Ancestry of Secrets

The gunshot's echo hung in the air like a curse. Mara collapsed against the mossy stone, her blood seeping into the raven crest carved into its surface.

Ethan's uncle—Cedric Veyra—smiled, his features a warped reflection of Ethan's own, sharper, crueler, eyes glinting with the same void-black sheen as the Order's masks.

"You look like her," Cedric said, twirling the revolver. "Liora, I mean. All righteous fury and no brains. She should've let the Star devour this rotting world."

Ethan's hands trembled, not from fear, but from a rage that tasted like fire. The codex in his satchel hummed, its resonance syncing with the locket's icy pulse.

"Why?" he hissed.

"Why?" Cedric laughed. "Because Mother's 'noble sacrifice' left us crippled. The Veyra line was meant to rule, not grovel as jailers to some cosmic leech. The Thirteenth Star promised me power—real power—and all it asked in return was… you."

He raised the gun.

Ethan lunged.

The codex erupted before he touched it. Symbols tore free from its pages, lashing the air like scarlet whips. Cedric's shot went wide, shredding bark from a pine as Ethan tackled him. They grappled, rolling toward the cliff's edge, waves roaring below.

"You're a child," Cedric spat, clawing at Ethan's throat. "You don't even know how to wield the Duskheir's gifts!"

Memories-not-his-own flooded Ethan's mind. Liora, young and trembling, pressing the locket to her son's chest in this very spot.

"The anchor stays hidden, Cedric. Swear it!"

Cedric's smile, cold as he palmed a dagger.

"I swear, mother."

The vision broke as Cedric's knee slammed into Ethan's ribs. He gasped, the codex's light flickering.

"You see it now, don't you?" Cedric sneered, pinning him. "She chose the world over her own blood. Just like you'll choose this dying historian over your destiny."

Ethan's fingers brushed the locket.

A shard of a star.

He slammed it against Cedric's chest.

The world screamed.

Green-black light exploded, hurling Cedric backward. The locket's chain seared Ethan's neck as the shard within stirred—hungry. The cliffside trembled, cracks racing toward Mara's limp body.

"Ethan…!" Mara's voice was a weak rasp. The raven crest beneath her glowed, its stone grinding open to reveal a hidden stairwell.

Cedric rose, his skin cracking like porcelain, void-eyes leaking smoke.

"You'll regret that, boy."

Ethan dragged Mara into the passage as the cliff face shattered behind them.

The stairwell led to a cavern, its walls pulsing with bioluminescent fungi. In the center stood a pedestal holding a basin of liquid starlight—Liora's safehold. Ethan laid Mara beside it, her breath shallow.

"The anchor…" She gripped his arm. "The locket—it's not just a shard. It's a cage. Liora trapped part of the Star's consciousness inside. Cedric wants to fuse it with the Order's relic… to become its vessel."

Ethan pressed his hand to her wound, the codex's symbols swirling over his skin.

"How do I stop him?"

"The basin," she coughed. "Veyra blood… awakens the truth."

He sliced his palm, letting his blood drip into the starlight. The liquid ignited, projecting a hologram of Liora.

"If you're here, the anchor is compromised," her specter said, voice frayed with grief. "The only way to reseal the Star is to merge the codex with the locket at the Crimson Athenaeum. But be warned—it will cost you a memory. A truth. A piece of who you are."

The hologram dissolved. Mara's eyes fluttered. "Ethan… the Order's relic is the Star's heart. Cedric's headed to the Athenaeum too. If he gets there first…"

A rumble shook the cavern. Dust rained as Cedric's voice boomed from above, warped and echoing.

"Run all you like, nephew! The Athenaeum remembers Veyra blood… and I've brought friends to remind it!"

They emerged at dawn to a nightmare. The forest burned, Order agents swarming like ants. Among them stood Cedric, now fused with tendrils of shadow, his body a living rift. The Thirteenth Star's whispers oozed from him, twisting the air.

Mara pressed the codex into Ethan's hands. "Go. I'll slow them down."

"No. I'm not leaving you."

"You have to." She gripped the locket, her skin paling as its frost spread up her arm. "I can… force the anchor dormant. But it'll buy you minutes, not hours."

Ethan's throat tightened. "Why?"

Her smile was faint. "Because your mother was like a sister to me. And I won't let Cedric take both her sons."

Before he could react, she ripped the locket from his neck and plunged it into the basin's starlight. Light detonated, blinding him.

When it cleared, Mara was gone. The locket lay in the basin, its shard quiet, cold.

And etched into his palm was a new symbol—a raven mid-flight, wings sharp as blades.

The Crimson Athenaeum awaited.