking about it right now, and nothing happened to her or to me. Why is that so?"
The elder's expression shifted, a flicker of something mysterious crossing her face. "That's because you both are not originally from the Heavens. You were all born in this cursed world, in this prison. So you can talk about it to some extent. But that would not amount to anything because you don't know about anything in the first place."
Julian nodded slowly. "So that's why..." But then his expression changed, a slow, predatory smirk spreading across his lips. His gaze sharpened as he studied the elder with new understanding.
"That means you were born in the Heavens," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. He took a step closer, his voice lowering to barely above a breath. "Who exactly are you?"
The change in the elder was immediate and dramatic. Her entire composure shifted—the trembling woman who had been confessing secrets was suddenly gone. Her back straightened, her chest lifted, and when she looked at him, there was an authority in her gaze that hadn't been there before. The air in the room seemed to grow heavier, charged with an energy that made Julian's skin prickle with goosebumps.
"Boy..." the elder growled. "Do not yearn for things that do not concern you."
Suddenly, a mysterious aura flared from her body, rippling through the air like a lethal blade. Her hair began to flow as if it had a mind of its own, and her entire form began to glow with a divine radiance. The simple village clothes that she wore began to shift, unraveling into threads of pure light that wove themselves into something ethereal and grand.
The very air shimmered around her as she turned younger before his eyes—wrinkles smoothing away, her posture becoming commanding, her presence filling the entire room.
The aura crushed Julian's entire being, and for a moment, everything froze. Time itself seemed to pause. His breath stuck in his throat, his heart hammered against his ribs, and every instinct from both his lives (Julian and Rael) screamed at him to kneel, to submit, to bow before this overwhelming divine presence.
His carefully constructed confidence wavered as he realized he wasn't just facing some hidden noble or even a powerful king. This was something else entirely—something that belonged to the highest echelons of creation.
Yet somehow, through sheer force of will and perhaps stubborn pride, Julian remained standing. His knees trembled, his hands shook, but he did not fall. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he fought against the divine pressure, his jaw clenched so tight it ached.
Then, after what felt like an eternity but was perhaps only minutes, her eyes widened in shock. The crushing aura faltered for just an instant as genuine surprise flickered across her now-youthful features.
"You... you..." she whispered, her voice carrying harmonics that seemed to resonate from multiple dimensions at once. Her luminous gaze pierced through him, searching, probing, yet finding nothing but an impenetrable void where his true identity should be.
"Who are you? You are not Rael."