Chapter 354: Ch 354: New Players- Part 3
In the dim, hushed room cloaked in eternal twilight, Goddess Lucia stood before her collection—a vast chamber of glass cases, each housing a doll so intricately crafted it seemed a breath away from being alive.
Their delicate fingers reached toward her, glassy eyes filled with frozen yearning. To any outsider, it would look like a shrine to beauty.
But to Lucia, it was a mausoleum of what once was, and what could never be again.
She walked between the rows, her footsteps silent, her expression unreadable. A flicker of emotion passed through her eyes—loneliness.
Though surrounded by her finest works, each one capturing a perfect form, none of them could speak to her. None of them could truly see her.
"How long must I remain alone?"
She whispered, almost to herself,
Her words vanished into the stillness. Her fingers brushed one of the glass panes gently, reverently.
A doll inside blinked slowly, its lifeless eyes seeming to follow her touch. But there was no soul in it—only the shell of what once was.
Lucia turned away sharply, pulling herself from that moment of weakness. She straightened her back, her expression hardening.
Enough sentiment. It was time to begin the first act.
Though she loathed it, she could not ignore the call of the divine realm any longer—not after Charrin had fallen.