Thunder cracked like a war drum above the Romanov estate as Aiden stared at the ancient relic uncovered beneath Zia’s bedroom the obsidian dagger resting in the cradle of the Seal of the Flame. Its black blade shimmered with unnatural heat, as if forged from darkness and fire itself. The vial of blood next to it glowed faintly, reacting to the presence of Silvana’s unborn child still cradled in her womb.Harper arrived moments later, breathless. He had traced its activation to a deep arcane code embedded in the mansion’s architecture one that hadn’t pulsed in over three centuries.“This seal,” he said, “was bound to the Romanov bloodline but only awakens when the true heir is born… or threatened.”Aiden’s jaw tightened. “Lucian didn’t just want my son. He needed him to awaken this.”Lorenzo stepped forward, voice low. “The dagger is known in the oldest scrolls. It’s called Pyros Ethriel Flame of the Chosen. It’s a legacy weapon, meant for one purpose…”Silvana’s hand trembled against

Thunder cracked over the Romanov estate as Silvana collapsed to the floor, her hand gripped tightly around her swollen belly. Zia screamed, running to her side with tears in her eyes.“Mommy! Mommy, what’s wrong?!”Silvana couldn’t speak. A searing pain coursed through her body hotter than anything she had felt before. Not just labor. Not just fear. Something else… something ancient.Zia shook her gently. “Don’t let the fire come! Please! The man with the burning hands he said the baby mustn’t cry!”Lorenzo burst through the door seconds later, followed closely by Gregory and the family doctor. The physician knelt instantly beside Silvana, checking her vitals. “We need to get her to the hospital. Now!”“No,” Lorenzo said firmly, voice lined with dread. “Not yet. Not until we know what’s inside her.”The doctor looked up, stunned. “She’s your granddaughter-in-law!”“She’s carrying something more than a Romanov.”Sicily The Forgotten ChapelAiden stared at the scroll’s final words, the

The morning after the Emberborn attack dawned quiet unnaturally quiet.The Romanov estate, usually alive with movement and the quiet discipline of its internal operations, seemed to hold its breath. The staff had been instructed to maintain normalcy for Zia’s sake, but the silence beneath the surface was deafening.Zia stayed curled beside Silvana in the recovery suite, unusually still for a child so spirited. The explosion from the night before had shaken her, but what truly haunted her was the dream the boy with golden eyes.She hadn’t told anyone. Not Aiden. Not Silvana. Not even Lorenzo.Not yet.But in her small hands, hidden beneath the covers, was a drawing she made before dawn a white field, a boy’s face with eyes like the sun, and a burning cradle.Underground Briefing Room 09:30 A.M.The map of the estate glowed with new markings: entry points, dematerialization sites, the heat residue trails of the Emberborn. Harper stood at the front, gesturing toward an arcane sigil burn

The rain had stopped, but the air remained heavy,thick with the scent of smoke and something ancient that had no name. Over the Romanov estate, silence settled like a blanket, but underneath that calm was tension as taut as a drawn bowstring.In the war room, everything had changed.“Solan.”Zia’s voice echoed in Aiden’s mind long after she’d spoken the name. He sat at the head of the table, his knuckles white as he gripped the arms of the chair. Around him, Harper, Bryden, Lorenzo, and Silvana stared at the glowing sigils that had just been projected from Harper’s portable analyzer.The name triggered seismic responses in their internal databases secrets once buried under code-red clearance now flashing red across every system.Solan: Designation Level X – Unidentified Entity. Timeline Linkage: Pre-Etherion War. DNA Signature: Part-Romanov. Part-Unknown. Threat Index: Evolving.Harper looked up. “This isn’t just some myth. The codex has been hiding records tied to Solan’s name encryp

The Romanov mansion was unusually still, but it wasn’t the quiet of peace it was the quiet before a storm. The symbol of the First Circle had embedded itself like a stain on the minds of everyone inside the estate. Each step Aiden took echoed like a ticking clock, a countdown to something he couldn’t yet see.In the underground tech chamber, Harper worked through the night, lines of code flashing across his monitor in frantic streams. His eyes were bloodshot, hands trembling slightly as he poured through the corrupted metadata from the First Circle’s broadcast.Then suddenly a ping.A hidden protocol embedded within the red-painted chess knight triggered Harper’s failsafe alert. It wasn’t just symbolic. It was a device.A list unfolded.Dozens of names.Each connected to the Romanovs… but not through business or politics.Bloodlines.Harper’s hand hovered over the intercom. “Aiden. You need to see this.”Within minutes, Aiden, Silvana, Lorenzo, and Gregory were assembled in the cham