“You can do this. Youwilldo this. For her. ForSeori.”
The Almighty looked to the endless sky. I saw the conflict there — ancient, cold, divine.
And then…He sighed.
Like the stars themselves softened.
“If I bring him back… he can no longer be what he once was,” the Almighty said. “No throne. No wings of purest light. No title of Archangel.”
Rheon bowed his head.
“Then let him fall.”
The Almighty turned to him, and for the first time, there was something human in his voice.
“He will not be a demon… but not quite an angel. AFallen Celestial.He will walk the realm between. As your Queen once did.”
Rheon didn’t hesitate.
“It’s enough.”
The Almighty lifted his hand, and the sky opened — a swirling gate of light and stardust, a pulsing memory of something once divine.
The chant began — not just in words, but inlight.
I joined Rheon in reciting it, our voices braided in flame and shadow, Heaven and Hell colliding in harmony:
“From the flame that burned, From the soul that fell, From the blood that bound two realms —Return.”
The light grew blinding. And then—A figure stepped from the brilliance. Golden hair scorched with silver. Eyes the color of dusk and dawn.
Elarion.
Alive. But changed. He looked at Rheon, then at me. Then finally — hefelther.
His daughter.
A tear slid down his cheek.
“I’m… home?”
And Rheon smiled, exhausted but triumphant.
“Yes. You’re going home to her.
Seori
Garden of reunions
The garden behind the palace pulsed with unnatural beauty — flowers the color of fire and bruised dusk curled around marble statues of forgotten gods. Vines shimmered with silver dew that could kill in a single drop, and yet I found comfort here.
It was the only place in the Demon Realm that reminded me of somethingsoft. I walked slowly beside my mother — the Demon Queen. Still getting used to that.
She moved like storm light — graceful, dangerous, regal — but when she glanced at me, something vulnerable flickered in her eyes.
“You always used to pick the ones that bit,” she said, nodding toward a sharp-toothed flower I didn’t realize I’d been eyeing. “Even as a child.”
I blinked.
