Chapter 1: The Maid, the Mask, and the Dragon Gate
The sun dipped behind the jagged mountains of the old kingdom, casting elongated shadows across the royal garden where Mei carefully pruned crimson roses. From a glance, she was just another servant in the palace — soft-spoken, diligent, and dutiful. But behind the gentle eyes and apron-stained hands, a storm brewed. A secret no one could suspect — not the prince she served, not the noble guests who praised her silence, and certainly not the other maids who whispered rumors behind cupped hands.
"Lady Mei, His Highness requires your presence in the observatory," a footman announced, bowing slightly.
Mei wiped her hands on her apron and gave a small nod. "I shall attend immediately."
As she walked through the spiraling corridors of the palace, her mind wandered to the fragments of mystery she had collected like broken glass. It wasn't the prince she feared. It was the records hidden beneath the library, the whispers behind the tapestries, and the empty rooms that once held maids who had… vanished. Maids like her.
She had smiled, served, and waited for her turn — not to disappear, but to uncover the truth.
It had begun as idle curiosity. A faded name stitched into the hem of an abandoned uniform. A rusted comb with dried blood near the handle. A nursery rhyme chanted by the older cooks when the moon was high.
Now it was a mission.
Now she could no longer look away.
---
The observatory loomed like a needle against the twilight. Inside, the prince stood draped in deep indigo robes, gazing through a silver-rimmed telescope toward the skies. His presence was quiet, but it carried weight — the kind that could crush or command with equal ease.
"You summoned me, Your Highness?" she asked, voice composed, posture perfect — the grace drilled into her from her first day in training.
He turned slowly, hands clasped behind his back. His eyes — silver-gray and unreadable — studied her for a heartbeat longer than necessary.
"Yes. Your diligence has not gone unnoticed, Mei."
She bowed. "I only do my duty."
"Still…" He stepped closer. "One must wonder what stirs behind such loyalty."
The words fell like ice into her bloodstream. Did he suspect?
"You may return to your quarters," he added after a pause.
She nodded and left, but her heartbeat thudded in her ears all the way down the spiral staircase.
---
Back in her modest room, she locked the door and slipped beneath her cot, pulling up a loose floorboard. Beneath it lay a bundle wrapped in cloth — the forbidden book.
She laid it on her bed and lit a candle. Its cover, once a royal crimson, had faded into a dull rust. Inside were tales of other worlds, sealed rituals, forgotten maidens, and the Velthren Pact — an ancient covenant linked to blood and vanishing souls.
Each page felt like a heartbeat.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she flipped to a page she had read dozens of times: The Gate to the Dragon World.
A realm beyond sight. Ruled by dragons. Guarded by memory.
Only those who've worn false skin may pass and seek the truth beneath flame.
---
A noise.
Her door creaked.
Mei's head snapped toward the sound, but no one was there. Only the flickering of the candle.
She closed the book and waited, listening for footsteps. There were none. Just silence. The kind that thickened the air.
Later that night, once all had quieted, she penned a letter. Sealing it with wax — the royal emblem she had stolen from the steward's desk. It was for the prince. He deserved to know something. Maybe not everything. But something.
I am not who you believe me to be.
And neither is this kingdom.
She left it tucked beneath his chamber door before the moon reached its peak.
---
Wearing a dark cloak, Mei crept through the palace like a shadow. She passed silent halls and gardens now empty of laughter. The western tower waited, ancient and forgotten, where royal rituals once took place — sacrifices, summonings, secret oaths.
At its center was a cracked stone circle.
Etched into the floor were sigils that pulsed faintly in moonlight.
She knelt, placing the book at the center, then spoke the words carved into her memory:
> "Blood veils, flame binds, truth echoes beyond the gate.
Let mask fall, let soul rise, and open the path of fate."
A glow burst from the circle.
The air grew heavy.
A sound like breathing — not hers — filled the tower.
A shimmer split the space before her like a curtain of fire.
---
Then… silence.
Mei stepped forward and vanished.
---
Interlude: The Room She Left Behind
Hours passed.
Servants knocked on her door. She was missing.
Guards were summoned. The prince was notified.
The letter was found. Read. Burned.
And deep beneath the palace, in a chamber no one dared enter, a cloaked figure whispered:
"She's gone. The girl with the broken mask has crossed."
---
The World Beyond
Mei woke on cold black stone, beneath a blood-red sky.
She sat up slowly, taking in the jagged horizon of crystal mountains, glowing rivers, and colossal winged beasts circling above. The Dragon World — it was real.
And it had been expecting her.
In the distance, she saw a city — not built, but carved — like dragons had clawed it from a mountain and shaped it into towers and halls. Smoke curled from chimneys. Lanterns floated in the air. Everything shimmered with heat and memory.
As Mei took a step forward, the ground whispered beneath her feet — names in a language she didn't know, yet somehow understood.
Welcome, Watcher. Welcome, False One.
A voice, disembodied and echoing, spoke from above:
> "Those who wear the mask must be judged.
And those who seek truth must bleed for it."
Mei's heart pounded.
She wasn't just in another world.
She was in a trial.
---
Final epilogue
Thus, Mei, the perfect maid, vanished from her world — not with a scream, but with purpose. And in the realm of dragons, beneath fire-lit skies and ancient trials, a figure in a cloak would rise:
A maid, a spy, a villain…
And perhaps, a reluctant hero.
End of chapter