Marked From Birth
"I was the girl who was sent to be a sacrifice. I might as well be the one who finishes the job."
That night, Audrey found herself back in the archives, looking at the locket. It was empty now—the "Crimson Seal" had been used up at the Altar. But as she touched the gold, a hidden compartment clicked open.
Inside was a tiny, translucent seed. It looked like a diamond, but it pulsed with a soft, internal heartbeat.
A note fell out, written in her mother's final, frantic script:
“The Seed of the Sun-Oak. When the world goes black, plant this in the heart of the Void. Life is the only thing the Sleeper cannot consume. It can only be planted by one who has known the dark but chosen the light.”