CHAPTER 97: THE ORIGINAL CELESTE BLAZE

Auren’s fingers tightened around her wrist.

"Found you."

The words weren’t meant for Elyndra.

They carried a different weight, soft, almost disbelieving, as though he had been searching through darkness and finally stumbled onto something fragile and real.

Elyndra blinked in surprise, caught off-guard by the shift in his tone.

"Excuse me?" she scoffed, tugging slightly against his grip. "Are you losing it already?"

Auren didn’t look at her.

His attention had dropped, focused on the place where the shard hovered dangerously near Seraphina’s stomach, on the warmth beneath his palm that didn’t belong to Elyndra at all. His breathing slowed, steadying as though he had finally tuned into the right frequency after listening to noise for far too long.

"There you are," he whispered again, quieter this time, his voice losing its edge and turning impossibly gentle. "Hold on..."

That was when it finally reached her.

Understanding flashed across Elyndra’s face, vivid and ugly.

She yanked hard against his grip, trying to tear her wrist free from his hold. "You can’t get her out!" she snapped, panic bleeding through the venom in her voice. "Do you think I spent a century planning this just for you to undo it in a moment?!"

Her other hand shot up with the shard, her movements no longer careful or teasing, but frantic.

Auren’s grip tightened instinctively... not to hurt her, but to hold her still. His attention never left the quiet warmth beneath his palm, even as Elyndra struggled against him like a cornered animal.

"Let go!" she hissed, fury burning through her expression. "She’s mine! This body is mine!"

But Auren didn’t answer her.

He leaned closer instead, his voice low enough that only the one he was calling to could hear it.

"I’m here," he murmured. "You’re not alone anymore."

And somewhere beneath the seal... something stirred.

====

"Auren?"

My head snapped up instantly. I was sure I heard it this time. I hadn’t imagined that voice. It was his.

I forced myself upright, my heart pounding faster as I looked around the endless white paths of the maze, trying to find the source of the sound.

And then I saw it again.

A shadow slipped across the white wall ahead of me.

I froze.

It wasn’t mine.

It moved too slowly and lightly... like smoke gliding across stone.

My breath caught as I turned fully, eyes fixed on the moving shape. The shadow stretched thin, then scattered, then re-formed again like something drifting just out of sight.

But something about it was wrong.

Shadows weren’t supposed to move like that.

I took a slow step closer and then another until the light shifted just enough for me to finally see what was casting it.

Not a figure. Not a body.

Feathers!

Dozens of them.

No—hundreds.

So pale against the white maze that they almost disappeared from sight, their edges catching only enough light to leave faint silhouettes trembling along the walls. As they drifted together, they shaped themselves into something that looked like a shadow moving through the maze.

That was what I’d been chasing.

Not a person. It was a trail, a message or maybe a guide that I was supposed to follow.

"Auren..." My voice broke quietly as understanding settled into my chest.

The feathers began to change direction, gathering silently, flowing together like a river of silver light.

And for the first time since I woke up in this place—I knew where to go.

I followed the trail without thinking, my feet moving almost on their own as the feathers drifted ahead of me. They didn’t rush. They flowed forward in a quiet, patient stream, turning corners before I did, slipping through paths that had once felt endless and confusing but now strangely certain beneath my steps.

The maze seemed to respond as I moved.

Walls that once looked identical began to feel different, the air subtly shifting with each turn. The farther I walked, the more the weight in my chest eased. It was faint, barely noticeable at first, but after every few steps it grew a little stronger, a little warmer, as if something inside me was slowly waking up after a long sleep.

Eventually, the feathers began to slow.

They drifted lower, one by one, settling into the air instead of pulling forward, until the stream thinned and the maze opened into a wide, quiet clearing.

And there... Someone was standing at the far end.

A figure with their back facing me.

Perfectly still.

Not part of the maze.

Not a wall.

Not another illusion.

Someone.

I frowned, my steps slowing until I came to a stop, uncertainty creeping into my chest. Something about the way she stood... too calm and composed, making my fingers curl unconsciously at my sides.

The feathers hovered around me now, no longer guiding, no longer pulling.

I swallowed and took a careful step forward.

"Hello...?"

The woman finally turned.

I blinked in confusion. I didn’t recognize her at all... yet somehow, she looked painfully familiar in a way I couldn’t explain. She was smiling at me, soft and beautifully but there was something behind that smile that made my heart ache, like it was holding into thousands of sad memories.

"Thank you..." she murmured. Her voice was gentle, almost melodic. "Thanks to you, I might finally be able to leave this prison."

My brows knitted instantly.

"What...?" My frown deepened as confusion hit. "Who are you?"

The woman’s smile widened just a little.

"A prisoner," she answered lightly, as if that explained everything. "Just like you." Her eyes flickered toward the floating feathers around us. "The difference is... you have someone coming to look for you."

My heart skipped.

"Wait..." My thoughts scattered all at once.

She smiled again, and this time there was nothing distant about it, only quiet warmth, the kind that made breathing feel a little easier without understanding why.

"Nice to meet you, Seraphina..."

A chill ran through me anyway, because how the hell she knew my name?

"Who are you?" I whispered as I took a step back. "How do you even know my name?"

The woman tilted her head gently, as though choosing her words with care.

"I am Celeste, Celeste Blaze."