Ayra had grown tired. Not from fighting off assassins. Not from hiding.
But from caring.
She didn't want a throne, didn't want revenge. All she wanted now was a quiet place where nobody knew her name, and no one expected anything from her.
> "We're going north," she told Lira.
> "North? That's political suicide," Lira said. "You'll be walking straight into the territories of the 1st Kingdom."
> "Good," Ayra said. "Let them try."
---
Crossing Into the Forbidden Starlands
The northern border was harsh—freezing winds, steep paths, and strange weather patterns that felt… watched.
Still, Ayra pushed on. She sensed something—familiar—pulling her forward.
For the first time, even her pendant felt light, like it was finally close to where it belonged.
She entered the capital of the 1st Kingdom cloaked and hidden, hoping to simply pass through.
But fate… had other plans.
---
Laughter in Gold
As she stepped into the outer plaza to ask for directions, nobles in silk cloaks saw her dusty robe and tattered boots.
> "Another beggar from the lower kingdoms," one sneered.
> "She looks like she escaped from the 90th. What's next? A farm girl with delusions of royalty?"
Ayra said nothing.
But her pendant did.
It glowed, bright and hot—reacting wildly.
Then—
Everything stopped.
The clouds parted.
The guards at the royal gate dropped to one knee as a thundering presence filled the air.
A royal carriage landed from the sky, its golden crest blazing with an emblem: a phoenix curled around a sword.
The nobles instantly went pale.
> "That's… His Majesty?!"
---
The Grandfather Appears
An old man stepped out of the carriage. Tall, regal, eyes like lightning behind age. The King of the 1st Kingdom.
He looked directly at Ayra.
> "So this is where you've been hiding…"
He walked slowly toward her. She didn't move.
The pendant on Ayra's neck floated, shimmering with golden fire.
He stopped before her, knees creaking as he knelt—not in command, but in grief.
> "You have her eyes," he whispered.
> "What…?" Ayra asked.
> "Your mother," he said. "My only daughter."
He reached into his cloak and pulled out a matching necklace—his pendant. The one given to her mother when she was born.
> "She left… to find peace. To escape fate. But she never returned. I searched for years… only to find she died giving birth to you."
Ayra's heart froze.
> "She… was your daughter?"
> "She was everything," he said, trembling. "And so are you."
---
A Name Restored
In front of the stunned nobles, the King turned to his royal guards.
> "Bring her to the palace. And tell the Council—Ayra Venn is my blood."
> "My granddaughter. The rightful heir of the Phoenix Lineage."
The pendant glowed brighter.
Ayra stood speechless as centuries of power stirred in her veins. The people stared—at the girl they had mocked minutes ago—now standing as future royalty of the strongest kingdom.
But only she knew the truth.
> She didn't need this power.
> She was power.
---