The Celestial Realm.
Light stretched in every direction, broken by distant structures, drifting islands, and paths of condensed starlight leading toward Targon Prime. Kayle stood on one of those paths, watching two beings argue several steps away.
Xineos towered over the radiant ground, his body surrounded by the controlled pressure of a celestial who expected obedience. Mihira faced him without yielding an inch.
Kayle's mother had taken her Aspect Ascendant form.
She was smaller than the pure Aspect of Justice, yet far more familiar. Her face resembled the woman who had once climbed Mount Targon as a mortal, while her armor, wings, and burning weapons carried the authority of Justice itself. Mortal and Aspect were no longer separate within her. They had merged so completely that neither could be distinguished from the other.
No other Aspect host had achieved the same union.
Mihira could shift between her forms at will, becoming the vast celestial embodiment of Justice or returning to the shape she now wore. Kayle suspected she had chosen this appearance deliberately.
Xineos needed to be reminded whom he was addressing.
He was confronting the only mortal who had ever become one with an Aspect.
"What you propose is madness," Mihira said.
Her voice carried across the empty path, sharp enough to disturb the light beneath their feet.
Xineos did not react. "What I propose is judgment."
"You want to force the star gate open, breaking the rules, bring the Aspects into Runeterra without hosts, and punish an entire world."
"A world responsible for the deaths of our kind."
"A world that defended itself."
"Pantheon is dead."
Mihira's wings spread slightly. Flames moved along the edges of her feathers, reflecting in her eyes.
Xineos's light intensified.
"As the Aspect of Justice, you should know better than anyone that crimes require punishment."
Mihira stepped closer.
"Do not dare lecture me about Justice."
The pressure between them struck Kayle like a sudden change in gravity. Her wings tightened behind her, and one hand moved closer to the sword at her side.
Mihira continued before Xineos could answer.
"Justice is my domain. I know its purpose, its limits, and the difference between a sentence and revenge. You want Runeterra to suffer because Pantheon died. Nothing more."
"He was murdered."
"Because you sent him into a war of your making."
Xineos's expression hardened.
Mihira pointed one burning blade toward him.
"Pantheon followed your strategy. He fought the enemies you chose. He died because you believed the mortals of Runeterra would kneel the moment they saw celestial power."
"Enough."
"No."
"This discussion ends here."
Mihira lowered her weapon, but the flames around her body grew hotter.
"Coward."
Kayle's breath caught.
The light beneath Xineos cracked.
He turned fully toward Mihira, and the distant structures of the Celestial Realm seemed to dim behind him.
"What did you call me?"
"A coward," Mihira repeated. "You speak of judgment in private, where only my daughter can hear us. You refuse to present your plan before all the Aspects because you know many would challenge you."
"I do not require their permission."
"Then why hide it?"
"I am not hiding anything."
"You have gathered those who already agree with you. You avoid those who might question whether Pantheon's death gives you the right to condemn millions of lives."
"They will understand when the time comes."
"No. You are afraid they will not."
For the first time, Kayle feared for her mother.
Xineos's power filled the space around them until breathing became difficult. The pressure did not resemble an attack, but it was close enough that Kayle unfolded two of her wings and prepared to move.
Mihira remained still.
She met Xineos's gaze without lowering her weapons or softening her expression.
Xineos stared at her for several long seconds.
"Be careful what you say, Mihira."
"Give me a reason to be."
The threat in the air sharpened.
Kayle moved one foot forward.
Xineos noticed.
His attention shifted from Mihira to her, and the pressure eased slightly.
"I expect you to make your mother see reason," he said.
Kayle's eyes narrowed.
He turned before either of them could respond. A path of pale light formed ahead of him, stretching toward the distant towers surrounding Targon Prime.
Xineos walked away.
His presence faded slowly, but the tension he left behind remained.
Mihira watched until he disappeared among the celestial structures.
Kayle waited a moment before speaking.
"Pantheon is dead."
"I know."
"Other Aspects have died as well."
"I know that too."
"And you expect no punishment?"
Mihira turned toward her.
"That is not what I said."
"It is what your words imply." Kayle stepped closer. "There must be a consequence."
"There will be consequences."
"Then why oppose Xineos?"
"Because he does not want consequences. He wants suffering."
Kayle frowned. "There is little difference to those being judged."
"There is every difference."
Mihira sighed.
The fire around her wings diminished. Her body became smaller until she stood directly before Kayle, no taller than she had been as a mortal woman.
Mihira looked at Kayle only as a mother looking at her daughter.
She placed both hands on Kayle's shoulders.
"Xineos cannot accept a simple truth," Mihira said.
"..."
"Justice is a mortal concept."
Kayle stared at her.
Mihira held her gaze.
"The Aspects embody ideas," she continued. "We preserve them, strengthen them, and sometimes distort them. But Justice was not born in the Celestial Realm. It was created by mortals capable of empathy and reason."
Mihira tightened her hands slightly around Kayle's shoulders.
"Humans and other mortals learned to recognize the pain of another being. They learned to compare actions, understand harm, consider intention, and decide how responsibility should be measured. Justice grew from that effort."
Kayle's wings shifted uneasily.
"Mortals are inconsistent. They are ruled by emotion."
"So are the Aspects. Xineos has just proven it."
"He lost Pantheon and other Aspects."
"And now he wants countless people who never knew Pantheon to suffer for that loss."
Kayle looked away.
Mihira waited.
The silence stretched between them until Kayle finally said, "You sound like her."
...
Mihira understood immediately.
She lifted one hand from Kayle's shoulder and placed it against her cheek. Kayle resisted when her mother guided her face back, but only for a moment.
"Look at me."
Kayle obeyed.
Mihira's eyes held neither disappointment nor anger.
"That reaction is precisely why you must understand this."
Kayle's jaw tightened. "Her beliefs are extreme."
"Yes."
The immediate agreement surprised her.
Mihira continued. "Morgana places too much faith in suffering as a path toward redemption. She understands compassion, but she sometimes allows compassion to become indulgence. You understand responsibility, but you sometimes allow responsibility to become condemnation."
Kayle remained silent.
"Neither of you has found the proper balance," Mihira said. "Not yet."
"She excuses weakness."
"And you fear it."
"I do not."
"You fear what weakness can cause. You fear disorder. You fear that mercy will permit evil to spread."
Kayle wanted to deny it, but Mihira knew her too well.
"Those fears are not shameful," her mother said. "They become dangerous only when you mistake them for absolute truth."
Kayle glanced toward the path Xineos had taken.
"He believes Runeterra must be judged."
"He believes Runeterra must pay for humiliating him."
"The death of the Aspects was not a mere humiliation."
"No, it was a tragedy. It was also the result of decisions made by the Aspects themselves. Mortals should not be forced to pay for a disaster we created."
Mihira released Kayle's face but kept her other hand on her shoulder.
"One day, you and Morgana will understand Justice more completely than either of you does now."
Kayle gave a reluctant nod.
Doubt remained.
Mihira noticed.
"Answer one question honestly," she said.
Kayle waited.
"Do you believe Xineos's plan is right?"
Kayle's expression became more guarded.
Mihira continued. "Do you believe the Aspects should enter Runeterra without hosts, descend in their true forms, and impose punishment upon mortals who have no power to resist them?"
Kayle considered the question without looking away.
She thought of Demacia beneath celestial fire. She imagined cities unable to defend themselves, people judged by beings who knew nothing of their individual choices. Xineos would call it order. He would call their destruction necessary.
It would not be a trial.
There would be no opportunity to speak, no consideration of guilt, and no distinction between those responsible and those who merely lived on the same world.
Kayle's answer came with certainty.
"No."
Mihira's expression softened.
"That is enough for now."
——————
Far beneath the Celestial Realm, within the depths of Mount Targon, Cecilia followed Soraka through another narrow passage.
The Aspect of Battle had no mortal host. Her incorporeal body passed over loose stones without disturbing them.
Soraka moved ahead with a small sphere of light floating above her palm.
They were looking for Diana.
The tunnels beneath the mountain twisted through natural caverns and ancient ruins. Broken columns emerged from the stone. Crescent-shaped carvings covered several walls, while collapsed chambers contained altars worn smooth by time.
Soraka could sense traces of power, but each trail disappeared beneath another layer of lunar magic.
Cecilia was beginning to accept that Soraka might be right.
The Aspects had spent too long believing that mortals existed to serve celestial ideas.
"The true Aspects are those who honor mortal faith," Soraka said as they entered another ruined chamber.
Cecilia looked at her.
"You are not as serene as usual when you say that."
Soraka glanced back. "Perhaps some of your intensity has rubbed off on me."
Cecilia considered this.
"You sound as though you intend to begin a rebellion among the Aspects."
Her tone was serious, though the accusation lacked hostility.
Soraka stopped beside a shattered altar.
"I would never begin one."
Cecilia waited.
Soraka's eyes moved toward the darkness beyond the chamber.
"But if someone else lights the flame," she said, "I may help fan it."
Cecilia stared at her in genuine surprise.
...
A woman's voice answered from the tunnel ahead.
"If you need someone to feed that flame, I will be the first."
...
Footsteps crossed the stone.
A white-haired woman emerged from the darkness, a curved blade resting in one hand and cold lunar light shining in her eyes.