The morning sun spilled softly over the Dreamveil Estate. The mist parted around its towers as if even nature bowed its head to the waking of its master. Within the courtyard, Lucien stood beneath a silver willow, its leaves glimmering faintly like droplets of starlight.
He was tightening the sash of his dark robe, preparing for the day's visit to the Azure Celestial Sect. His presence alone seemed to bend the quiet around him—every sound was sharper, every breath the world took just slightly delayed.
Aelira, small as a feather and bright as a dawn star, skipped across the marble path barefoot, her laughter scattering the quiet. She wore a light-blue dress stitched by her father himself — the fabric shimmered faintly, woven from strands of condensed void.
"Papa!" she chirped, eyes wide and full of mischief. "Before we go…"
Lucien glanced down, lips curving faintly. "Hm?"
"I want a pet."
He blinked once. "A pet?"
She nodded with all the certainty of a child who had never been told no. "A pet! Like the other children have in the sect. Ryugan said some have birds, wolves, foxes, and tigers! I want one too!"
Lucien exhaled softly, amusement flickering in his tone. "And what kind of pet would you like, little one?"
Aelira tapped her finger against her chin, thinking deeply. Her tiny brows furrowed as if she was deciding the fate of worlds.
Then she beamed. "The strongest one!"
Lucien froze mid-motion. "The… strongest?"
She nodded rapidly. "Yes! The strongest pet in all the realms! Something nobody else has!"
For a long moment, Lucien just looked at her. His silence wasn't hesitation — it was calculation. In his mind, the names of beings long buried beneath creation's memory drifted by like shadows through eternity.
He thought of the Dragon of Apocalypse, whose breath once split the cradle of galaxies.
He thought of the Null, the devouring whale that swallowed the light of stars.
The Pinnacle of Fire, a phoenix born from the last sun before the First Silence.
The Hermit of Strength, the qilin whose single step could shake divine mountains.
The Bearer, the ancient turtle that carried forgotten civilizations upon its back.
And the one even gods whispered about in fear—
The End of All Things, a beast of black mist and a thousand shifting eyes, said to appear when reality begins to dream of its own demise.
Lucien sighed. "…You always ask for difficult things."
Aelira grinned. "You said I could have anything!"
"I did," Lucien murmured, gazing toward the distant horizon, where the veil between worlds shimmered faintly. "Very well. The strongest one, then."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?! Where is it?"
Lucien smiled faintly. "Everywhere… and nowhere. Come."
He reached out, and the world folded around his hand. In an instant, the courtyard dissolved into starlight.
They appeared above a shattered expanse of void—
A plane of drifting debris, half-planets torn in two, and dead suns bleeding their last light into the dark. The sky was filled with enormous eyes that blinked in slow, endless rhythm, watching from beyond the veil.
"The Eclipsal Abyss," Lucien said quietly. "A forgotten corner of creation where existence unravels."
Aelira clung to his sleeve, eyes wide. "Papa, is this where the strongest pet lives?"
Lucien nodded. "Yes. But remember, Aelira… strength comes with a price. Even this creature has forgotten its name. It devours concepts — light, sound, even meaning. It is what remains when stories end."
She tilted her head. "Can I name it then?"
He glanced at her—then smiled. "If you can tame it."
A tremor rippled through the void.
A roar — low and endless — rolled through the abyss, shaking distant fragments of broken stars. From beneath a collapsing rift, black mist began to spill outward. Eyes — thousands, tens of thousands — blinked open within it, each one burning faintly with colorless flame.
The End of All Things had awakened.
Its voice wasn't sound; it was the silence that followed after. Who summons me… in my sleep?
Lucien stepped forward, his shadow merging with the void. "I do."
The beast's endless eyes turned, and for the first time in aeons, something like hesitation rippled through its form. The void itself recoiled from Lucien's presence.
"Papa," Aelira whispered, tugging his robe, "it looks sad."
Lucien blinked. "Sad?"
"Mm." She nodded firmly. "It's lonely."
A slow chuckle escaped him. "You see what others do not."
He raised a hand, and for a brief moment, the stars around them flickered like dying embers. "Beast of the End. I offer you a choice. Remain forgotten… or serve her."
The eyes focused on Aelira — a mortal child glowing faintly with her father's essence. Something ancient within the mist stirred. A fragment of what it once was — will, perhaps, or curiosity — flickered back to life.
The endless mist compressed, shrinking, coiling in on itself until a single shape emerged — a sleek, shadowy creature, part wolf, part dragon, its fur black as nothingness, its eyes swirling with galaxies.
Aelira gasped. "It's beautiful!"
Lucien smiled faintly. "It hasn't looked like that in a very, very long time."
The creature bowed its head. Its voice echoed in her mind. What name will you give me, little one?
Aelira thought for a moment, then beamed. "You'll be called Umbra!"
The creature's eyes softened, and the void around them trembled as if accepting the name.
Lucien placed a hand on Umbra's head. "She is your master now. You will protect her as though she were the last star in existence."
Umbra's form shimmered, wings unfurling like curtains of shadow. "As you command, Lord of the Veil."
Aelira laughed and hugged its snout without fear. "Papa! Look! It likes me!"
Lucien's expression gentled, something almost warm flickering across his face. "Of course it does."
He turned, the veil behind him tearing open into a cascade of light. "Come, Aelira. It's time to meet your new sect."
When they arrived at the Azure Celestial Sect, the skies darkened before their descent.
The sun dimmed to a pale white disc, the clouds parting in reverence. Every cultivator, elder, and disciple felt the shift — the world itself kneeling.
A massive silhouette emerged through the clouds — a black creature whose wings spread across the heavens, swallowing the sky. The disciples gasped, some collapsing to their knees from sheer pressure.
Atop its head sat a little girl in blue, laughing with delight, and beside her stood a man whose gaze alone bent the fabric of reality.
"Is that…"
"By the heavens… what is that beast?"
"The aura—it's beyond comprehension!"
Ryugan, standing at the Sky Courtyard, forced himself to stay upright as the shadows swept across the peaks. His voice shook despite his will.
"He's here."
Lucien descended slowly, Umbra landing with grace upon the marble. The moment its claws touched the courtyard, the sect's defensive formations shattered silently — not from impact, but from the impossibility of measuring its strength.
Lucien stepped down first, eyes calm, his robe fluttering faintly in the breeze.
Aelira followed, hopping off Umbra's head, waving cheerfully at the gathered crowd. "Hi!"
Ryugan immediately dropped to one knee. "Lord Dreamveil."
Lucien's voice was soft. "No need for formalities. I simply came to see where my daughter will learn."
Every elder bowed lower. "We are honored beyond words…"
Umbra lowered its head beside Aelira, the weight of its gaze sweeping across the mountain range. Every creature—spirit, beast, or human—instinctively lowered itself, trembling.
Aelira giggled. "Umbra, be nice!"
The shadow-beast blinked its thousand hidden eyes and rumbled softly in obedience.
Lucien smiled faintly. "Good girl."
And at that moment, the entire sect — from the lowest disciple to the highest elder — understood one truth written deep into the bones of creation:
The Dreamveil line was not of this world.