The old church ruins stood beneath the fading evening light like a memory the world had tried to forget, its broken arches casting long shadows upon the cracked stone ground, its silence heavy with echoes of voices long gone, and as Elara stepped within that desolate space, she felt something shift deep within her chest, something ancient, something fragile, something that did not belong to the Queen she had become but to the girl she had once been.
The wind moved softly through the broken walls.
Cold.
Restless.
Carrying whispers that did not speak in words.
"Elara."
The voice came from the shadows ahead, sharp yet trembling beneath its strength, and Elara's breath stilled as her gaze lifted, her body tensing instinctively as Sarah stepped forward, her presence no longer uncertain, no longer hesitant, but burning with something fierce and unrestrained.
