The first keeper
1044 Words
The voice faded.
But its hunger remained.
It lingered over Prague like an invisible storm.
Every soul in the city felt it.
Children woke crying.
Animals fled into the forests.
The River Vltava stopped flowing for one impossible heartbeat before rushing forward again.
Luna stood motionless.
The new silver symbol burned within the Moon Crown.
One seal.
Eight remained.
She looked at the crystal in her hand.
It had turned to dust.
The young woman who had delivered it collapsed into Kael’s arms.
“Easy,” he said.
“You’re safe.”
She gave a weak smile.
“No one is safe anymore.”
⸻
The Messenger
Nerissa knelt beside the stranger.
“What is your name?”
“…Elena.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
Luna frowned.
“You’re human.”
Elena nodded.
“My family has guarded the First Keeper for generations.”
Lucien exchanged a glance with Kael.
“There were human bloodlines?”
Seraphina answered quietly.
“We couldn’t trust immortals with every seal.”
“So each Keeper had a human guardian.”
Elena coughed.
“They found us three days ago.”
“Who found you?” Luna asked.
Elena’s face turned pale.
“The Hollow Court.”
The name drained the color from every immortal in the cathedral.
Even the Shadow King stopped smiling.
Alaric whispered,
“I thought they were extinct.”
“So did I.”
Lucien’s crimson eyes narrowed.
“The Hollow Court never served me.”
“They served no throne.”
Kael slowly rose.
“They only serve death.”
Luna looked between them.
“What is the Hollow Court?”
Seraphina closed her eyes.
“The first assassins.”
⸻
Nine Hundred Years Earlier
The memory came without warning.
Luna stood in another cathedral.
Only this one was untouched.
Candles illuminated marble pillars.
Nine cloaked figures knelt before Queen Seraphina.
Each wore a featureless white mask.
No names.
No faces.
Only silence.
“You know your duty,” Seraphina said.
The tallest nodded.
“Our lives for the seals.”
“No.”
Seraphina stepped down from her throne.
“Your lives for humanity.”
The nine placed silver daggers against their own palms.
Blood fell onto the marble floor.
Together they spoke their oath.
“Forgotten in life.”
“Forgotten in death.”
“Until the world needs us again.”
The vision shattered.
⸻
Present Day
Luna stumbled backward.
“I know them.”
Everyone looked at her.
“They weren’t assassins.”
“They were protectors.”
Seraphina nodded sadly.
“They became both.”
“What happened?”
“The war.”
Lucien answered.
“When the kingdoms fell…”
“…they disappeared.”
Kael’s voice became grim.
“Or so we believed.”
Elena looked up.
“They’ve changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“They don’t protect the seals anymore.”
She swallowed.
“They’re stealing them.”
Silence.
Luna’s heartbeat quickened.
“Why?”
The Shadow King answered.
“Because someone else commands them now.”
⸻
A deep rumble shook the cathedral.
Not from beneath.
From above.
Kael was the first to react.
“Something’s coming.”
The roof exploded.
Black feathers rained across the sanctuary.
The Harbinger crashed through the shattered ceiling, slamming into the marble floor.
Its wings were torn.
Its scales cracked.
Blue blood poured from dozens of wounds.
It struggled to stand.
Behind it…
Someone walked through the hole in the roof.
A woman.
She wore white armor trimmed with gold.
Long silver hair reached her waist.
A porcelain mask covered the upper half of her face.
In one hand she carried a spear made from crystal.
In the other…
A severed head.
She dropped it at Luna’s feet.
Elena gasped.
“No…”
It was the Keeper of the Second Seal.
His eyes were still open.
His expression frozen in surprise.
The woman removed her mask.
She looked no older than twenty-five.
Beautiful.
Calm.
Emotionless.
Her eyes were pale gray.
She smiled politely.
“Your Majesty.”
The title sounded almost respectful.
Almost.
Luna stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The woman bowed.
“I have had many names.”
She straightened.
“But history remembered only one.”
She touched the silver spear to her chest.
“I am Morgana.”
The name struck Seraphina like a physical blow.
“No…”
Tears filled the First Queen’s eyes.
“It can’t be.”
Luna looked at her.
“You know her?”
Seraphina whispered,
“She was my captain.”
Kael stared in disbelief.
“The Commander of the Royal Guard?”
Lucien slowly raised his sword.
“I attended her funeral.”
Morgana smiled.
“So did I.”
Silence.
Then she looked at Luna.
“I did not come to fight.”
She reached into her cloak.
Slowly…
Carefully…
She removed another crystal.
Inside burned a silver flame.
“The Second Seal.”
She held it toward Luna.
“I’ve brought you a gift.”
No one moved.
Kael growled.
“It’s a trap.”
“Probably.”
Morgana agreed without offense.
“But it’s also your only chance.”
Luna looked into the woman’s gray eyes.
There was no hatred.
No joy.
Only exhaustion.
“Why are you helping me?”
For the first time…
Morgana’s perfect composure cracked.
She looked at the severed head on the floor.
Then at the silver flame in her hand.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because I finally remembered…”
“…what it means to be loyal.”
The Harbinger suddenly lunged.
Not at Luna.
At Morgana.
Blue fire erupted from its jaws.
Without hesitation, Morgana stepped between the flames and the Moon Queen.
The fire consumed her.
Kael shouted.
Lucien charged.
Alaric transformed.
When the flames cleared…
Morgana was still standing.
Barely.
Her white armor had blackened.
Blood dripped from her lips.
Yet the crystal containing the Second Seal remained untouched in her outstretched hand.
She looked at Luna one last time.
“Do not…”
She coughed blood.
“…make the same mistake…”
“…we did.”
Then she collapsed.
The crystal slipped from her fingers.
And the Second Seal floated toward the Moon Crown.
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