✶|𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺|✶ 𝘈𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘐𝘐𝘐 𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘦𝘯

✶𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 20✶

――✴✯✴――

Change in the seas

――✴✯✴――

Everything was white. An endless void of soft, cold nothingness. Serena couldn't feel her body, couldn't even tell where she began or ended. It was as if she were floating, weightless and untethered, and for a fleeting moment, it felt like peace...

A strange calm settled over her, silent, gentle, but beneath it lurked a hollow stillness that sent a shiver through her mind. Had she died again? The thought pierced her like a blade. Had all the effort, the dreams, and the struggles of this life been for nothing once more?

Her thoughts spiraled into the emptiness, clawing at her. Was it truly over?

And then, faint and far away, something stirred within her chest. A dull weight. At first, just an ache, soft but undeniable, then it deepened, spreading like ink in water. Sadness.

The ache turned sharp, constricting her ribs, even though she wasn't sure she had a body to feel it with. Would she never see her parents again? The kind smiles her father saved just for her, the stern but warm look her mother gave when she thought no one noticed?

And Elyas and Sissi...? Their laughter rang in her memory like an echo from another world. Elyas with his quiet strength and frustrating stubbornness. Sissi with her charm, her mischief, her teasing voice. Would she lose them too? Their faces blurred in her mind as if being swallowed by the white void.

No.

The notion struck her like lightning, sharp and clear, jolting through the stillness. No. This couldn't be the end. Not again. She had fought so hard, struggled, lived, chosen. That fire within her couldn't simply go out like a candle snuffed in the dark.

No.

As her thoughts swirled in a chaotic dance between despair and resistance. A voice, a soft, ethereal hum, cut through the void.

"Why do you fight so hard, child of the violet flame?"

Serena blinked, or at least she thought she did. The white void around her shimmered, shifting like ripples across still water. Out of the endless nothingness, a figure emerged, a being of pure radiance.

At first, it was as if she had risen out of the light itself, her form both dazzling and ethereal. Then Serena saw more clearly. 

The woman had a presence that demanded to be seen, even though she seemed untouchable, like the flames of a roaring hearth. 

Her hair, impossibly long, cascaded down her back in shimmering waves of fire that danced without smoke or heat, flickering in shades of deep crimson, gold, and burning white.

The woman's eyes glowed like molten silver, their depths both searing and soothing, staring at her with an intensity that felt like it could see through the fabric of her soul. Serena couldn't look away.

"You burn brightly, little flame." The woman spoke. Her voice rang like a bell, smooth but commanding, reverberating inside Serena's very being. It wasn't just heard, it was felt. The words stirred embers deep inside Serena's chest, warming her despite the void.