Chapter III: The Black Feather

 

    Bailizhi:              Maneki Outfit      New     Neo Japan Event

    Violetta:              Wasteland Survivor Makeup      New     Neo Japan Event

    Kokoro:               Himary    Fan       New     Neo Japan Event

        The night had changed.

Lukas could still feel the heat of the burning temple on his skin, even though the vision had disappeared. The ancient blade was gone, but the black feather remained in his hand.

He had tried to throw it away.

It always returned.

Days later, he found himself in a place he had never seen before: an abandoned underground hall hidden beneath the ruins of an old palace.

There were no flames here.

Only darkness.

And feathers.

Hundreds of them covered the floor.

At the center of the chamber stood a woman dressed in black. Her long pale hair fell over her shoulders, and a dark fan concealed part of her face.

Lukas stopped.

He knew her.

Not from the vision.

From somewhere much deeper.

From a memory he had forgotten.

The woman slowly opened her fan.

Behind it, her eyes were filled with sadness.

“You were never supposed to remember me.”

Lukas stepped closer.

“Who are you?”

She looked at the black feather in his hand.

“The one who protected you when you were still a child.”

A cold wind passed through the chamber.

The feathers began to rise from the ground.

Lukas suddenly saw flashes of another life: a young prince running through the same palace, a crown hidden beneath his clothes, soldiers searching for him, and a woman carrying him through the darkness while the kingdom burned behind them.

Then came a final image.

A little boy placing his hand in hers.

And a promise.

“If the darkness ever returns, I will find you.”

The vision disappeared.

Lukas looked at her in silence.

“You were the Guardian.”

The woman lowered her fan.

“No.”

She smiled sadly.

“I was the last one.”

Behind her, something enormous moved in the darkness.

The walls began to tremble.

And from somewhere beneath the palace came a sound Lukas had heard once before—

the same whisper from his dreams.

“The heir has returned.”

The woman's expression changed.

For the first time, Lukas saw fear in her eyes.

She grabbed his hand.

“Run.”

But it was already too late.

The darkness had found them.