"The world you haven't created yet."
I stared at the golden light.
Nobody spoke.
Even the sea had gone still.
"What does that mean?" I whispered.
The First Mother looked at me.
"It means the story isn't finished."
I shook my head.
"No."
I looked around at the five worlds.
"I thought this was the end."
"It is the end of what was."
Shawshank stepped beside me.
"And the beginning of what?"
The First Mother smiled.
"Choice."
The golden light grew brighter.
Then it opened.
Inside it, I saw something I had never seen before.
A world without crowns.
Without kingdoms.
Without boundaries.
Humans walking beside creatures from the sea.
The sky was open.
The fourth-world people were no longer marked.
The fifth world was alive again.
Nobody was fighting.
Nobody was ruling.
Nobody was afraid.
I stared at it.
"Is that the future?"
"No."
The First Mother shook her head.
"It is a possibility."
I looked at Shawshank.
"Can we really create something like that?"
He smiled.
"We already created something impossible."
I laughed softly.
"You mean me?"
"I mean us."
My heart warmed.
Then Marina stepped forward.
"Bjei."
I turned.
She was crying.
"I owe you the truth."
I walked toward her.
"You've already told me so much."
"Not everything."
She took my hands.
"When I gave you to Angela, I thought I was losing my daughter forever."
My eyes filled with tears.
"I was angry with you."
"I know."
"I hated that you weren't there."
"I know."
"Sometimes I thought you didn't want me."
Marina's tears fell.
"I wanted you more than anything."
She pulled me into her arms.
"I gave you away because I loved you enough to let someone else keep you alive."
I cried against her.
"I wish you had told me."
"I was afraid the truth would bring the darkness back."
I pulled away.
"It doesn't."
She touched my face.
"Then maybe I can finally be your mother without being afraid."
I smiled through my tears.
"You always were."
Angela came forward next.
I looked at her.
She didn't say anything.
She didn't have to.
I hugged her.
"You raised me."
She held me tightly.
"I would do it again."
"I know."
Christel suddenly appeared behind her.
I froze.
"Christel?"
She smiled.
"You really thought you could save five worlds without me?"
I laughed.
For the first time in what felt like forever, it was a real laugh.
"You came."
"Of course I came."
She looked around.
"Although I still don't understand why everyone keeps talking about queens, worlds and magic."
I wiped my tears.
"Neither do I."
She laughed.
"Good. At least I'm not the only confused one."
Everyone smiled.
Even Nerath.
I looked at him.
He had changed.
The darkness that once covered him was gone.
He looked tired.
But peaceful.
He approached me slowly.
"I owe you an apology."
I nodded.
"You do."
"I carried your darkness for so long that I forgot it was never mine."
I looked at him.
"You don't have to carry it anymore."
He bowed his head.
"Thank you."
Then he turned toward the sea.
And for the first time, Nerath walked away without darkness following him.
The First Queen approached me.
She removed the last stone from her crown.
Then she placed it in my palm.
"You were never meant to rule us."
I looked at the stone.
"Then what am I?"
She smiled.
"You are the reminder that no one has to rule anyone."
She walked away.
One by one, the others followed.
Until only Shawshank and I remained beneath the golden tree.
The six branches moved gently above us.
I looked at him.
"So…"
"So?"
"What happens now?"
He smiled.
"Whatever we want."
I looked toward the human world.
"I want to go home."
He nodded.
"Then let's go."
We started walking.
After everything…
after the wars…
after the secrets…
after losing ourselves and finding each other again…
we were finally going home.
But before I stepped away from the golden tree, I heard something.
A whisper.
"Bjei."
I turned.
The golden light was still there.
The sixth branch was glowing.
"What is it?"
Shawshank looked at it.
"I don't know."
I stepped closer.
The light formed words.
Not a prophecy.
Not a warning.
A promise.
A world belongs to those who choose to live in it.
I touched the light.
It disappeared into my hand.
Then something strange happened.
My golden mark vanished.
I stared at my palm.
For years, I had carried that mark.
It had represented my power.
My bloodline.
My connection to the worlds.
Now there was nothing.
Just my skin.
I smiled.
"I'm free."
Shawshank took my hand.
"Yes."
We walked toward the surface.
Behind us, the first world slowly disappeared.
Not destroyed.
Not forgotten.
It simply became a memory.
A beginning.
A lesson.
A choice.
When we reached the shore, I stopped.
The sun was rising.
For the first time, I looked at it without fear.
Shawshank stood beside me.
"What are you thinking?"
I smiled.
"That I survived."
He looked at me.
"And?"
I squeezed his hand.
"That I found you."
He smiled.
"And?"
I looked at the horizon.
"That maybe…"
I took a breath.
"…we finally get to live."
He pulled me closer.
"We do."
I rested my head against his chest.
His heartbeat was steady.
Real.
Alive.
I closed my eyes.
Then I heard a faint sound beneath the waves.
A child's laughter.
I opened my eyes.
Shawshank looked toward the sea.
"Did you hear that?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
We stared at the water.
Nothing appeared.
But somewhere beneath the waves…
the sixth world was beginning.
And this time…
I wasn't afraid of what would come next.
Because for the first time in my life…
I wasn't living because someone had chosen for me.
I was living because I chose to.