The wind howled through the stone towers of the palace that night, echoing like a voice trying to be heard. Seraphina stood by her window, wrapped in a velvet cloak, her eyes fixed on the distant ruins now lost in darkness. The song she had sung still lingered in her heart like a weight. It hadn't just come from her lips—it had come from something deeper, something she couldn't explain.
She clutched the pendant around her neck—a simple crystal her mother gave her years ago. It had always seemed ordinary. But tonight, it felt… warm. Alive.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in," she said without turning.
Cassian entered, his armor stripped down to just his leather tunic. He looked tired, but his eyes held that familiar watchfulness, like he was always ready to fight off the world.
"You're still awake," he said.
She finally turned to face him. "I couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts."
He nodded and walked toward the window. "You shouldn't have gone to the ruins alone."
"I wasn't alone," she replied. "You were with me."
Cassian looked at her, something unreadable in his gaze. "I meant what I said. I'll protect you. No matter what awakens."
There was a pause. The fire in the hearth cracked softly.
"Cassian," she said quietly, "do you think my mother knew all of this would happen?"
He hesitated. "Yes. I think she did. And I think she tried to shield you from it. But destiny doesn't care for locked doors."
Seraphina sighed. "She never told me much. Just bedtime stories about the Fallen King, about the mist. But now I feel like she was preparing me… without telling me."
Cassian walked closer, and for a moment, he looked younger, like the boy she remembered from her childhood—the one who would sneak her out to the stables at midnight just so she could ride under the stars.
"You're stronger than you know," he said. "You always have been."
She looked up at him, her voice a little shaky. "You don't have to keep protecting me, Cassian. I'm not a child anymore."
"I know you're not," he said softly. "That's the problem."
Their eyes locked, and the space between them felt smaller than ever. A breath, a heartbeat. Seraphina's chest tightened. She didn't know what she expected him to say next, but when he looked away, she was both disappointed and relieved.
"I should let you rest," he said.
She nodded, though part of her wanted to stop him. "Goodnight, Cassian."
He paused at the door. "Goodnight, Seraphina."
---
That night, her dreams were not her own.
She stood in a hall of mirrors, each reflection showing a different version of herself—one in royal robes, one cloaked in shadow, one standing alone on a battlefield. And in the center of them all stood a tall, dark figure with glowing red eyes.
The Fallen King.
"She sings again," he whispered. "The girl of light. But light cannot save her."
Seraphina turned to run, but the mirrors shattered—dozens of sharp truths falling around her—and when she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the dream.
She was in her bed.
And the crystal on her necklace was glowing.
---
Morning came with cold air and low clouds. Seraphina wrapped herself in a warm cloak and made her way to the royal archives. She needed answers—about the song, the ruins, the strange visions. If her mother wouldn't speak in life, perhaps she had left behind words in writing.
The archives smelled of ink and dust. She searched shelf after shelf, until finally she found a journal bound in faded blue leather. The inscription on the inside cover read: Queen Elira of Elyndor—her mother's name.
Her hands trembled as she flipped through the pages.
"There is music in her. Not just the kind that pleases the ear—but the kind that binds the earth to the stars. I fear the day it awakens."
"The Mist is not just a shield. It is a prison. It holds him back. But only as long as the song remains unsung."
Seraphina sat down slowly, her heart thudding. The song… was a key.
But she had already sung it.
---
Far beyond the palace, deep in the northern wilds, a dark wind moved across the land. The trees bent. The crows cried. And in the ruins of an ancient tower, the Fallen King opened his eyes for the first time in centuries.
"She has begun."
---