"Shawshank!"
My voice echoed through the chamber.
Nothing.
I ran toward the place where he had been standing.
Empty.
His golden mark had disappeared from the floor.
My heart began pounding.
"No…"
I turned around.
"Where is he?"
Nobody answered.
Celestia stood near the black doorway, her wings spread wide.
Nerath was gone.
The little girl was staring at the ground.
I grabbed her shoulders.
"Where did they take him?"
She looked at me sadly.
"The deep."
"What deep?"
"The place even the sea cannot reach."
I released her.
"I'm going after him."
Celestia stepped in front of me.
"You cannot."
I stared at her.
"Move."
"Bjei, listen to me."
"No!"
My voice shook the chamber.
"Everyone keeps telling me what I can and cannot do. Everyone keeps deciding what happens to me. Not anymore."
Golden light burst from my body.
Celestia stepped backward.
The little girl covered her eyes.
The chamber trembled.
I looked at Celestia.
"If Shawshank is in danger, I will find him."
Celestia stared at me.
"You don't understand what lies below."
"Then explain it."
She hesitated.
"The place beneath the sea is called the Hollow."
I frowned.
"The Hollow?"
"It existed before the kingdoms. Before the queens. Before Nerath."
My heart tightened.
"What is inside?"
Celestia's expression became darker.
"Everything that was erased."
I swallowed.
"Memories?"
"People. Powers. Names. Entire histories."
The little girl whispered,
"And broken promises."
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
She didn't answer.
Suddenly, the black door behind us opened completely.
A violent wind rushed through the chamber.
I heard Shawshank.
"Bjei!"
I ran toward the voice.
"Shawshank!"
Celestia caught my arm.
"Don't!"
I pulled away.
The darkness swallowed me.
I fell.
I don't know how long I was falling.
There was no water.
No air.
No ground.
Only darkness.
Then—
Crash.
I landed on something hard.
I opened my eyes.
Shawshank was lying a few feet away.
"Shawshank!"
I rushed to him.
He was breathing.
I touched his face.
His eyes opened.
"Bjei?"
I almost cried with relief.
"You're alive."
He slowly sat up.
"How did you get here?"
"I came for you."
His expression changed.
"You shouldn't have."
I smiled through my tears.
"You should know by now."
I took his hand.
"I don't leave you behind."
He pulled me into his arms.
For a moment, there was no darkness.
No queens.
No prophecy.
No war.
Just us.
Then a voice whispered from behind us.
"You always choose each other."
We turned.
Nerath stood in the darkness.
But it wasn't alone.
Behind it stood hundreds of figures.
People.
Men.
Women.
Children.
All pale.
All silent.
All staring at us.
I stepped backward.
"Who are they?"
Nerath answered calmly.
"The forgotten."
One woman stepped forward.
She looked strangely familiar.
My heart stopped.
"Mom?"
She looked exactly like Marina.
But Marina was alive.
I looked at Nerath.
"What are you doing?"
It smiled.
"Showing you what happened to the people who tried to protect you."
The woman who looked like Marina lifted her head.
Her eyes were empty.
Then she whispered,
"Bjei…"
Shawshank tightened his grip on my hand.
"Don't listen."
But another voice came from the crowd.
My grandmother.
Then Angela.
Then Christel.
Voices from people I knew.
People who were alive.
People who were not here.
My head began spinning.
"They're not real," Shawshank whispered.
Nerath smiled.
"Perhaps."
I looked at it.
"What do you want?"
Nerath stepped closer.
"For you to remember your first choice."
"My first choice?"
"Yes."
It pointed toward the crowd.
"Before you were Bjei…"
The darkness behind it opened.
A memory appeared.
Three children stood together.
Me.
The little girl.
And Shawshank.
We were holding hands.
But something was wrong.
We weren't children anymore.
We were surrounded by fire.
And someone was screaming.
Then I heard my younger voice.
"If they come for us, I'll destroy all three worlds."
I froze.
Shawshank looked at me.
"You said that?"
I couldn't answer.
The memory continued.
The three of us joined hands.
Golden light exploded.
The sky cracked.
The sea rose.
The land shook.
And then—
Everything went black.
I staggered backward.
"No…"
Nerath whispered,
"That was the beginning of the war."
I looked at Shawshank.
He was staring at me in shock.
I shook my head.
"I don't remember."
Nerath smiled.
"You will."
Then the Hollow began collapsing around us.
The forgotten people started screaming.
Shawshank pulled me close.
"Bjei, we have to leave!"
I looked at the darkness.
But something else had caught my attention.
Among the forgotten stood one final figure.
A man.
He slowly stepped forward.
And when I saw his face…
my entire body went cold.
Because he looked exactly like me.
And he whispered,
"You were never the first Bjei."