The sun was rising over Valemir, golden light spilling through the window panes of the Celestia Grand Hotel. Elsa stirred beneath the silk sheets, still tasting the electricity of last night's kiss—the kiss that shifted everything.
Beside her, Chess stood at the window shirtless, his mind already distant, his silhouette framed by the morning light.
"You're up early," Elsa murmured, her voice low and warm.
"I never really slept," Chess replied, not turning. "Something's stirring."
Elsa sat up, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Kavaria. I can feel it… like a storm about to break."
He finally turned, the look in his eyes not just one of concern, but recognition. The kind a man has when he senses an old enemy breathing again.
Elsa's brows pulled together. "You think the seal… is calling again?"
Chess nodded. "We've handled Kip. Secured Jefferson Global. But that wasn't the real threat. That was just a distraction."
Elsa swung her legs over the bed and stood. "Then it's time we stop reacting… and start hunting."
Three Days Later – City of Kavaria
Kavaria was different.
Wilder. Older. A city that still held whispers of the past in its stones. Where the lines between myth and history blurred in the moonlight.
Elsa stepped out of the private jet wearing a long trench coat and sunglasses, flanked by Devon and a small Elaris Luxe operations team. She had come under the guise of exploring expansion opportunities—but her real reason was buried beneath the ancient hills outside the city.
And somewhere in those hills… the trail of the second seal waited.
Chess had stayed back in Valemir to continue cleaning up Kip's residue and oversee the final board restructuring. But they remained in constant touch. Always synced.
A local contact named Oran—a discreet historian with access to the city's hidden archives—waited near the arrival terminal with an unmarked SUV.
"You really came," he said as Elsa approached. "Most people give up after the legends start sounding too real."
"I've never been good at giving up," she replied.
Oran smirked and handed her an aged scroll tube. "Then this will either be your salvation… or your curse."
Later That Day – Kavaria Archives Beneath the Citadel
Dim light flickered against ancient walls, where murals danced with depictions of celestial beasts and golden seals. Elsa stood over a massive stone slab etched with forgotten glyphs.
Oran whispered, "This place predates Kavaria's founding by hundreds of years. The scroll you now have—it's a piece of the second map. But it's coded."
"Coded in what?" Elsa asked.
Oran hesitated. "Not what.Who."
She looked up sharply. "Explain."
"The code in this scroll… it only reacts to blood from the lineage of the sealed one."
Elsa's pulse slowed. "You mean Chess?"
Oran nodded. "Or someone connected to him."
She exhaled, mind racing. "We'll send it back to Valemir."
"No," Oran said. "It can't leave Kavaria. The seal's magic… won't allow it."
Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Then Chess will come here."
Back in Valemir – Aeris Holdings
Chess was in his war room, examining a digital reconstruction of the Jefferson Global internal structure. Riley stood beside him, reporting clean-up progress.
Then a message flashed across his private feed.
FROM: ELSASUBJECT: KAVARIA – URGENT"We found it. But it's blood-coded. Yours."
Chess stared at the screen, the air around him growing still.
"Cancel my meetings," he told Riley.
"Sir?"
"I'm going to Kavaria."
Elsewhere in Kavaria – A Hidden Watcher
In a darkened chamber lit only by the flicker of an obsidian flame, a figure watched Elsa's movements through a floating orb of smoke.
Their voice was low, rasping.
"She awakens the old paths. And he… is returning."
From the shadows, a second voice answered.
"Then it begins again."
The watcher clenched a bony fist.
"Prepare the Guardians. The seal must not be claimed."