The realm of Pain was steeped in celestial calm, yet beneath its grandeur, a tempest of jealousy twisted like smoke. Uri stood alone on the frost-lit cliffs, eyes fixed on the sky as it shimmered with a light she could no longer ignore - the sign of Elara's pregnancy.
She clenched her fists. Pain had changed since Elara came. He smiled more. He no longer needed Uri's counsel, her fire, her loyalty forged over centuries. All of it had been replaced by a single mortal heartbeat.
Uri's wings unfolded slowly as she stepped down the obsidian path, her mind spinning. The stars above burned too brightly for her eyes. "He will forget me completely now," she hissed.
In the shadows, Hate emerged like a storm made flesh. He had been watching, waiting for her sorrow to bloom into rage.
"Still think he'll come back?" he sneered.
Uri didn't answer. But the tremble in her lips was not weakness - it was resolution.
"He chose her. He chose a human over everything we've built. And now…" Her voice cracked. "Now he's going to have a child."
Hate moved closer, his blackened fingers brushing the edge of her veil. "There's still time to take it back."
Uri turned to him. "What do you want?"
"To end the prophecy," he said simply. "And you can help me do that. Together, we'll stop the child from being born."
Uri hesitated, but the seed had already rooted. Her love had turned to fury, and her grief to resolve.
"How?"
Hate's eyes gleamed. "We steal her. Tonight. While Pain rests."
Uri's heart thundered. A plan formed like ice spreading through her veins.
They would take Elara.
They would kill the unborn heir.
And erase the future Pain dared to dream without her.