I clawed my way out of the Abyss like a feral thing—half-shadow, half-rage.
The portal slammed shut behind me with a sound like a dying scream, and for a long moment, I just stood there, barefoot and bloody on the cracked marble steps of the Royal Terrace. My breathing was ragged. My skin, etched in scars. My fingers twitched, still curled from battle.
Ten years. Ten years of monsters and madness. Of surviving when I shouldn't have. Of screaming into nothing and being the only thing that screamed back.
And now… this.
Silence.
No banners. No guards. No thunder of magic through the wards. Just dust, crumbled stone, and the skeletal remains of a Queendom that used to rule the skies.
The wind blew, carrying the faint scent of ash and rot. Somewhere, a wooden sign creaked like a noose swaying on old rope. My feet moved on instinct—silent steps across ruined paths, past broken statues, past a child's toy half-melted in a gutter.
I should have been prepared. I was prepared. I knew Veridia would fall. I saw it. I felt it.
But nothing prepares you for the smell of burned royal silk and bone dust.
The throne room was a mausoleum.
The stained glass windows were shattered, their shards strewn like jewels across the floor. The high banners were in tatters. The throne… twisted, half-melted. A cruel irony.
But there, in the center of it all, untouched by fire or time, was the Aether Crown. Broken, like I remember.
Lying in the dust like it was waiting for me.
I walked to it slowly. Each step hurt—old wounds flaring beneath my skin. The shadows whispered. They knew where I was. What this meant.
I dropped to my knees.
For a moment, I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. My hand hovered over the Crown, fingers trembling.
Then I touched it.
And the world exploded.
Blinding light. Blazing heat. Something ancient roaring in my bones.
Then… her.
Aeliana.
She stood before me, draped in light that stung my eyes. Her face was sorrowful, gaze deep enough to drown in.
"You were not meant to live," she said, her voice a song made of dawn and mourning.
I stared at her, hollow and dry. "Yeah?" My laugh was raw. "Tell that to the things I killed to get here."
She didn't flinch. Of course she didn't. Gods don't flinch.
"The world is broken, Melania. Your sister failed. The Queendom is no more."
Anger flared in my chest, sharp and sudden. "Then send her back."
"I cannot," Aeliana said gently. "You are the one who endured. You are the one who remembers."
I looked down at the Crown in my hands—its glow pulsing with something that recognized me. Not just my blood.
My fury.
"You want me to fix this?" My voice cracked. "To fix her mess?"
"No." Aeliana stepped forward. Her fingers brushed my brow—cool and soft like moonlight. "I want you to claim what was stolen."
The moment her hand touched me, the light devoured everything.
Pain. Light. Heat. A scream ripped from my throat—
Then silence.
---
I awoke gasping.
My sheets were silk. My skin was smooth. My nails clean. No scars. No pain.
And yet I could still feel the blood. Still hear the screams.
"Arabella" I whispered.
Arabella. My twin sister who betrayed me. The reason I suffered for ten damned years.
I was going to fuck that bitch.