The palace went silent.
Not the ordinary kind of silence.
This was the kind that came when every living thing seemed to be waiting for something terrible to happen.
Rosy stood in the middle of the throne room, staring at the strange child at the end of the corridor.
Silver hair.
Golden eyes.
A smile that didn't belong on such a young face.
And one word still echoed inside her head.
Nyx.
Nobody had called her that in thousands of years.
Nobody who was supposed to exist in this world, at least.
Rosy's fingers slowly curled.
"Who are you?"
The child smiled.
"You already know."
"No."
Rosy's purple eyes brightened.
"I don't."
The child tilted his head.
"That's what the Dreamer wanted."
Azrael stepped forward.
"Don't speak to her like that."
The child looked at him.
For the first time, his smile disappeared.
"You."
Azrael's expression remained calm.
"Me."
"You are always in the way."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"Apparently that's his most impressive talent."
Azrael glanced at him.
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"I accepted it as one."
Rosy almost laughed.
Almost.
Then the child looked toward Sol.
Something strange happened.
His expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"You survived."
Sol's golden eyes narrowed.
"I don't know you."
The child smiled again.
"You don't remember."
Sol took a step forward.
"Remember what?"
The child pointed at him.
"You were never supposed to have a name."
The air changed.
Rosy's face became serious.
"Enough."
Darkness spread across the floor.
The child didn't move.
Instead, he looked directly at Rosy.
"You really don't remember."
Rosy walked toward him.
"Then tell me."
The child stepped backward.
"Come downstairs."
Rosy stopped.
"Where?"
He pointed toward the floor.
"Where they buried your first life."
---
The king finally spoke.
"Don't."
Rosy slowly turned.
The king looked terrified.
Not of her.
Of the child.
"You know something," Rosy said.
The king swallowed.
"I know what my ancestors were ordered to do."
"By whom?"
The king didn't answer.
Rosy walked toward him.
"By whom?"
The queen suddenly spoke.
"The first royal family."
Rosy looked at her.
"The first?"
The queen nodded.
"They existed long before the kingdom you know."
Rosy's eyes narrowed.
"And what did they do?"
The queen's voice dropped.
"They found a door."
Silence.
Kael exchanged a glance with Azrael.
Sol looked toward the floor.
"What door?" Rosy asked.
"The door between the dream and reality."
The room seemed colder.
The queen continued.
"They believed that behind it was the source of everything."
Rosy whispered,
"The Dreamer."
The queen nodded.
"But they were wrong."
Azrael's expression darkened.
"What was behind it?"
The queen looked at Rosy.
"Someone."
Rosy felt a strange pressure in her chest.
"Who?"
The queen shook her head.
"We don't know."
The child laughed softly.
"I do."
Everyone turned toward him.
He smiled.
"She does too."
He pointed at Rosy.
"You just forgot."
---
The forbidden library was beneath the palace.
Not beneath the throne room.
Not beneath the royal archives.
Beneath everything.
A spiral staircase descended into darkness.
Rosy walked first.
Azrael followed.
Then Sol and Kael.
The king and queen remained behind.
The general came with them.
The heroine hesitated at the entrance.
Rosy glanced back.
"You coming?"
The heroine looked surprised.
"You want me to?"
"No."
Rosy continued down the stairs.
The heroine blinked.
"Then why—"
"Because if you stay upstairs, you'll probably get yourself killed."
The heroine stared at her.
"That was strangely considerate."
Rosy shrugged.
"Don't get used to it."
Kael smiled.
"There she is."
---
The staircase seemed endless.
They passed doors covered in ancient symbols.
Some had been scratched out.
Others had been sealed with royal insignias.
One door had a single sentence carved into it.
DO NOT REMEMBER.
Rosy stopped.
Her eyes fixed on the words.
Something inside her reacted.
A headache struck suddenly.
She grabbed the railing.
Azrael immediately caught her arm.
"Rosy."
"I'm fine."
"You aren't."
"I said I'm fine."
Sol looked at the door.
"Mom."
She looked at him.
"Yes?"
"I don't think that door wants you to remember."
Rosy stared at it.
"Doors don't have opinions."
The door creaked.
Everyone froze.
Kael slowly looked at her.
"Apparently this one does."
Rosy sighed.
"Fine."
She placed her hand against the door.
The ancient symbols disappeared.
The lock opened.
Click.
The door swung inward.
Darkness waited on the other side.
Not her darkness.
Something older.
Colder.
Hungry.
Rosy stepped inside.
---
The library was enormous.
Books covered walls that seemed to stretch beyond sight.
But these weren't ordinary books.
Some were made of bone-white material.
Some appeared to be made from shadows.
Some had no covers at all.
And some—
were moving.
Sol stared.
"Books aren't supposed to breathe."
Kael looked at one.
"Neither are most things down here."
Azrael walked past a shelf.
His expression changed.
Rosy noticed.
"What?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he pulled out a book.
The cover was completely black.
There was no title.
He opened it.
Every page was blank.
Rosy looked at him.
"Nothing?"
Azrael slowly turned the book around.
There was one sentence written on the final page.
LILIET ISLE BLACKWELL WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST.
Rosy's expression went blank.
Kael stopped breathing.
Sol stepped closer.
Azrael closed the book.
Rosy took it from him.
"Give me that."
She opened it again.
The sentence was gone.
Instead—
a name appeared.
ROSY.
Her fingers froze.
The book began turning its own pages.
One.
Two.
Three.
Images appeared.
A little girl standing in endless darkness.
A silver-haired boy.
A woman with midnight-blue eyes.
A young Azrael.
Sol.
The Devourer.
Orion.
The first stars.
The first light.
The first war.
Then—
a final image.
A door.
The same black door Rosy had remembered.
And standing before it—
herself.
But not as Rosy.
Not as Isle.
As Nyx.
She was holding something in her hands.
A tiny glowing sphere.
A beginning.
A possibility.
A world.
Then a voice spoke from behind her.
"You made something beautiful."
Rosy's eyes widened.
She knew that voice.
The Dreamer.
But the memory continued.
"Now give it back."
Nyx turned.
And behind her—
stood someone Rosy had never seen before.
Someone wearing a crown made of stars.
Someone whose face was impossible to remember.
Someone who whispered:
"If you refuse, I'll erase everything you love."
The book slammed shut.
Rosy stepped backward.
"No."
Azrael caught her shoulder.
"Rosy."
"No."
She shook her head.
"That wasn't the Dreamer."
Azrael stared at her.
"What?"
Rosy's eyes slowly lifted.
"The Dreamer was speaking to someone."
She looked toward the deepest part of the library.
"Someone else."
Sol's expression hardened.
"Then who?"
A voice answered from the darkness.
"Me."
The child appeared again.
But this time—
he wasn't smiling.
He walked toward them.
And behind him stood a massive black door.
The same door from Rosy's memory.
He stopped before it.
"You wanted to know what the royal family imprisoned."
He placed one small hand against the door.
Rosy stared.
The child whispered:
"They imprisoned the first person who ever betrayed the Dreamer."
The door began to open.
A pale hand appeared through the gap.
Rosy's eyes widened.
The child smiled.
"And she's been waiting for you."
To be continued.