[POV Liselotte]
The darkness did not last forever—but neither did it fade all at once. It wasn’t like waking from an ordinary dream, where the edges of reality slowly co into focus; it was more as if my consciousness were being dragged toward the surface of a deep, frozen lake.
When I finally managed to open my eyes, I did not see the stone walls of the basalt quarry nor Leah’s worried face. What stretched out before was an infinite horizon of pure white. But it was not the sterile white of nothingness—it was a landscape covered in snow so fine and brilliant it looked like diamond dust. The air was cold, yes, but not the sharp, aggressive cold I usually summoned with my magic; it was invigorating, a gentle icy caress that slled of purity and sothing I couldn’t quite identify—an aroma of wet earth and ancient life.
I rose carefully to my feet, brushing snow from my hands. I rembered the last ti I had been in a place like this, when my ice powers awakened and I faced the absolute solitude of my own magic. But this place was different. There was no desolation here.
As I walked a little farther, my boots sank into the snow, producing a rhythmic crunch that was the only sound in that silent world. Then, in the middle of the vast whiteness, I saw it.
Like a miracle in the desert, a small circular garden stood in defiance of winter. There were no walls to protect it, yet the snow seed to stop right at its invisible borders. Inside, the ground was covered with grass so vibrantly green it almost hurt to look at, and hundreds of white and blue flowers swayed gently in a breeze that did not exist. They were flowers I had never seen in Whirikal; their petals shimred with a light of their own, as if made of liquid crystal.
At the exact center of the garden stood a small white wrought-iron table with two matching chairs. In one of them sat a young woman, her back turned toward . Her hair was extraordinary—a cascade of strands interwoven in shades of erald green and deep blue, flowing down her back like a river of moss and ocean. She wore a long white dress made of a fabric so light it seed woven from clouds.
I approached slowly, my heart pounding with a strange intensity. I felt that each step carried farther from Liselotte and closer to sothing I had buried long ago.
“Excuse …” I began, my voice slightly trembling. “Do you know where we are? Who are you?”
Before I could finish the question, the woman turned around. Her face possessed a serene, tiless beauty, with eyes that seed to hold the reflection of entire forests and night skies. She looked at , and instantly a radiant smile lit up her features.
“Liselotte! You’ve finally arrived. I was beginning to worry about the interference from the rift,” she said, her voice sounding like the chiming of silver bells and the whisper of leaves in the wind.
I froze. “How… how do you know my na? I’ve never even seen you before.”
The woman laughed softly, full of enthusiasm, and with an elegant gesture invited to sit in the empty chair across from her. “Oh, I know you far better than you imagine. Please, sit. We have so much to talk about—and so little ti before reality cos to claim you again.”
I sat down chanically, unable to tear my eyes away from her. She studied with an almost maternal joy, leaning forward over the table.
“Tell , Liselotte—how have you lived these years? Do you like this new world? What do you think of your new family and your companions? I’ve tried to observe you, but sotis the fog is too thick, even for .”
A jolt of terror and confusion ran through . Sixteen years? New family? The pieces began to collide in my mind.
“Wait—stop,” I said, raising my hands. “Who are you? What do you an by ‘new family’? And why do you speak as if you’ve been watching since I was born? And how is it that you talk so casually about… about Edward Celium?”
The woman sighed softly, and for a mont a shadow of sadness crossed her green eyes. “Ah, Edward. That na sounds like an echo from another life, doesn’t it? But the essence is the sa. My na is Tiara, though in the place where you were first born, I was more commonly known as Terra.”
I gasped. “Terra? As in… the planet? Earth?”
“Exactly,” she nodded, her smile returning. “I am the spirit, the consciousness of the planet you lived on before. I was your ho, the ground beneath your feet, and the air in your lungs during your life as Edward Celium. I am not Gaia, the deity those n in white robes worship in Whirikal; she is a creation of this system, a local goddess. I am far older, and my bond with you is… special.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” I murmured, running a hand through my hair. “Why am I here? Why am I a girl now? Why Whirikal?”
Tiara extended her hand across the table, and though she didn’t touch , I felt a comforting warmth radiate from her. “I chose you personally, Edward… Liselotte. When your life ended in my world, your soul shone with an intensity I could not allow to fade into the common cycle of reincarnation. I needed soone with your will, your adaptability, and your sense of justice to send here. Whirikal exists in a fragile balance—and you were the missing piece.”
“You chose …” I repeated in disbelief. “You threw into this world full of demons and rifts without telling anything?”
“And I am truly sorry for that,” she said, her voice lowering, becoming more serious. “I wanted to speak to you from the mont you were reborn, but there are external forces in this world—laws and barriers that interfere with my ability to manifest. Whirikal has its own guardians and its own shadows, and my power here is very limited. Only now, with the opening of that great rift and the instability of your own magic, have I been able to create this small space for us to et.”
I stared at the garden’s blue flowers, processing the magnitude of what she had just told . It wasn’t a twist of fate. It wasn’t a cosmic accident. There was purpose behind my mories of Earth, behind my new identity, and behind my eting with Leah.
“You say your power is limited here,” I said, looking back at her. “Does that an I’m in danger? Why tell all this now?”
Tiara straightened, and the garden seed to vibrate with her presence. “I’m telling you because the experint they are conducting in the quarry has awakened things that should not stir. Your new family—Leah, William, even that little wolf, Chloé—all are bound to a destiny that you must now help shape. There are truths about the ice magic you wield and about the rifts that the Tower mages don’t even suspect.”
“Tell ,” I pleaded. “If you brought here, tell what I’m supposed to do. I don’t want to be just a piece on soone else’s board.”
Tiara smiled tenderly, but her figure began to grow slightly translucent, as if the dream were fraying at the edges.
“You are not a piece, Liselotte. You are the hand that moves the board. But now, before you awaken, there are many things I wish to tell you—about why ice is your elent, about what lies behind the veil of the goddess Gaia, and about the true nature of the rifts that are consuming this world.”
I leaned forward, eager to hear every word, feeling the veil of my voluntary amnesia about to fall away forever. The garden of white and blue flowers began to shine with blinding intensity, and Tiara’s voice filled my mind—not as sound, but as pure knowledge.
“Listen carefully, little Lotte…” she began, as the snowy world started to spin around us. “Because Whirikal’s ti is running out, and you are the only one who can decide whether this planet will beco your new ho… or your grave.”
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