Introduction
Long before Any ever discovered the mirror, someone was watching over her.
On a hill overlooking the city stood an ancient temple forgotten by most of the world. Its stone walls had weathered centuries of rain and wind, yet a single light still burned within.
There, beneath a silver moon, a goddess waited.
Sutthidevi stood alone at the temple entrance. Her white robes danced in the night breeze as she gazed toward the sleeping city below.
Thousands of lights glittered in the darkness.
Among them was one small apartment.
One ordinary girl.
Any.
The goddess smiled softly.
“You’re growing up so quickly.”
For a moment, sadness crossed her face.
She already knew the future.
She knew of the mirror hidden between worlds.
She knew of the countless universes beyond it.
And she knew that one day her daughter would step through a door that should never have been opened.
A shooting star crossed the sky.
Sutthidevi closed her eyes.
The stars had shown her many futures.
In some, Any lived happily.
In others, she suffered losses no heart should endure.
And in nearly every future, a single name appeared.
Aran.
The boy from another world.
The one fate would place in her daughter’s path.
The goddess clenched her hands.
Even with all her power, there were limits to what she could change.
The laws of the universes were older than the gods themselves.
She could guide.
She could protect.
But she could not choose for Any.
That choice belonged to her daughter alone.
A faint silver glow appeared beside her.
The Mirror Between Worlds.
Even from the temple, its power could be felt.
Its surface shimmered like moonlight on water.
The goddess stared at it silently.
“So it begins.”
The mirror pulsed once.
As if responding.
Far below, the city slept peacefully, unaware that destiny had already begun moving its pieces.
The goddess looked toward the apartment one final time.
“Whatever happens,” she whispered, “I will be with you.”
A gentle wind swept across the hill.
The temple bells rang softly.
And somewhere in the city, a girl named Any dreamed of doors she had never opened and worlds she had never seen.
Soon, everything would change.
