Ten years in the Abyss and this is what I crawl back to?
I stagger onto cracked stone, black mist curling around my boots, my fingers twitching with leftover power.
My heart's pounding—not fear. Fury.
Veridia is gone.
The skies above are sickly and scorched. Not a soul stirs. No banners, no guards, no polished marble glinting in the sun. Just ruins. Burnt banners. Ash-choked wind.
My Queendom—my mother's legacy—gone.
I step over a corpse, half turned to dust, and something inside me twists. Not grief. I did that already. I burned with it for years.
No. This hate.
I made it to the throne room. The roof's gone. Light bleeds in where stained glass once crowned queens. The high banners were in tatters. The throne… twisted, half-melted. A cruel irony.
The Aether Crown is still there—buried in rubble like a forgotten toy. And broken, just like I remember.
Lying in the dust like it was waiting for me.
I drop to my knees. My hands shake as I reach. I should have been prepared. I was prepared. I knew Veridia would fall. I saw it. I felt it.
For a moment, I can't move. Can't breathe.
My hand approaches the Crown, fingers trembling.
Then I touch it.
And the world explode.
Blinding light. Blazing heat. Something ancient roaring in my bones.
Then… her.
Aeliana.
Tall. Bright. Divine.
"You survived. I don't know if I should be glad or sad." she says softly, her voice a song made of dawn and mourning.
I laugh. It sounds wrong, cracked and raw. "Yeah, well. I didn't ask for a damn opinion."
Her expression doesn't change.
"The world is broken, Melania. Your sister failed. The Queendom is no more."
Anger flare in my chest, sharp and sudden. "Then send her back."
"I cannot," Aeliana says gently. "You are the one who endured. You are the one who remembers."
I look down at the Crown in my hands—its glow pulsing with something that recognizes me. Not just my blood. My fury.
"You want me to fix this?" My voice crack. "To fix her mess?"
"No." Aeliana step forward. Her fingers brush my brow—cool and soft like moonlight. "I want you to claim what was stolen."
The moment her hand touch me, the light devoured everything.
"You are the one that can fix everything. Chosen by the Stars since birth. Rewrite the end, my child."
Pain. Light. Heat. A scream rip from my throat—
Then silence.
---
I awoke gasping.
My sheets were silk. My skin was smooth. My nails are clean. No scars. No pain.
And yet I could still feel the blood. Still hear the screams.
"Arabella" I whispered.
My twin sister. The one who betrayed me. The reason I suffered ten damned years
I was going to fuck that bitch.