Chapter 44 - The Slumber of Soothed Rages

The world had finally stopped trembling. In the heights of the blue tower, dawn didn't rise as elsewhere it didn't break the night, it embraced it an opaline sky caressed the celestial panes, and every breath of wind seemed like a lullaby sung by the clouds themselves in a peaceful chamber, draped with star-strewn curtains, Saphira finally slept her breathing was slow, regular, deep her eyelids trembled slightly, as if even in rest, she continued to dream beside her, Élya, curled into a ball, her armor half-undone, maintained the posture of a sleeping sentinel and all around them, Saphira's dolls floated gently, silently swirling like guardian moons, each pulsing with a faint, reassuring light the blue queen had struck, she had wept, but most importantly, she had watched, and now she rested. In the depths of the tower, where only ancient beings dared to walk in silence, Morpheus waited the god of sleep sat, hands clasped on his knees, in a room where the air had the density of memory. In the center, placed on a gleaming glass pedestal, rested a transparent crystal doll fragile, perfectly smooth, and inside, a curled shadow a reduced, silent form seemingly harmless, but no one was mistaken it was Nekridhal, not a demon, not a dream, but a divinity born from a cry.

He slept, but sometimes, the shadow inside the crystal trembled, as if it still wanted to speak, as if it too were dreaming. Morpheus sighed he wasn't afraid, but he was weary, for keeping confined what has never learned to exist demands more gentleness than power then he heard footsteps not of armor, not of war but silken steps, imbued with divine authority and an ancient pain Hera entered without a word the queen of olympus stopped before the pedestal. she did not immediately reach out her hand she simply gazed the silence between her and Morpheus was thick, almost sacred then she finally spoke.

—"I know what you're going to say." Her voice was low, steady, but not hesitant. "That he must be confined, that he is too dangerous, that he is not ready."

Morpheus turned his head towards her he replied softly. "I was going to say nothing, Hera, because i know why you have come."

She looked down at the crystal, and the following words came out like a choked prayer. "He is not my son, but he is Saphira's child, and I cannot let her bear this alone." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I am a queen, a goddess, but I am also a woman who knows what it is to love something that frightens us."

Morpheus did not reply immediately he approached, silently, without superfluous words he traced a luminous, silvery-white circle in the air the floor barely vibrated the crystal doll slowly rose. Hera held out her arms, and the moment she touched it, the light changed the shadow inside did not move, but a small sound escaped a single breath, a note.

—"He sings." She gently pressed the crystal against her, as a mother holds a newborn she did not bear but chose to love. "It's a good start," she murmured.

She remained still for a moment, then she turned, carrying Nekridhal against her, and left the room before leaving the tower, she passed Saphira's chamber she paused, looked through the barely ajar door  the little queen slept, her hand slipped into Élya's, her fingers still stained with magic Hera smiled she did not knock she did not enter she simply placed a hand on the door and murmured.

—"Sleep well, my child mama will take care of the rest."

And throughout the blue tower, for the first time since that cosmic nightmare, nothing trembled, no one cried even the dolls no longer sang; they listened to a queen's sleep.

End of Chapter 44 — The Slumber of Soothed Rages