"Let me out."
The voice came from above us.
My own voice.
I stared at the crack in the sky.
Something was trapped behind it.
Something that sounded exactly like me.
Shawshank moved closer.
"Bjei, stay behind me."
I shook my head.
"No."
He looked at me.
"I need to know what that is."
The First Queen raised her crown.
"You don't."
Her voice was unusually frightened.
That scared me more than the voice itself.
"You said he was never supposed to survive," I said.
She didn't answer.
"Tell me why."
The first Bjei stepped forward.
"Because I know the truth."
The First Queen looked at him.
"You know only what you were allowed to remember."
He smiled.
"And you know only what you were allowed to keep."
Nerath suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned toward him.
"You're all still afraid of the wrong thing."
I looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
He pointed toward the crack.
"That isn't the first Bjei."
My blood ran cold.
The first Bjei's smile disappeared.
Nerath continued.
"That is what came before him."
The sky shook violently.
The fifth world began breaking apart faster.
Mountains disappeared into the darkness.
The sea below us rose.
Celestia lifted her hands and created a silver barrier around the remaining people.
"We have to leave," she said.
The First Queen shook her head.
"If we leave now, it follows us."
I looked at the crack.
"What follows us?"
The First Queen finally looked at me.
"The thing that existed before you."
My heart pounded.
"Before me?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
She swallowed.
"Your hunger."
I didn't understand.
"My hunger?"
"The part of your power that wanted everything."
The first Bjei stepped backward.
"I fought it."
The First Queen nodded.
"And failed."
A terrible sound came from the crack.
Something scratched against the other side.
Then a hand appeared.
It looked like mine.
Golden fingers pushed through the broken sky.
Shawshank grabbed my hand.
"Don't."
I stared at that hand.
I could feel it calling me.
Not with words.
With memories.
Suddenly I saw myself as a child.
I was standing alone beside the sea.
Then I saw myself older.
Running.
Crying.
Fighting.
Loving.
Losing.
Every painful moment of my life flashed before me.
And then I understood.
It wasn't calling me because it wanted to kill me.
It was calling me because it wanted to become me.
I pulled away from Shawshank.
"Bjei!"
I walked toward the crack.
The First Queen shouted.
"Stop!"
I didn't.
The golden hand reached farther.
Our fingers touched.
Pain exploded through my body.
I screamed.
Shawshank ran toward me.
"Bjei!"
The moment he touched my shoulder, the pain stopped.
The creature behind the crack screamed.
Not in anger.
In fear.
I looked at Shawshank.
His golden mark was glowing brighter than ever.
"You're hurting it," I whispered.
He stared at his hand.
"I don't know how."
The first Bjei suddenly laughed.
"Of course you don't."
Shawshank looked at him.
"What?"
"You were made for this."
The smile disappeared from Shawshank's face.
"Made for what?"
"To stop her."
He pointed at me.
My heart sank.
Shawshank stared at me.
"No."
The first Bjei continued.
"You were never only her guardian."
"What am I?"
The first Bjei looked toward the crack.
"You are the lock."
Shawshank froze.
"And she…"
He looked at me.
"…is the door."
Silence.
The First Queen closed her eyes.
"That was the secret."
I turned toward her.
"You knew?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because if you knew the truth too early, you would have tried to open it."
"Open what?"
She looked at the crack.
"The first world."
The ground suddenly disappeared beneath my feet.
Shawshank grabbed me.
But something pulled from below.
We began falling.
I held onto him.
"Shawshank!"
"I'm here!"
The others disappeared above us.
The darkness swallowed everything.
Then we landed somewhere cold.
I opened my eyes.
Shawshank was beside me.
But the others were gone.
We were standing in a massive underground chamber.
At the center was a throne.
And sitting on it was another woman who looked exactly like me.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Then she smiled.
"You finally came back."
I couldn't move.
Shawshank stood in front of me.
"Who are you?"
The woman looked at him.
Then she looked at me.
"I am the Bjei who chose the darkness."
My blood ran cold.
She stood.
"And now…"
Her golden eyes turned black.
"…I want my life back."