Somewhere between realms, in the hollow between stars where no court dares to tread, a presence stirred.
Not light, not darkness—not yet named.
But alive.
She Was Once Called Lysaria
Once, she had a name. A title whispered by mortals as they knelt before temples long since turned to ash:
Lysaria, the Guardian of Purity.
But the divine courts grew loud, corrupted with politics, drenched in sin and excess. Purity was forgotten, or mocked. Her temples fell. Her name faded from the rolls of worship. And her power slumbered.
Until him.
Until Chen Ming.
The moment he rejected the Mask of Guilt and let love guide his hand…
She felt it.
A spark.
Now She Watches
From her hidden sanctuary, a realm cloaked in crystalline ice and untouched moonlight, Lysaria watched through a thousand mirrors made of stilled time.
In one, Chen knelt before the Matriarch's temptation.
In another, he cradled Ye Yue's trembling form beneath the stars.
In a third, he laughed beside Lanmei, sweat-slicked from training but vibrant with life.
Each moment moved her.
"He is not like the others."
She pressed a hand to her chest. The glow within—once dim, nearly extinguished—pulsed bright.
"He burns for more than power. He burns with heart."
But She Cannot Interfere… Yet
The divine accords forbade it. She had no court. No worshipers. No seat at the grand table of cosmic order.
To interfere would draw notice. Punishment. Banishment, perhaps even severance.
And yet…
She whispered into the void:
"If he reaches the next threshold… if he touches Purity not as restraint, but as strength…"
Her eyes shimmered with silent fire.
"I will come to him. I will serve him."
A goddess, once forgotten.
A power, once dismissed.
Now reawakening—for him.
The Final Mirror Flickers
And in her deepest mirror—one she had not dared to use in centuries—Lysaria saw herself.
Not as she was.
But as she might become.
Clad in flowing robes of white and starlight, her lips trembling as she knelt before a rising god—not to worship, but to offer.
"When you are ready," she whispered.
"Come find me in the sanctum where no sin may tread."
"And claim the flame the heavens tried to bury."