Adam stepped out first, his boots ringing on a floor of polished, bone-like material. Noah stumbled out beside him, focusing his eyes as if trying to bring a hallucination into focus.
They were standing on a balcony overlooking a subterranean cathedral.
It was colossal. The ceiling was a dizzying tapestry of sweeping, organic arches that looked like the ribcage of a god, glowing with that same soft, shifting pearlescent light. Massive columns of calcified silk twisted downward, fused intricately with gleaming brass valves and colossal pipes that hissed with steam.
It was a space so vast it possessed its own weather system; drifting mists of golden vapor curled around the upper arches. It was alien, terrifying in its scale, and undeniably beautiful.
Adam’s breath hitched in his throat. His hand fell away, useless against architecture of this magnitude. Beside him, Noah’s relentless, analyzing mind seemed to grind to a complete halt. His jaw went slack, the pupils of his eyes reflecting the shimmering sanctuary.
They stared up into the glowing expanse, paralyzed by the terrible majesty of what the Silk Mother had built beneath the earth, and in the center of all of it, there she was.
The center of the Cradle was not empty; it was occupied by a heartbeat.
Suspended in the air, held aloft by thousands of tension-taut threads that stretched to the cavern walls like the strings of a cosmic instrument, hung a colossal cocoon. It was a masterpiece of biology, pure, luminous silk that didn't just catch the strange, pearlescent light of the chamber but seemed to devour it and spit it back out in shifting waves of opalescence. It pulsed slowly, a rhythm that vibrated in the teeth of anyone standing near it, heavy with the promise of something ancient waiting to be born.
In front of this suspended womb, standing on a dais of polished white bone, three figures waited.
In the center stood the axis upon which this entire world turned.
The woman did not look like a creature of flesh and blood; she looked like a statue carved from moonlight. She was statuesque, her figure cutting a silhouette of overwhelming, voluptuous perfection against the glowing backdrop of the cocoon.
Her hair was a torrent of starlight white, pulled back into a high, gravity-defying tail that cascaded down her back like a liquid silk waterfall. Loose, wavy tendrils escaped the severe elegance of the style to frame her face, curling against cheeks that possessed the flawless, opaque texture of fine porcelain.
She wore a gown that hovered between reality and illusion, a high-collared sheath of white silk that clung to her chest and waist, emphasizing the divine geometry of her form. The skirt was severed by a daring, hip-high slit, revealing one long, statuesque leg that gleamed pale and smooth as marble. The fabric trailed behind her, embroidered with thorny vines that seemed to writhe in the low light, dragging softly over the floor like a predator’s tail.
Her presence was a pressure that silenced the hissing steam pipes and stilled the air. She was beautiful in the way a deity is beautiful, blinding, and terrifying.
Flanking her were the two other guardians of her will, the ones who stood beside her were the other two royal guards, like Lian Mei.
To her right stood a mountain of molten wealth. He was a behemoth, broader and taller than any human man had the right to be. He was clad in heavy, segmented plate armor that wasn't painted gold but seemed to be forged from the metal in its liquid state, shifting and gleaming with a wet, heavy luster. Two massive, curved mandibles rose from his shoulders to frame his helmeted head like a jagged crown.
To her left stood the void. In stark contrast to the other guard’s bulk, this figure was unnervingly tall and razor-thin. His armor was a deep, iridescent purple-blue that shifted colors like a pool of oil, hurting the eyes if stared at for too long. He wore a long, armored trench coat that split into four distinct "tails," mimicking the wings of a dragonfly. His face was hidden behind a smooth, wrap-around visor that offered no clue as to where he was looking, or if he ever blinked.
The beauty of the flower, the weight of the gold, and the precision of the void.
The woman’s lilac eyes, vast and unblinking, drifted down from the dais.
"Welcome, my children," she said.
Her voice was not loud, it was soft, maternal, and laced with a terrifying vibration that settled deep in the marrow of their bones.
"I am happy you arrived safely. We have a great deal to discuss."
Adam and Noah stood frozen, the sheer pressure of the room pressing against their chests like water deep underwater.
"But before we start," She continued, her lips curving into a smile that didn't disturb the porcelain stillness of her face, "let us present ourselves properly, shall we?"
She turned her gaze to the golden giant on her right.
The behemoth took a single step forward, the sound like a hammer striking an anvil. "My name is Gerrick Tor, the Golden Stag. Holder of the beast heart Allotopus rosenbergi. I am one of the three Royal Guards, forever in the service of Her Majesty."
She looked to her left, to the iridescent shadow.
The figure didn't step; he seemed to vibrate into a sharper focus. "My name is Feng Jian, the Morpho Dragonfly. Holder of the beast heart Zenithoptera lanei. I am one of the three Royal Guards, forever in the service of Her Majesty."
She turned her gaze back to the front, waiting.
Adam stepped forward. His shoulders were hunched not in fear, but in a strange, coiled tension.
"My name is Adam," he said. "Just Adam. I don’t have a last name. I am from the City of Light." He paused. "I am the one who bit the apple."
Selena’s gaze shifted to the boy beside him.
Noah swallowed hard. "My name is Noah Montrose. I am also from the City of Light."
"And my name is Selena," she responded with a soft laugh. "The Mother of Silk, the Queen of the Kingdom of Sutra, and one of the five Primals."
Noah frowned, confusion clouding his features.
Selena looked back at Adam, her expression shifting, becoming more intent. "Let us sit, and tal, "
"Is this your real body?"
The interruption cracked through the room like a whip.
Selena stopped mid-sentence. Gerrick Tor stiffened, his golden armor groaning under the tension. Feng Jian tilted his spear sharply. Even Noah looked at his friend with wide, horrified eyes.
Adam didn’t blink. He wasn't looking at Selena’s face; he was looking through it. His eyes were dilated, dark pits absorbing the pearlescent light.
"This isn’t your real body," Adam said, his voice flat and certain. "It is made of silk. Your real body is inside that cocoon."
Silk? Noah’s mind raced. She made an exact replica of a human body? That dress, the skin, the hair... purely of silk?
Silence stretched, heavy and dense.
Then, the statue laughed.
"Ahahhahahahaha!"
It was a rich, delighted sound that echoed off the rib-like arches of the cathedral.
"I see your power is starting to manifest," Selena said, her voice dripping with amusement. "Yes. This human body you see before you is a marionette."
The realization struck both Adam and Noah simultaneously: Just a marionette?
If her real body was inside that cocoon, it meant she was an Eldritch Being, not an Eldritch Holder. But if she was a beast, how was she capable of communicating? They had thought all Eldritch beasts were like animals.
She lifted her pale hand.
Suddenly, the floor beneath them erupted. White silk shot up from the bone-tiles like a geyser, twisting and hardening in real-time. It wove itself into a pristine white table and three elegant chairs.
Selena sat, her movements fluid and weightless. She gestured for them to join her.
They walked slowly to the table and sat in silence. Lian Mei walked to Selena's side, joining the two fellow Royal Guards like someone returning home.
"Before we start," Selena said, her voice heavy with sadness, "I would like to give you my most sincere apologies for the way things turned out. What happened to the City of Light is a catastrophe. Athena was a respected ally of ours. I admired her more than any other ruler."
She placed a hand over her chest. "We, the Kingdom of Sutra, are proud of her and the choice she made. We will ensure we honor such a noble sacrifice so her name remains in the pages of history."
Adam was visibly touched, not just by the words, but by what they reminded him of.
Noah, whose questions were multiplying by the second, took the chance to speak. "Can I ask... how do you know all of those events from here?"
Selena responded softly, sadness still visible on her face. "Sutra’s network is much more intricate and vast than you could imagine. You will get to know and understand how it works with time, Noah."
Adam spoke up then. "You saved us. Without Lian Mei's intervention..." He stopped, looking at the mantis guard for a moment. She stood still, showing not a single ounce of emotion. He continued, "...we would have been caught in the blast and vaporized."
"You are the most important human on earth right now," Selena replied. "I am just glad we arrived in time and managed to get you here safely."
Adam’s eyes widened. "But you are an Eldritch creature. An Eldritch capable of speaking and communicating, but not human. Your guards are human Eldritch Holders, and it seems your castle and servants are all Eldritch Beasts and Holders. Why are you trying to help me? Do I not constitute a danger to you, too?"
Selena met his gaze. "Our goal is to bring down Utopia",
"But you are quite similar to them in a way, aren’t you?" Adam asked boldly.
"Sutra is a human land. Only I and my servants are Eldritch beings and holders; the rest of the country, and the continent, is a mortal human civilization. ", she squeezed her hands, " On the other hand, Utopia is almost a complete immortal land, where everyone is an immortal Beast Holder."
She paused, letting the words sink in. No one responded.
"And after bringing down Utopia for the greater good of the rest of the world..." She looked at her guards, then at her nest, and finally at the cocoon where her real body rested, slowly turning her head at each step, as admiring the view, knowing she was ready to give up on it.
Then she looked back at Adam and Noah. "We would gladly give our lives. Me, and all who serve me, before the end of this epoch."
Adam and Noah’s faces were filled with complete and utter shock.
So that is how far they are willing to go, Adam thought, his gaze lingering on the cocoon pulsing behind the marionette queen.
"So, Adam," Selena whispered, her porcelain face tilting slightly. "Did you copy a Curse yet?"
Copy?