Chapter 381: You need to go back to the memory.

"Successor is a big word," Damon said, keeping his voice steady. "Especially when no one asked me if I wanted to succeed anyone."Nera took a half-step back and finally noticed the fallen chair behind her. She made no attempt to pick it up. Her gaze remained fixed on him, assessing details perhaps no one else in the room knew to look for: the white hair, the skin temperature, the subtle gleam in his eyes, and the way the cold remained coiled just beneath the surface. To Damon, it was unsettling. To Nera, it seemed like ongoing confirmation.

"I’m not talking about a political legacy, a sect, or a formal position," she replied. "Xue Lian vanished without leaving behind any recognized disciples. There was no name to carry on, no territory to manage, and no followers waiting for orders. When I say ’successor,’ I’m talking about what survived of her."

Damon leaned back in his chair, never taking his eyes off the woman. "The memories."

"More than that. The elemental root, the Celestial Ice Body, and the ability to alter a sealed history. All of that existed in her. Now, it exists in you."

Ester remained at Damon’s side, arms crossed, watching Nera with controlled hostility. "You’re treating three unknown phenomena as if they were a proven line of succession."

"I’m not treating it as proven," Nera replied. "I’m saying that Seraphine believes it. That distinction matters more right now."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. It was exactly the kind of distinction that needed to be maintained. The truth could wait for investigation; what Seraphine believed was already producing concrete consequences.

"Then let’s separate the facts," Elizabeth said. "What you know about Xue Lian, what Seraphine knows, and what you’re merely deducing."

Nera glanced at the fallen chair, pulled it upright, and sat down. The gesture restored some of her composure, though her face remained pale. "What I know about Xue Lian comes from fragmented records, accounts from extinct sects, and documents Seraphine has gathered over the years. What Seraphine knows goes beyond that, because she had access to Valcair archives I’ve never seen. My deduction is simple: when she learned of Damon’s transformation, she came in person because she needed to confirm whether the Celestial Ice Body had truly reappeared."

Morgana rested a hand on the cell’s table. "How did she find out about the transformation?"

"Reports from the former Duchess. The change in hair color, the permanent drop in body temperature, the abnormal glacial Qi, and the recovery from a coma that should have killed any ordinary person. Havelock might not have grasped the significance, but Seraphine would."

Damon thought back to his awakening. Ester in the room, Elizabeth watching, Morgana worried—everyone trying to figure out what had happened. During that time, servants, doctors, guards, and messengers had moved through the manor. Completely hiding his condition had never been an option.

"So she didn’t come to find out *if* I had changed," he said. "She came to find out *what* I had become."

Nera nodded. "And she likely succeeded."

Ester’s expression hardened. "He didn’t manifest the Celestial Body in front of her."

"He didn’t need to. Seraphine was looking for reactions. The room’s temperature when the Heart was mentioned, the way he sensed the bell, the root’s response, and his physical appearance were enough. She might not know the limits, but she knows she found something compatible."

Damon let the silence linger for a few seconds before asking, "Compatible with the Heart, or with Xue Lian?"

"Perhaps the two amount to the same question."

Aria, who had been standing near the door with an open notebook until then, looked up. "That requires a concrete explanation."

Nera ran her fingers over the cover of the book left lying on the bed. "Ancient tales claim that Xue Lian was not born with the Celestial Ice Body. She acquired it by surviving contact with a primordial root. There is no consensus on what that root actually was. Some versions speak of a frozen star, others of a fragment of the ancient world. Seraphine believes it was a structure similar to the Underground Heart."

Damon felt the root pulse once. Not strongly enough to break free of his control, but clearly enough for Ester to notice. She placed two fingers on his wrist and waited. Damon breathed slowly until the reaction subsided.

"The Heart recognizes my body because it already recognized hers," Damon concluded.

"That is the most likely hypothesis," Nera replied. "Your Celestial Body may have been shaped by the same kind of energy. It might not be identical, but it stems from the same origin."

Morgana turned serious. "That means Seraphine wants to use Damon to open the Heart, just as Xue Lian would have used another root."

"Or she wants to use the Heart to complete Damon."

No one answered immediately.

Damon narrowed his eyes. "Complete what?"

Nera hesitated, and that hesitation was more worrying than the previous answer. "You received the Celestial Ice Body within a sealed memory. Not through training, natural evolution, or a prepared ritual. Your body was remade to withstand something your mind doesn’t yet comprehend. Seraphine might believe you’re incomplete—that the transformation requires a second stage."

Ester gripped his wrist tighter. "There is no second stage."

"You can’t say that for sure."

"I can say that no one is going to put Damon inside a geological root to find out."

Damon glanced sideways at her. "That was a specific description."

"Because you’re starting to treat an absurd idea as a reasonable possibility."

Elizabeth stepped in before the discussion could turn into a back-and-forth between the two of them. "Does Seraphine need Damon alive?"

Nera answered without hesitation. "Yes."

"Intact?"

"Probably. At least until she reaches the chamber."

"So that limits some of her actions."

Damon made a low sound. "Not enough. She could kidnap me, pressure Morgana, threaten the children, or use someone else to trigger my root."

Morgana looked at him. "She’s already tried two of those things."

"That’s why we need to put a stop to her initiative."

The words came out more firmly than Damon had expected. Everyone noticed. Up until that moment, he had been reacting to Seraphine’s moves: the bells, the children, the mines, the visit to the mansion. Continuing to wait meant allowing her to choose the time and place of the next confrontation.

Elizabeth pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. "So we need to identify what Nera knows Seraphine fears, use that to force her hand, and at the same time, prevent any access to the Heart."

Nera let out a short, humorless laugh. "It sounds simple when put that way."

"I never said it would be simple."

Damon leaned forward. "You said Seraphine fears what she knows. What is it?"

Nera remained silent long enough to signal that they were finally reaching the point she had been holding back. When she spoke, her voice was lower, yet steady.

"Xue Lian didn’t disappear because she was defeated."

Damon didn’t move.

Nera continued. "Valcair’s records state that she chose to enter the fortress itself and seal something away along with herself. The public version claims she faced a calamity and died. The version preserved in the oldest archives says she discovered that the First Ones couldn’t take over her body as long as her consciousness remained linked to the root. So, she split her legacy into parts."

Aria stopped writing. "What parts?"

"Memory, root, and body."

The meaning of the answer slowly fell into place. Damon had received the sealed memories. Then he had obtained the elemental root. Finally, the Celestial Ice Body. These hadn’t been random rewards. They were exactly the three parts Nera had mentioned.

Damon remained motionless, but his mind raced. "She split herself up on purpose."

"Perhaps. Or someone split what remained after the sealing. I don’t know which is true."

"And Seraphine?"

"Seraphine believes that when the three parts are reunited in someone capable of altering the original memory, the fortress can be found again."

Morgana frowned. "Found physically?"

"Yes. Not as a memory. As a place."

Damon recalled the black mountains, the snow-covered path, and the distant palace. Until then, he had treated it as the backdrop of a memory. If Nera was right, he had seen a real path, preserved within Xue Lian’s consciousness.

"And what is inside the fortress?" Elizabeth asked.

"That is what Seraphine wants to find out."

Damon shook his head. "No. She didn’t come in person out of mere curiosity. She believes there is something specific there."

Nera agreed. "An original core. A source capable of commanding roots of living cold—including the Underground Heart."

Ester went completely still. "Command."

"Not just survive, channel, or open. Command."

That word shifted the weight of the conversation. Until then, Seraphine had seemed interested in drawing power from the Heart or controlling its awakening. Now, a greater ambition had emerged: using Damon to find a lost fortress and attain something capable of controlling structures like it.

Damon ran a hand over his face. "So Arven is just the first test."

"Yes," Nera replied. "If Seraphine can make the Heart respond to you, it confirms the Celestial Body is authentic. Then, she’ll use that reaction to pinpoint the path to the fortress."

"How?"

Nera looked at his chest. "Through the root."

Ester stepped forward. "Explain exactly how."

"The Heart doesn’t just call to Damon. It calls to what exists within him. If two roots of the same origin resonate, they can reveal other related structures. Seraphine might not know where the fortress is, but she believes the Heart can point the way."

Damon understood why she had accepted the loss of agents, bells, and intermediaries. None of that had been the ultimate goal. They were tools to provoke reactions, measure distances, and confirm compatibility. Even the failure in the mines had yielded data.

"She left satisfied because she heard me respond," Damon said.

Ester immediately shook her head. "You didn’t respond in front of her."

"Not in the room. But she already knew about the mines. She knew about the bells, the drop in temperature, and the reaction at the registry office. The visit just confirmed that I can resist consciously. That might make me even more valuable."

Nera nodded. "Xue Lian wasn’t powerful just because she could withstand the cold. She was powerful because she controlled the response."

Damon remained silent, absorbing the implication. For days, he had treated control as a way to survive and avoid hurting people. To Seraphine, that same control was proof of authenticity.

Morgana walked to the cell door and back. "So we need to stop her from using the Heart to locate the fortress."

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "And we need to do this before the heartbeat interval shortens again."

Aria opened another notepad and began organizing a list. "We have four fronts. Nera provides everything she knows about the fortress and the First Ones. Ester works on better containment for Damon’s root. Ingrivid shuts down the mines and eliminates any remaining agents. Elizabeth and Morgana dismantle Seraphine’s political protections before she returns."

Damon looked at Nera. "And me?"

Nera answered before the others. "You need to go back into the memory."

Ester refused instantly. "No."

Damon didn’t look away from Nera. "Why?"

"Because the route to the fortress is incomplete. You said the memory ended before you arrived. If Seraphine uses the Heart to force a resonance, she might violently tear the path open. If you enter of your own volition before that happens, you might discover what Xue Lian wanted found—and, more importantly, what was meant to remain sealed."

Ester stepped closer to the table. "He just woke up from a coma caused by that very memory."

"That’s why he shouldn’t go in alone."

Damon frowned. "Can someone go in with me?"

"Not physically. But we can anchor your consciousness from this side. Ester controls the meridians. I prepare the memory pattern based on the records. Elizabeth maintains an external mental link. If something tries to close the path, you pull him back."

Elizabeth didn’t immediately reject the idea, which worried Ester even more.

"Is it possible?" Morgana asked.

"Maybe," Nera replied. "But not here, and not now. We need the same conditions that opened the memory before: Damon close to the root, but without allowing full resonance."

"The Heart," Damon said.

"Yes."

Ester placed both hands on the table. "You’re proposing we take Damon back to the mines, put his consciousness inside an ancient memory, and trust that we can pull him back before the Heart uses him." Nera held his gaze. "I’m proposing we do this while prepared—before Seraphine does it without our permission."

Damon closed his eyes for a few seconds. The plan was dangerous, technically incomplete, and relied on a woman whose mind had been shattered by exposure to the Heart. Yet, it held an advantage no previous plan had: it gave them a way to act first.

When he opened his eyes, everyone was watching his reaction.

"We aren’t doing this immediately," he said. "First, Nera writes everything down. Ester decides if the anchoring is possible. Elizabeth looks for contradictions. Morgana prepares the mine and an escape route. If any part fails, we call it off."

Ester remained serious. "And if they all work?"

Damon looked at his own hands. The cold beneath his skin was quiet, yet present. For the first time, he didn’t perceive it merely as power or risk. It was a legacy prepared by someone who might have known exactly who would find it.

"Then I finish the path Xue Lian started."

Nera watched Damon for a few seconds before speaking. "Seraphine expects you to do it by accident."

He rose slowly, mindful of his body’s limits, and faced the prisoner with an impassive expression.

"Then we’ll disappoint her."

Damon didn’t know what he would find in the fortress, nor if Xue Lian still existed beyond mere memories. He also didn’t know if the Celestial Ice Body was a legacy, a trap, or simply a tool placed in his hands by impossible circumstances. But one thing was clear. Up to that moment, everyone had tried to define what he had become. The former Duchess saw an experiment. Seraphine saw a key. Nera saw a successor. The Heart saw a path.

Damon would not accept any of those definitions without verifying them for himself.

The resolution of that Chapter wouldn’t begin with Seraphine being imprisoned or the Heart being destroyed. It would begin when Damon re-entered Xue Lian’s memories and discovered why he had been chosen.

This time, however, he wouldn’t enter as a coma victim.

He would enter wide awake.