The chamber was still, save for the soft crackle of an unseen fire beneath the floor. Time seemed to pause as Chess stepped into Dusk Nine, a room untouched by modernity. Ancient scrolls adorned the stone walls, their scripts glowing faintly — not from technology, but from the residual qi of the masters who once wrote them.
The woman turned fully now.
Her hood fell, revealing a face that seemed sculpted from twilight. Pale, elegant, with sharp cheekbones and eyes that shimmered like starlight trapped beneath a lake. Her hair was tied in a silver braid, the color of moonlit ash. She was young, impossibly so, yet her presence carried centuries.
"You haven't changed," she said softly.
Chess's expression didn't waver. "You always were dramatic, Aralyn."
Aralyn. A name that hadn't passed his lips in ten years.
The last time they'd seen each other, they had been standing at the base of the Soulfire Ravine, bloodied from training, hearts young and foolish.
"You vanished," she said, stepping closer. "No word. No trace. You walked out of the Sect with your master and left everything — including me — behind."
Chess's jaw tensed, but he said nothing.
Aralyn studied him, her eyes not angry, but infinitely sad. "Why?"
"Because staying would've killed who I was becoming," he replied. "And leaving… well, it saved me."
She reached into her robe and placed a small, ancient insignia on the table between them — the Golden Fang Seal, the mark of an internal order within the Sect reserved only for those bound by both blood and purpose.
"This shouldn't be here," Chess murmured.
"But it is," Aralyn replied. "Because something is shifting. The elders are restless. The Second Gate has cracked. And not all the seals are holding."
Chess blinked. That was bigger than anything he'd heard from his contacts in the Sect. If the Second Gate was weakening… then even Valemir wasn't safe.
"What do you want, Aralyn?"
"To see you. To warn you." Her voice dipped. "And maybe… to remind you of what you left behind."
She stepped closer, and for a moment, her fingers touched his wrist. There was a flicker of qi between them, a bond that hadn't fully broken despite the years.
But Chess took a step back.
"I don't live there anymore," he said quietly.
Aralyn smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You may not. But it lives in you."
She turned to leave, her robes whispering against the stone.
Just before disappearing into the shadows, she paused.
"Oh," she added without turning. "You might want to keep an eye on your fiancée. The world you dragged her into… it's not the only one with secrets."
And then she was gone.
Meanwhile — Valemir Heights, Elaris Luxe HQ
Elsa tapped her fingers against the windowpane, staring out at the city skyline. The confrontation with Nyra at Jefferson Global had rattled her more than she cared to admit.
Nyra was no ordinary boardroom vulture. Her aura screamed precision, the kind of power that didn't need to shout to be heard.
And the things she said…
"Do you even know who you're really dating, Ms. Jefferson?"
It replayed in Elsa's head like a loop, though she brushed it off with defiance. Still, something about the way Nyra had smirked haunted her.
A knock pulled her from her thoughts.
"Come in," Elsa said.
It was her assistant, carrying a sealed envelope.
"This just came in. No courier name. Just… delivered. Personally."
Elsa opened it.
Inside was a single card — gold-edged, with the seal of an ancient lotus on it. No words. Just the sigil.
A chill swept through her. Something primal.
She didn't know what it meant.
But somewhere deep in her soul… something stirred.