Chapter 5: Cradle of Light

The portal shimmered shut behind them, casting Aeryn and Lior into a soft twilight. They were back in the outskirts of the rebellion’s jungle hideout—a different section this time, deeper, denser. The air was rich with the scent of wet earth and wild ginger. Birds chirped in haunting melodies above.

Aeryn collapsed onto the nearest mossy rock, breathing hard. “That… was too close.”

Lior stood beside her, his back to a tree, watching the forest like it might split open again. “They would’ve killed you.”

“They would’ve killed both of us.” She looked up. “You stepped in front of that Hollow Knight.”

“I wasn’t going to let you get hurt,” he said, his voice quiet.

She stared at him for a long moment. “Even if it cost you your life?”

Lior smiled faintly. “What good is freedom if you’re not there to share it?”

Aeryn felt something deep in her chest shift—something warm, ancient, and terrifying. She looked away, swallowing the rising feeling.

They had survived the Garden of Forgotten Names. And in doing so, they’d retrieved the second key: Pag-ibig. Love.

Two symbols now glowed in the shard’s surface: Alaala and Pag-ibig.

The third key remained.

“The final key,” Aeryn whispered, turning the shard in her hands. “We’re getting closer.”

Lior sat beside her. “What’s left? What does the last symbol represent?”

Before she could answer, Kael emerged from the treeline, silent as a shadow. His white robes shimmered faintly, the aura of the Mirror World still clinging to him.

“It’s not a symbol,” he said. “Not exactly.”

Aeryn stood. “Then what is it?”

Kael held out his hand. In his palm appeared a burning glyph, pulsing with golden energy.

“Katotohanan,” he said. “Truth.”

Aeryn frowned. “But we’ve already seen the Queen’s truth—her past, her grief.”

“That was her truth,” Kael said. “The third key demands your truth, Aeryn.”

She stiffened. “What do you mean?”

Kael walked toward the ancient banyan tree at the center of the glade. “Come.”

They followed him under the thick roots and into a hidden cavern, lit by bioluminescent plants and glowing water that rippled with Mirror energy.

There, carved into the rock, were three symbols: Alaala. Pag-ibig. Katotohanan.

And beneath them—a pool shaped like an eye.

“This is the Eye of Reflection,” Kael said. “If you step into it, it will show you your deepest truth. The one you hide even from yourself.”

Lior narrowed his eyes. “This sounds like a trap.”

Kael looked at him. “The Mirror doesn’t lie. But it can break.”

Aeryn stepped closer. The pool shimmered with silvery light, her reflection swirling.

She turned to Lior. “Whatever I see, promise me you’ll stay.”

“I promise.”

She stepped in.

The world vanished.

Aeryn opened her eyes inside a vast mirror realm—this time not a world of fantasy, but a dark void, filled with floating fragments of memory.

One drifted toward her.

She reached out.

She saw herself at age nine, curled up in a government shelter, watching other girls get adopted by women in royal robes. Her own name had been called once. But when the noblewoman saw she had befriended a boy from the boy’s sector, she had been rejected.

“You’re soft,” the woman had spat. “Too emotional. Easily corrupted.”

The memory shattered.

Another floated near.

Fifteen years old, watching her best friend, a boy named Elian, get dragged away in chains for confessing he loved her. She had cried for days, screaming into her pillow, terrified of her own heart.

“I should’ve let him go sooner,” she whispered. “I was a coward.”

The memory dissolved.

Then came the final fragment.

The future.

Aeryn stood on the balcony of the palace, dressed in a royal robe. The people chanted her name—men and women together.

But her expression was hollow.

Kael stood behind her, wearing armor of light.

Lior stood at her side—broken, bleeding, but alive.

Aeryn dropped the shard onto the floor of her vision.

She had betrayed one of them to save the other.

Tears streamed down her future self’s cheeks.

“I had no choice,” she whispered.

The vision shattered.

And Aeryn screamed.

She shot out of the pool, gasping.

Lior caught her. “What did you see?”

Kael didn’t speak. He already knew.

Aeryn buried her face in her hands. “I’m going to destroy everything. I’m going to lose you both.”

Lior held her tighter. “That’s not true.”

“It is,” she cried. “There’s going to be a moment… where I’ll have to choose. And I won’t know how.”

Kael stepped forward. “Then prepare yourself now. Because the final key has chosen you.”

The shard glowed.

A third symbol burned into its surface: Katotohanan.

The triangle was complete.

The artifact pulsed once… and shattered.

The pieces didn’t fall.

They floated—spinning in the air—before fusing together into a glowing heart-shaped crystal.

The Heart of the Mirror.

It pulsed like a heartbeat in Aeryn’s hand.

Kael fell to one knee. “With this, you can confront her. In the place where the Mirror first cracked.”

Aeryn nodded. “The capital.”

“No,” Kael said. “Not the palace. The ruins beneath it. The site of the original Mirror—the Cradle of Light.”

Lior helped Aeryn to her feet. “How do we get there?”

Kael’s expression darkened. “You’ll need a key of flesh. Someone with access to the inner sanctum.”

Aeryn met his eyes. “Someone like… a royal?”

Kael hesitated. “Someone like… me.”

She blinked. “You’re…”

He nodded. “Xrydia’s son.”

The silence that followed was so heavy it could have crushed stone.

“You’re the heir?” Lior asked, half-drawn blade trembling in his hand.

Kael didn’t flinch. “I was born in secret. My father died before I was born. When the Queen outlawed love, she hid my existence—fearing the Monarchy would see it as weakness.”

Aeryn’s mind reeled.

“All this time…” she whispered.

“I’ve been fighting to make sure her story doesn’t become mine,” Kael said.

He knelt before them. “Use me as your key. Bring the Heart to the Cradle. End this.”

Lior still didn’t lower his blade.

But Aeryn stepped forward.

And held out her hand.

“We’ll do it. Together.”

They departed the jungle that same night—under cover of darkness, riding stealth gliders across the dead zone into the heart of New Malacañang, the Monarchy’s iron fortress.

The city loomed like a steel crown, its towers jagged and sharp. Spotlights roamed the skies. The Queen’s sigil—a single unblinking eye—glowed from every building.

They descended into a forgotten maintenance tunnel beneath the throne hall, following Kael through collapsed tunnels and sealed doors.

Finally, they reached it.

The Cradle of Light.

An ancient chamber carved into volcanic rock, with columns wrapped in Baybayin text. In the center stood a massive circular basin—once the Mirror’s original form.

Now it was cracked. Splintered. Faded.

Kael stepped forward and raised his hand.

The basin responded to his blood.

Light surged.

A stairway descended beneath it, leading into a final chamber.

Aeryn held the Heart of the Mirror tight.

“Are you ready?” Lior whispered.

“No,” she said, “but I’ll go anyway.”

They stepped through.

Inside was a cathedral of glass and flame.

And at its center, seated on a throne of broken names, was Queen Xrydia.

Her silver hair flowed like smoke. Her eyes—once beautiful—were now hollow stars. On her chest, she wore the twin of Aeryn’s pendant.