Chapter 130: Seed - Kael
The crystal burns in my palm.
Leah stands at the other end of the stone chamber, with the destroyed wall and Adrian's body behind her. Her silver-white wings are folded against her back, the feathers covered in ash and blood.
"Can we still open the passage?" she asks.
"Yes," I say. "But only enough for one person. There's not enough energy."
"Then send me through."
I look at her. Her face flickers in the crystal's light, shadows dancing across it. Her eyes are still silver-gray, but deep in her pupils there's something I've never seen before—determination.
"I don't agree," I say.
"You don't need to agree." She walks toward me, each step crunching on the rubble. "You just need to activate the crystal."
She stops in front of me, placing her hand over mine where I'm holding the crystal.
"Kael," she says. "Three thousand years ago, you cut away your weak parts and became strong. But that wasn't the real you. The real you is the one who makes burnt pancakes for me. The one who takes cold showers. The one who adds honey at five in the morning."
Her fingers tighten.
"Now," she says. "Be that person. Let me go. Let me protect you for once. Like you've protected me so many times."
I look at her.
The crystal's light pulses between us. Red light reflects on her face, like blood.
"I can't," I say. My voice is hoarse.
"You can," she says. "Because you're Kael."
She stands on her toes and kisses me.
The kiss is brief. Just a second. Her lips are dry, tasting of rust and iron.
Then she steps back.
"Open the door," she says.
I close my eyes.
The Gatekeeper bloodline flows through my veins, connecting with the crystal. I can feel Side B's underground structure, the Exile Door's location, the passage coordinates to Side A.
I find that weak point.
Xiao Qi is in the void. The Moon-Eater is closing in.
I push all the energy into the crystal.
Red light explodes. A vortex forms in the center of the stone chamber. Not upward—downward, toward the deeper underground, toward the Exile Door.
"Go!" I shout.
Leah doesn't hesitate.
She jumps into the vortex.
A flash of silver-white in the red light—then she's gone.
The passage closes.
The crystal shatters in my hand. Fragments cut into my palm, but I don't let go.
The stone chamber falls silent.
Only I remain. And the sound of night wind pouring through the opening.
I kneel on the ground.
The chest wound hurts. The lung wound hurts. My heart—hurts too.
Through the Bloodbond, I can still feel her.
She's in the void. Falling. Crossing over.
Then, she reaches Side A.
I feel the impact of her landing. Feel her getting up. Feel her raising her gun, aiming at the black hole in the sky.
Xiao Qi is beside her. Two people. Two guns. Facing the Moon-Eater.
Then—
The Bloodbond's pulse changes.
Not the pulse of battle. Not the pulse of fear.
It's something... new.
Faint. Double. Like two hearts beating in sync.
One fast. One slow.
I freeze.
That's not Leah's heartbeat. Or rather, not just hers.
There are two more inside her body.
I look down at my hand. Blood is still flowing.
Through the Bloodbond, that double heartbeat reaches me, like some ancient code.
I understand.
It didn't just happen. It was before. On Side B. In the castle. In every embrace and every kiss.
Seeds.
Two seeds.
In the chaos of Side A and Side B colliding, in the mixing of Primogenitor bloodline and Gatekeeper bloodline—
She's pregnant.
Twins.
And I'm still on Side B, holding shattered crystal, feeling her raise her weapon on Side A, feeling the two heartbeats in her belly—
Feeling everything I'm about to lose.
Footsteps sound outside the stone chamber.
Night Walkers. Golden vertical pupils appear in the darkness. They gather at the stone chamber entrance, but don't come in.
They lower their heads.
Not bowing to me.
But to the crystal fragment in my hand—or rather, to the silver energy still lingering in it, belonging to Leah.
They're waiting.
Waiting for their sovereign to return.
Or—
Waiting for the new sovereigns to be born.
I grip the crystal fragment, letting the shards cut my palm.
Blood drips onto the ground.
In Side B's morning light, in Side A's dusk—
Somewhere between the two worlds—
Two hearts are beating.