Chapter 2798: Story 2799: The Sister Who Never Died

“THAT IS NOT OUR SISTER!”

The forgotten child’s scream erupted from Ronan’s chest, shaking the battlefield beneath the broken chamber.

Lyra stepped away from him.

The black blade in her hand grew longer, its edge dripping darkness that vanished before touching the ground.

“Ronan,” she whispered, “don’t listen to him.”

But the voice from the battlefield laughed.

“Still pretending, little sister?”

Every dead soldier raised its head.

The false Lyra emerged from the ranks, wearing the same face, the same eyes, and the same sorrowful smile. Unlike the real Lyra, however, seven black stars burned above her forehead.

Seratha stared at the newcomer.

“My God,” she breathed. “The daughter we buried.”

The real Lyra trembled. “You said I was the First Daughter.”

“You were,” Seratha replied. “But you were not the only one.”

The false Lyra lifted her hand. The battlefield disappeared, replaced by a memory of two infant girls lying beneath a sky of silver stars. One cried with a human voice. The other made no sound at all.

Between their cradles rested a heart split into two pieces.

“The First Father created two daughters,” Seratha confessed. “One inherited his love. The other inherited his hunger. When the second child began devouring the names of the dead, I erased her existence and hid her beyond creation.”

The false daughter smiled.

“And my sister promised to forget me.”

Lyra shook her head. “I never knew you existed.”

“You knew enough to kill me.”

The words struck harder than any weapon.

Suddenly, Lyra’s seventh heartbeat faltered. The black blade turned in her grasp, pointing toward her own chest.

Ronan lunged, but invisible chains wrapped around his limbs.

The false daughter approached him.

“You always choose her, First Son. Even when choosing her destroys everything.”

Ronan struggled against the chains. Red energy burst from his palms, but the bindings swallowed it.

“I don’t know who you are,” he growled, “but you won’t touch her.”

The false daughter leaned closer.

“You said those words before you murdered me.”

A forgotten memory pierced his mind.

Ronan saw himself beneath a dead sun, holding a younger version of Lyra while another girl lay bleeding before him. He had raised his mother’s blood-forged sword, crying as the dying girl whispered, Please, brother. Before I become the hunger.

Then the memory vanished.

Ronan fell to his knees.

“I remember,” he whispered.

Inside him, the forgotten child answered, “You remember the lie they allowed you to keep.”

The colossal Father roared. His silver chains shattered one by one, and entire worlds flickered out across his body.

“Enough!” he thundered. “My daughters will not destroy each other again!”

The false daughter turned toward him.

“You imprisoned me, Father. You gave my heart to her. And when she chose our brother over me, you called it mercy.”

She drove her hand into the air.

The giant collapsed, its dead stars raining across the battlefield.

Lyra screamed as the black blade pierced her own shadow. Seven heartbeats erupted from her body, each beating to a different rhythm.

The false daughter reached for the final one.

Ronan tore free of his chains, but he was too late.

The battlefield swallowed Lyra.

For one terrible moment, silence consumed creation.

Then her voice came from every grave, every ruined kingdom, every dying star.

“Ronan, whatever happens next, do not let me remember my name.”

A crown of black fire descended upon the false daughter’s head.

She looked toward Ronan and smiled.

“Thank you, brother.”

Behind her, the dead armies knelt.

“THE FIRST DAUGHTER HAS RETURNED. LET THE FINAL WAR BEGIN!”