Chapter 15 - The Secret Beneath the Waves
Back in the capital, Elara woke suddenly in the dead of night, her heart hammering against her ribs. The Astraea stirred beside her bed, letting out a low, urgent trill as its feathers glowed with a faint, pulsing amber light.
Rising from her bed, Elara walked out onto her balcony, looking toward the eastern horizon where the sky flickered with strange, unnatural lightning. The bond she shared with the magical realm whispered a chilling truth: the ancient seals holding the sunken abyssal vault beneath the eastern sea were weakening.
"You feel it too, don't you?" a gentle voice whispered from the doorway.
Queen Helena stood wrapped in a velvet shawl, her eyes reflecting the distant green lightning. "When I was young, the elders spoke of the Abyssal Pact—an ancient entity imprisoned beneath the ocean long before our dynasty began. If Selene has unlocked the vault..."
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"She is trading the soul of the kingdom for personal supremacy," Elara finished, her jaw set with unwavering resolve. "She wants to prove she was right. She wants to show that only absolute power can rule."
"Then we must prepare," Helena said, stepping forward to clasp her daughter's hand. "The crown chose you for a reason, Elara. Not to sit safely behind high walls, but to face the dark head-on."
