Dreams and Realities
When I opened my eyes; the magnificent throne room they so proudly flaunted at every opportunity was swallowed by a pitch-black silence. Only the marble pillars supporting the ceiling burned from within, crackling with a deafening roar. There were only two of us in this colossal room: me, and a vast, dying kingdom. I turned my head and looked out through the massive, floor-to-ceiling windows of the throne room. Crimson flames blanketed the entire city like a shroud; plumes of smoke rising from the palace gardens swallowed the sky. As scattered ashes drifted through the shattered windowpanes and brushed against my face, the cold reality sank into my heart: the field of death sprawling outside had but a single architect.
Right at my feet, beside the overturned golden throne, a man lay groaning in agony within a pool of his own blood. No, not just a man... A king who had ruthlessly slaughtered my soul. When he killed my soul, he never imagined that the resulting wrath would reduce the entire kingdom to ashes in a single night.
“You...” the king gasped, spitting the warm blood that filled his mouth onto the shattered marble floor. He didn’t even have the courage to lift his terrified eyes to look at my face; his body, trembling violently from pain and fear, whispered everything. “...are a monster.” His final breath faded into the throne room’s smoky air along with those words. He was dead. Now, I was the only one left in the throne room.
A monster... All I wanted to do was laugh. The corner of my lips curled upward into a twisted, soulless smirk. I walked toward the edge of the windows. Gazing down at the blazing, lifeless bodies of the people who had pushed me to the edge of this abyss and stripped me of everything, I savored this hell I had forged all by myself for one last time.
When the fire of vengeance within me finally burned out and the screams outside ceased, only a relentless whisper remained in my mind: When did it come to this? How did I turn into someone like this? Was I always this way?
1 Year Ago
Clink... Clank...
The only sound accompanying the rhythm of my breaths was the scraping of the chains wrapped tightly around both my wrists, slipping through my fingers and coiling into my palms. They were nowhere else on my body; they simply held these two sword-wielding hands of mine captive, like unseen shackles. These chains were no ordinary things; they were the only seal capable of imprisoning that cursed power of this sky kingdom beneath my skin.
I loathed this power, hated its boundlessness. When it first awakened within my body, I lost control and unintentionally harmed an innocent soul. I can never forget the agonized screams I left in my wake, the sheer terror I felt that day, and the relentless remorse that crushed my shoulders when I was just a child. The more I remember, the sweeter these chains seem to me. Since the very first moment it awakened, the thought of using this power hasn’t crossed my mind even once, and it never will. I do not feel I belong to this royalty, nor to any kingdom at all.
Rather than unleashing this power to benefit the empress, doing even a single thing to serve her ambitions, I would rather keep my hands shackled with these stones for all eternity.
“Ninety-nine... And one hundred!”
As I swung the heavy sword through the air in a flawless arc and delivered my final strike, a drop of sweat rolled down my face and struck the dirt. Gripping the sword tightly with both hands, I caught my breath without breaking my stance. No one knew where I came from or how I had fallen into this kingdom. Years ago, without uttering a single word or offering any explanation, the Queen had taken me in and cast me into the heart of this palace. Because the Queen had a biological daughter of her own, they couldn’t make sense of it—and they still can’t. They initially thought the heir to the throne had changed, but once they realized I had no eyes for the throne or their palace intrigues, they began to ignore me. Everyone except Queen Diana... I had chosen to stay far away from the suffocating noise and darkness of those palace halls. Believing that the only way to keep my soul clean was to distance myself from this palace, I trained relentlessly to take command of the army.
As I sheathed my sword, I paused at the sight of a familiar shadow appearing at the entrance of the training grounds. It was clear that my quiet moments of solitude were finally coming to an end.
Goddess Aida, carrying the golden light of the sky in her hair, was walking toward me. The noble golden chains woven through her long, wavy blonde hair and the elegant teardrop-jeweled tiara resting on her forehead were tokens of her divine lineage. Her dark, tulle-adorned garments amplified her elegance, while the gold bands wrapping her neck and arms clinked softly with every step. But what truly separated her from the other gods in this palace were her eyes. When she turned toward me, I was met with her blue eyes, reminiscent of the endless, smooth, and clear sky. Those eyes held not the coldness of this kingdom, but a profound sorrow. She was the child of the betrayer.
The heavy chains wrapped around both my wrists clinked and loosened slightly, as if in reverence to her divine presence. She stood right in front of me with her usual expression—compassionate, yet equally stern. Her gaze drifted down to my hands, which were still tightly gripping my sword.
“Pushing yourself to your limits again,” she said, her voice echoing in the silence of the training grounds like an ancient melody. “No matter how far you cast yourself away, you can never fully extinguish that spark inside you... Luna.”
When my own name spilled from her lips, I felt the power within me tremble slightly. Aida was the only person in this palace who had cared for me, the one who had never left my side since my childhood
I dropped into a slight curtsy. “It is not fitting for you to be in such a place, my goddess,” I said, trying to hide the concern in my voice.
We were in the army’s training grounds; aside from its filthy visage coated in mud and the sweat of soldiers, it was the absolute last place a goddess should set foot. Moreover, even though night had fallen, there was no telling when or where the palace spies might appear; we could run into one at any moment. That would only spell new trouble for her, considering her life already hung by a bare thread. Given that everyone had taken a stand against her, coupled with the ruthless whispers of the palace, the situation was even more perilous for her.
Aida responded to my worried words with a faint, noble smile. “You do not even need to bow to me, Luna,” she said, her voice carrying a motherly warmth despite everything. “You are the one who truly shouldn’t be here, amidst this dust and mud,” she added, scanning our surroundings.
No matter how much she tried to appear strong and conceal the brokenness within her, the bitterness and the sorrow of alienation woven into her tone were painfully obvious. Once again, with all my heart, I loathed the sky kingdom that forced an outcast’s life upon someone for reasons beyond their control, and I hated its agonizing, unjust rules.
“I have never been where I was supposed to be anyway. I have always been exactly where I wanted to be,” I said, a wry, half-smile settling on the corner of my lips.
Right then, I let my mind go slightly. The heavy chains that stretched from my wrists down through my fingers—the ones that relentlessly ground against my flesh every second—slowly turned transparent like an illusion and vanished beneath my skin. No one needed to know how much power I held captive in my hands; with my hands now looking entirely bare and ordinary, I loosened my grip on the hilt of my sword.
Aida let out a soft laugh at my words. “Ah, right... You are the only thing in this realm that remains unchanged,” she said. Suddenly, she paused. As that compassionate smile slowly faded from her face, she murmured, almost to herself, “I hope you never do...”
Without dwelling too much on her words, I cut straight to the point. “I highly doubt you came down here just to ask how I am.”
At my question, her face instantly fell. Her entire demeanor shifted into heavy severity, as if she had suddenly remembered something incredibly important and dangerous.
“You’re right,” was all she could manage. She let out a deep, troubled sigh, as if she had no idea where to even begin. Then, fixing those clear, sky-blue eyes directly on mine, she continued in a hushed whisper:
“Luna... Diana wants you.”
The name didn’t stir a single thing within me. Even though she acted as if this was something new, I had already been summoned by the queen for official audiences and discussions countless times before. However, unless an official edict came directly from the Empress herself, I had refused every single one of those tedious, two-faced meetings with the palace council.
But the fear in Aida’s voice clearly whispered that this summons was no ordinary palace invitation.
“Is the Council convening?” I asked, frowning slightly.
In the sky kingdom, the rules were absolute; whenever that grand Council was summoned, no matter which member of the royal family you were, or from what rank or corner of the sky you hailed, you had to be in that hall. It was an absolute law you could neither escape nor refuse. Because I was usually away fighting outside the kingdom, I hadn’t received an official summons—I suppose the queen had her uses from time to time.
Aida shook her head, the storm in her blue eyes deepening.
“No, the Council hasn’t convened, Luna. This has nothing to do with a council,” she said, lowering her voice to a mere whisper. “If that were the case, the palace doors would be thrown open to everyone. But this time, the situation is entirely different. Diana... she requested only you in her presence.”
I looked at this ancient goddess, whispering like a fugitive fleeing her room.
While Aida stared into my eyes, anticipating an anxious reaction from me, I merely checked the hilt of my sword one last time. Without dropping the indifferent, cold expression on my face, I turned my back to her.
“I will go tomorrow,” I said, the calmness in my voice the kind that could silence even the night wind sweeping through the training grounds. I turned my head to look one last time at the goddess, who was now watching me with understanding and a sense of relief. “Return to the palace before you cross paths with anyone. I will see you tomorrow.”
I had just taken a step forward when Aida’s voice made me pause.
“Luna...”
I turned back toward the goddess standing behind me. She stepped closer and cupped my face with her warm palms.
“I know it will sound incredibly selfish, and you don’t have to do it...” she said, flustered, as if unsure of the weight of what she was about to ask. Then, looking into my eyes with profound desperation, she added, “But I want you to give me your word.”
A promise... To ordinary people, it might sound like a simple word tossed into the wind, but in this sky kingdom, a promise was sacred. It was believed that if you went back on your word here even once, you would be ruthlessly cursed by the entire realm. Though, if you asked me, it was nothing more than a ridiculous superstition fabricated to frighten weak minds.
Focusing on those sky-blue eyes watching me so carefully, I asked, “For what?”
Erasing every trace of trembling from her voice, Aida spoke in an utterly serious tone. “That no matter what happens, you will not become the person they want you to be...” She took a deep, shuddering breath, as if her chest were tightening. “I want your word, Luna.”
It was obvious from her every gesture just how truly terrified Aida was of this. She feared I would become like them.
I rested my hands over Aida’s, which were still cradling my face, and gazed at her with a warm smile—as if my eyes alone could breathe reassurance into her ice-cold soul. “I promise, I will not become the person she wants me to be. No matter what.”
Upon hearing this sacred oath, Aida’s eyes gleamed.
