Prologue
The Girl Who Chased the Sun
There was a place where the sky never turned dark.
A place where rivers shimmered like liquid gold and flowers bloomed from light instead of rain.
A place where sunsets were not endings...
They were promises.
Laughter echoed through marble halls that floated above the clouds.
Children chased glowing butterflies across gardens of crystal grass, while birds with golden wings soared through the endless sky.
In the middle of it all...
A little girl laughed.
She couldn't have been older than seven.
Barefoot, she ran through the gardens with sunlight dancing around her fingertips as if the light itself wanted to be close to her.
"Slow down, Your Highness!"
The palace guards laughed as they chased after her.
"You'll trip!"
"I won't!" she called back, her laughter filling the air.
She reached the edge of a balcony overlooking the endless kingdom below.
The world glowed beneath her.
Mountains of crystal.
Forests of light.
Cities floating among the clouds.
It was breathtaking.
Strong arms gently lifted her into the air.
"There you are."
The little girl giggled.
"Father!"
The man smiled warmly as he brushed a strand of silver-gold hair away from her face.
His eyes shone like the first sunrise.
"So this is where you've been hiding."
"I wasn't hiding," she protested with a pout.
"I was chasing the sun."
"The sun?"
She nodded enthusiastically.
"It always runs away when evening comes."
The man chuckled.
"My little star..."
He touched her forehead gently.
"You don't have to chase the sun."
She blinked.
"Why?"
"Because one day..."
He smiled.
"You will become the sun."
The little girl frowned, trying to understand.
"What if I get lost?"
"You won't."
"What if everyone forgets me?"
"I never will."
"What if... the light disappears?"
The man's expression softened.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
"As long as I breathe..."
"...no darkness will ever touch you."
Far away...
Hidden beneath the shadow of a towering pillar...
A young boy watched them.
His hands were clenched into trembling fists.
His face remained unreadable.
But someone standing behind him smiled.
Not with kindness.
With ambition.
The wind suddenly became cold.
The butterflies vanished.
The flowers lost their glow.
The little girl turned toward the darkness.
For the first time...
She felt afraid.
...
Claire Bennett sat upright in bed with a sharp gasp.
Her heart pounded violently against her chest.
Sunlight streamed through the curtains of her small bedroom in Massachusetts.
She looked around in confusion.
A dream...
It had only been a dream.
Then why...
Why did the words still echo in her mind?
"One day... you will become the sun."
