For seven days, the world existed without me.
I learned that later.
When consciousness finally returned, it did not come gently. It rose like mist from deep water. The first thing I felt was warmth against my chest, light and trembling.
"Forelody..." I whispered.
My pracien lifted her head at once. Her eyes were glossy with tears. Her small body shaking as if she were afraid I might disappear again if she loosened her grip. She let out a soft, broken sound-half laugh, half sob-and pressed her forehead to mine.
"I missed you," she said, voice thin with relief.
Only then did I realize where I was.
My room.
The familiar chamber in the Mnarr Palace. Sunlight filtered through tall windows, turning the curtains gold. Everything was the same yet somehow, I knew I wasn't.
I sat up slowly. When I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, Forelody stayed close, as if guarding me from myself.
The mirror caught my attention.
I froze.
Silver hair spilled down my shoulders like moonlight, unfamiliar and unmistakably mine. My once brown eyes had softened into a pale gray, calm and distant, like a sky after a storm. I stared at the reflection, searching for the girl I used to be.
She wasn't there.
Forelody climbed onto the table beside the mirror, and that was when I noticed it. Her feathers, once pure white, had also turned gray.
"What happened to us?" I whispered.
Later, the doctor explained it to me with an awkward laugh, scratching his head as if embarrassed by the weight of the truth.
The core of the Juelaetornulus Ruihnas had dissolved inside me.
It had fused completely with my mnarill, no longer a separate existence, no longer a parasite whispering from within. Its power had become mine. Deoremnarill ran through me now, braided with light.
A half-hwizta and half-deore mnarillaza. A contradiction that should not exist. And yet, here I am, became the proof.
When my legs felt steady enough, I left the room. The palace welcomed me like it always had, its halls bright, its air peaceful. I climbed to the highest tower, where the wind could reach me without obstruction.
From there, I saw everything.
The land below had healed. Fields glimmered with restored life. The scars of battle were gone, as if Mnarra itself had exhaled after holding its breath for too long.
For a moment, I simply watched.
"You literally just woke up and you're climbing again?" a familiar voice called. "Seriously, are you a monkey?"
I smiled before I turned.
Dylan dropped beside me, uninvited as always, folding his arms as he leaned back against the wall. He looked the same as always.
"Have you ever seen a monkey with gray hair?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said instantly. "I'm looking at one."
I laughed, soft and genuine, the sound surprising even me.
We sat there together, shoulders brushing, words dissolving into comfortable silence. The world felt unbearably gentle in that moment.
Then someone shouted from below.
I leaned over the edge and burst into laughter.
Everyone's there.
My family. My friends. Faces I had feared I might never see again. Even Xyrille and Jean stood among them, arms crossed, pretending they weren't smiling. And near the back, leaning on his cane as if he had never once terrified fate itself, stood Grandfather Lembo.
"Hey!" someone yelled. "You monkeys-get down from there!"
"In a minute!" I shouted back, laughing harder than I had in years.
The celebration that followed filled the palace with light and noise-music, laughter, victory. They celebrated survival. They celebrated peace.
That night, when the joy became too loud, I slipped away.
"Dylan, come with me."
"Wanna run away?"
"Hell, no."
We escaped the party like children sneaking out past curfew. I didn't explain where we were going. I didn't have to.
The Dark Palace still stood when we arrived, wrapped in a barrier that shimmered faintly under the moonlight.
I frowned. "Why hasn't this been destroyed?"
"It's part of our history," Dylan said, repeating the king's words. "He ordered it to be preserved."
I lifted my hand. A snap turned the palace to dust.
In a single breath, the structure collapsed, crumbling into nothing but ash that scattered harmlessly into the wind.
Dylan stared at me, stunned. "Why would you-"
"It's a sinful place," I said lightly, smiling. "Some histories don't deserve to remain." I laughed.
But then I looked at him.
I looked at him for a long time.
Dylan shifted, confused, unsettled by the weight of my gaze. "Rhein...?"
Tears slipped down my cheeks before I realized I was crying.
I remembered the voice of the crystal.
It had spoken to me during the war, when everything was burning, when time itself felt fragile.
'The end of Mnarra is inevitable,' it said. 'Only my bearer will survive. I will protect you.'
But protection came at a cost.
To save the world, the crystal demanded my existence... my life, my presence, and my memory. Everything that made me real. Only through its interference could destruction be undone.
Two choices: save myself... or save Mnarra.
I thought of my family. My friends. Dylan.
I want to live.
I want to stay.
But wanting is not enough.
"My mission is over."
The wind was so gentle.
I watched Dylan's face blur as light peeled away from me, layer by layer. My body faded, my name loosening its grip on the world.
I vanished.
Not just from this place but from both worlds.
From memory.
From history.
From every heart I had ever touched.
As existence unraveled, I held onto one last wish: if there's another life waiting beyond this one... I hoped I would see him there.