ANMELDENThe entire universe fell silent.Sophia stared at the woman floating above them.Her face.Her eyes.Her hair.Even the tiny scar beneath her left eyebrow.Everything was identical.But there was one difference.The woman looked at Sophia the way a queen looked at something that belonged to her.Possession.Recognition.And something dangerously close to affection.Sophia couldn’t breathe.“Who are you?”The woman smiled.“You.”Sophia shook her head.“No.”“Yes.”“You’re lying.”The woman descended slowly.Every step she took caused reality to bend beneath her feet.“I am everything you were before you became Sophia.”Sophia’s hands trembled.“I don’t understand.”“You weren’t born.”“You were divided.”Sophia looked toward the First Flame.“Is that true?”Her mother didn’t answer.Sophia’s father lowered his head.That was enough.Sophia’s heart sank.“You knew.”Her father whispered:“I knew.”“You all knew.”Silence.Sophia looked at the woman.“What does divided mean?”The woman
“I’ve been waiting for you to remember me.”Sophia couldn’t move.The little boy stood beneath the darkened sky, smiling at her.He looked harmless.Too harmless.His small hands were folded behind his back, and his black hair moved gently in a wind that didn’t exist.But every instinct inside Sophia screamed one word.Run.She couldn’t.Not because she was afraid.Because something inside her recognized him.Something ancient.Something buried so deeply that even the Creator herself had forgotten it.Sophia whispered:“Who are you?”The boy smiled.“You know.”“No.”“You’ve always known.”“Tell me.”The boy stepped closer.“My name is…”He paused.Then whispered:“Eden.”Sophia’s heart stopped.Behind her, the First Flame gasped.“No.”Lucien immediately drew his sword.“Everyone, move away from him.”Eden looked at Lucien.“You.”Lucien’s grip tightened.“What?”“You were always her favorite.”Sophia froze.“How do you know him?”Eden smiled.“I remember everything.”“What do you re
The creature opened its mouth.Sophia stared into the darkness.Millions of worlds burned inside it.Not images.Not memories.Real worlds.She could see civilizations collapsing beneath crimson skies. Oceans evaporating. Mountains turning to dust. Millions of people looking upward as darkness swallowed their stars.Then the visions vanished.Sophia staggered backward.“No…”Lucien caught her.“What did you see?”“Worlds.”“What worlds?”“Millions of them.”Cain stood beside her, his face pale.“It has already consumed them.”Sophia looked at him.“How many?”Cain shook his head.“Too many to count.”Rex clenched his fists.“Then we’ll kill it.”Cain looked at him.“You can’t kill something that doesn’t live.”Rex’s expression hardened.“Everything can die.”“No.”Cain pointed toward the creature.“That’s what makes it dangerous.”“It doesn’t live.”“It doesn’t die.”“It simply consumes.”The creature’s enormous eye turned toward them.“YOU SPEAK AS THOUGH YOU UNDERSTAND ME.”Cain ste
Sophia couldn’t speak.She stared at the seven children standing beneath the darkening sky.Seven children.Seven Flames.Seven pairs of golden eyes.And all of them were looking at her as though they had known her forever.Sophia’s gaze moved slowly from one child to another.The first was a boy, perhaps sixteen years old, dressed entirely in white. A golden flame floated above his palm.The second was a girl with silver hair and eyes that seemed to contain an entire ocean.The third was a small boy surrounded by green light.The fourth was a girl whose shadow moved independently of her body.The fifth was a tall boy with crimson eyes.The sixth was a quiet girl holding a black rose.And the seventh…Sophia couldn’t look away from him.He was the youngest.Perhaps ten years old.He wore a simple black coat.Unlike the others, he carried no visible Flame.Yet the moment Sophia looked into his eyes, her entire body went cold.He smiled.“Mother.”Sophia took a step backward.“No.”Luci
“I created you.”The words echoed through Sophia’s mind.Again.And again.And again.She couldn’t breathe.The First Flame stood before her, no longer wearing the face Sophia knew.Her body was changing.Golden skin cracked like ancient stone.Dark energy poured from the fractures.Her beautiful features twisted into something older.Something that existed before Heaven.Before Hell.Before the first star.Sophia stared at her.“Mother?”The word escaped her lips before she could stop it.The First Flame smiled.“Yes.”Sophia shook her head.“No.”“You finally remember.”“No!”“You always knew.”“I didn’t!”“You simply buried it.”Sophia’s memories came rushing back.Not fragments.Not visions.The truth.She remembered standing in an endless darkness.She remembered being small.Not human.Not divine.Something beyond both.And beside her…A woman.The First Flame.Her mother.Sophia remembered reaching for her hand.“What is that?”A young Sophia had pointed toward the first light
“Because if it takes you… there will be no universe left to save.”Sophia stared at her father.For the first time since she had remembered him, she saw genuine fear in his eyes.Not anger.Not pride.Fear.“Father…” she whispered.He released her hand.“Don’t call me that.”Sophia frowned.“Why?”“Because I don’t deserve it.”Behind him, the enormous creature moved.The stars bent around its body.Space itself seemed to collapse wherever it stepped.The First Flame grabbed Sophia’s wrist.“Don’t look directly at it.”Sophia turned.“Why?”“Because it doesn’t have a true form.”“What am I looking at?”“Whatever your mind is capable of understanding.”Sophia stared at the creature again.Its appearance changed.For a second, it looked like a man.Then a woman.Then a child.Then Sophia.Then nothing.Her head began throbbing.Lucien grabbed her.“Look at me.”Sophia turned toward him.His eyes were red again.“Don’t look at it.”She nodded.“Who is it?”Lucien looked toward Sophia’s fa







