Seraphine sat cross-legged on a silk-draped mat, surrounded by candles flickering with blue-white flames. The air was thick with incense—burned myrrh, crushed nightshade, and powdered bone dust—meant to open the veil between worlds.
Lady Nyxara stood behind her, whispering ancient words from The Womb Codex , her voice steady but low, as if afraid to wake something that should remain asleep.
Kael knelt nearby, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, though he knew no blade could protect her from what lay ahead.
This was not a journey of the body.
It was one of the soul.
And it would take her somewhere no living mother had ever gone before.
The Womb Realm .
***
Seraphine closed her eyes.
She felt the pull immediately—a slow, gentle tug beneath her ribs, like a thread unraveling through her chest and into the deepest parts of her being.
Her breath hitched.
Then, she was falling.
Not through space, but through sensation.
Cold.
Darkness.
Pressure.
And then—
Light.
A soft, pulsing glow filled her vision, like the inside of a pearl lit from within. She landed gently on a surface that wasn't quite solid, yet held her weight.
She was standing inside a vast chamber of translucent walls, curved like the inside of an enormous egg. Veins of light pulsed along the floor and ceiling, connecting like a web across the endless space.
There were others here.
Floating in pods of shimmering fluid—tiny forms curled in perfect stillness.
Unborn children.
Some human.
Others… not.
"You came," said a voice behind her.
Seraphine turned slowly.
There she was.
Aeloria.
Standing just a few feet away, barefoot and dressed in a white gown that looked too clean for this place. Her skin was pale, almost luminous. Her black hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders.
But it was her eyes that made Seraphine's breath catch.
They were wrong.
Too wide. Too knowing.
Like they had seen death long before birth.
"You're real," Seraphine whispered.
Aeloria tilted her head. "Of course I'm real."
Seraphine took a hesitant step forward. "I thought you were just a dream."
Aeloria smiled—a sweet, innocent smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"I am," she said simply. "And I'm more than that too."
***
The Womb Realm shifted around them, its walls stretching and folding like breathing lungs.
Seraphine glanced at the floating pods again.
"Where are we?" she asked.
Aeloria gestured to the space around them. "Inside me. Inside you. Both."
Seraphine swallowed hard. "Is this where all unborn children go?"
Aeloria laughed softly. "No. Only the ones who don't want to be born."
Seraphine's heart pounded.
"That's not true," she said. "You'll be born soon."
Aeloria stepped closer, tilting her head. "Will I?"
"Yes." Seraphine tried to sound certain. "We can still do this the right way."
Aeloria studied her for a long moment.
Then, suddenly, she frowned.
"Why do you keep fighting me?"
Seraphine flinched.
"I don't want to fight you," she said carefully. "I want to understand you."
Aeloria blinked slowly.
"You already know what I am," she said. "You just don't want to admit it."
Seraphine hesitated. "What are you?"
Aeloria smiled again—but this time, it was sharp.
"I am your end," she said softly.
"And your beginning."
***
The world around them shifted violently.
The walls of the Womb Realm cracked like glass struck by a hammer. Light bled through the fractures, spilling out in tendrils that reached toward them like searching fingers.
Aeloria didn't move.
She only watched as the realm began to collapse.
Seraphine staggered backward. "What's happening?"
Aeloria tilted her head. "You shouldn't have come here."
Seraphine's pulse raced. "I needed to see you."
"You did," Aeloria said simply. "Now leave."
"No," Seraphine said firmly. "I won't let you destroy me."
Aeloria's expression darkened.
"You gave me life," she whispered.
"Now I will take yours."
Before Seraphine could respond, the ground beneath her feet shattered.
She screamed as she fell—plummeting through layers of shifting light and shadow, the screams of unborn souls echoing all around her.
***
Back in the palace, Kael caught her before she hit the floor.
She gasped awake, coughing violently, her body trembling as if she had been drowning.
Nyxara rushed forward, pressing a hand to Seraphine's forehead.
"She's back," she murmured. "Just barely."
Kael looked down at her, gripping her shoulders tightly. "Seraphine!"
She met his gaze, her eyes wide with terror.
"She's not a child," she whispered hoarsely. "She's something else."
Nyxara exchanged a glance with Kael.
"What did you see?" she asked.
Seraphine shuddered.
"I saw her," she said. "And she knows me now."
***
Later that night, Seraphine sat alone by the fire, wrapped in silence.
Aeloria spoke again, softer now.
"You liked what you saw, didn't you?"
Seraphine pressed her hands to her temples. "No."
"Good," Aeloria whispered.
"Because now I've seen you too."
Seraphine closed her eyes.
And for the first time since this nightmare began…
She wept.