Chapter 112: A Fate Worse Than Death
Melissa’s POV
I floated in a limitless emptiness.
No ground, no sky. Nothing except darkness extending in all directions.
I wasn’t standing, but I also wasn’t falling. It seemed as if you were lost and weightless, drifting in nothingness. All that was left was my mind, with its questions, anxieties, and thoughts.
“Is this… death?” I muttered.
I hardly made a sound with my voice. As if even words didn’t belong here, it was engulfed by the emptiness.
Then something changed.
I started to be pulled forward by an invisible, unseen force. It was a hard grip, not a delicate tug, like if I were being pulled toward something.
I twisted in the void, struggling. “No! Stop!
The force ignored it.
Then I heard it.
A murmur. Like smoke, low, chilly, curling about me.
“Come…”
I gasped.
“Come… find your fate.”
I balled my fists up. “Who are you?!”
No response.
Suddenly, figures appeared in the darkness as the force yanked harder. Shadows that move, twist, and transform into something, or rather, someone.
In front of me was a scarcely discernible figure with a hood covering its face.
As the figure whispered, “You do not belong here yet,” “And yet, you were brought here for a reason.”
I took a deep breath. “What reason?”
The guy with the hood cocked its head. “That is for you to discover.”
Then the darkness broke with a wave of its hand.
I was no longer in the void when I opened my eyes once more.
A huge hall was where I was.
It was old; stone columns extended toward an invisible ceiling. Odd symbols pulsed like a heartbeat, glowing softly around the walls. There was something ancient in the air.
Then I caught sight of them.
Dozens of figures surrounded me in a circle. They all possessed the same unmistakable presence and piercing eyes, regardless of whether they were dressed in armor or royal regalia.
The ghosts of former monarchs.
An elderly woman with silver hair and piercing golden eyes took a step forward.
Her words, “You are the last,”
I took a deep breath. “The last… what?”
“The final head of the ancient line. The last link between the past and the future.
My hands were shaking. “I don’t understand.”
Beside her, a figure in dark armor stepped. “Melissa, you are at a turning point. Make a good decision, or you won’t come back.”
I gazed at them. “Choose what?”
Her gaze grew gloomy. “Your true path.”
The surrounding air became more dense, pressing against my chest.
The room was filled with the cacophony of the rulers’ rising voices.
“Are you going to be a queen? A rescuer? A destroyer? Or will you develop into something far more?”
My mind whirled. “I just want to go back!”
The woman’s eyes became stony. “Then choose.”
The earth underneath me splintered. The walls shook. The voices increased in volume.
The decision was imminent.
Furthermore, I wasn’t sure if I was prepared.
The space wavered.
Like living beings, shadows slithered out of the corners. The temperature dropped.
Then a voice spoke, a voice distinct from the ghosts.
“Why fight fate,” it grumbled, “when you can become something more powerful than a queen?”
I felt cold.
I looked around, but nobody was there. Nothing but curling, shifting, rising shadows.
Around me, the ghosts tensed. A few took a step back. Others held out their hands, seemingly in readiness for combat.
The silver-haired woman’s gaze narrowed. “You were not meant to speak.”
The shadows chuckled.
“And yet,” the voice murmured, “she hears me, doesn’t she?”
My heart raced. “Who are you?”
A pause. The voice then returned, this time quieter and even enticing.
“I am the truth no one speaks.”
Reaching for me, the shadows surged.
“And I can give you what you desire most.”
I attempted to take a step back, but the ground disappeared.
The voices of the spirits echoed in my ears as I gulped and fell into the darkness.
“Do not listen!”
“Choose wisely!”
“Melissa!”
The final murmur of the evil voice was the last sound I heard before the darkness engulfed me.
“Let me show you… what you were always meant to be.”
Then everything darkened.