Chapter 2: The Garden That Waits
The world twisted in light.
Bella stumbled forward into a place between moments, her feet landing on soft earth that hummed with ancient magic. The portal behind her faded like a sigh, leaving only moonlight and the sound of her own heartbeat.
She was still in the garden—but not the same one.
This place was quieter. The trees stood taller, the cherry blossoms thicker, the air wrapped in a deeper hush, like a lullaby woven from starlight. It felt… older. Undisturbed.
Time didn't exist here.
Bella turned in circles, clutching her chest as if her heart might fall apart without Kael's presence. The wind didn't whisper anymore. The blossoms hung still.
"Kael…" she murmured, staring into the silent trees.
She could still hear the echo of battle behind her, though the portal was gone. Flashes of light. The cry of silver magic against shadow.
She didn't know how long she stood there, frozen.
It was the sound of footsteps—soft and deliberate—that finally broke her stillness.
She turned, alert, ready to run.
But it wasn't Kael.
It was a woman.
Tall, robed in a cloak of midnight blue, with hair like woven moonlight and eyes that shimmered like the stars.
"I've been expecting you, Bella," the woman said in a voice that felt like lullabies and thunder all at once.
Bella stepped back. "Who are you?"
The woman smiled gently. "Some call me the Guardian. Others, the Watcher of Cycles. But to you, I am simply… someone who remembers."
Bella blinked, her heart still racing. "Where am I?"
"The deeper garden," the Guardian replied. "Where the Moon keeps the memories too painful to live with."
Bella swallowed. "Kael told me… I've been here before."
The Guardian nodded. "Many times. This garden is the cradle of your promise. Each life, each love, each ending—it all begins here."
"I don't remember any of it," Bella whispered, almost ashamed.
"You're not meant to. Not until you're strong enough."
The Guardian stepped closer. She held out her hand, and something shimmered in her palm—a tiny glass vial filled with moonlight.
Bella stared at it.
"What is that?"
"Your first memory," the Guardian said gently. "Only a drop. Drink it when your heart is ready."
Bella reached out slowly, fingers brushing the vial. It was warm. Alive. It pulsed with something that felt… familiar.
She closed her fingers around it.
"But Kael—he's still fighting. I have to go back."
The Guardian's eyes darkened slightly. "You cannot return through the portal until the moon's cycle is complete."
Bella's throat tightened. "That's—what, days? Weeks?"
"Three nights," the Guardian replied. "Three trials."
Bella's heart sank. "Trials?"
"To reclaim your past and awaken the power hidden in your soul. Only then will the Moon grant you safe passage—and the strength to save him."
Bella's eyes burned. "I'm not strong. I'm not magical. I'm just…"
"A girl who once defied the gods for love," the Guardian said softly. "You are more than you remember."
Bella clutched the vial. Her hands trembled. "What are the trials?"
The Guardian stepped aside and gestured toward the garden path, now glowing faintly with light.
"First," she said, "you must face the echo of your first love—and your first betrayal."
The path led Bella to a quiet glade, where blossoms floated upward instead of down, suspended by invisible wind. A pond lay still as glass, and in its center—perched on a single stone—stood a figure.
A boy.
Younger than Kael. Dressed in royal white robes. His face was beautiful, noble, kind.
And somehow… heartbreakingly familiar.
Bella stepped closer. The boy turned.
"Bella," he said.
She froze. "How do you know my name?"
"I should. I gave it to you."
She blinked. "What?"
"In a lifetime long past," he said, stepping down from the stone, "you were not the Moon's Bride. You were mine."
The words hit her like a falling star.
"You're saying I loved you? Before Kael?"
The boy nodded. "Before everything."
Memories stirred.
She saw golden fields. The two of them laughing. Him slipping a flower behind her ear. Her whispering promises under a sunlit sky.
And then—fire. Swords. Her crying. Him walking away.
"You left me," she whispered.
"I had no choice," he said. "They forced my hand. I was a prince of the Dawn Court. Loving you meant war."
"You chose them over me," she said, her voice breaking.
He stepped closer, sorrow etched in every line of his face. "I regretted it every day. But your heart was never meant to be mine. It always belonged to the night."
He reached into his sleeve and drew something small—an hourglass, filled with stardust. He held it out to her.
"What is this?"
"The pain you carry from me. Let it go."
Bella stared at the glass. The pain was real. So sharp. Even if she didn't remember the details, her soul remembered.
She held the vial of moonlight in one hand. The hourglass in the other.
"I forgive you," she whispered.
The hourglass shimmered—and vanished.
The blossoms around her brightened. The glade sighed in relief.
Trial one, passed.
The Guardian returned at the edge of the glade. "You have softened the grief that buried your light. The second trial awaits."
Bella followed her to a grove of moon trees—trunks of silver, leaves like crystal chimes. A breeze sang through them, high and haunting.
In the center, a mirror stood.
Tall. Framed in vines. Its surface like water.
Bella approached. Her reflection stared back—but older, sharper, her eyes glowing faintly silver.
"Who is that?" she whispered.
"Your true self," the Guardian said. "What you will become… if you embrace who you are."
Bella stepped closer.
The reflection moved before she did.
It raised a hand. Reached forward.
And pulled Bella through the glass.
She was falling.
Then standing.
The world was different.
She was in a throne room of stars. Cloaked figures bowed before her. She sat upon a throne of light.
She was powerful. Fearless. Alone.
The version of her in this place—Moon Queen Bella—walked toward her.
"You want to save Kael?" she asked.
"Yes," Bella whispered.
"Then stop hiding from who you are."
"I'm not a queen."
"You are," the mirror-self said. "You gave it up once—for love. But love is not weakness."
Bella's heart thudded. "How do I become you?"
"You already are."
The mirror-self pressed her fingers to Bella's chest.
A pulse of silver light flowed into her. Bella gasped.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in the grove.
Her eyes glowed faintly.
Trial two, passed.
The third trial waited in the garden's oldest part—a stone circle beneath a dead tree, where even the blossoms dared not fall.
The Guardian's face was solemn.
"What now?" Bella asked.
"The final test: to choose."
"Choose what?"
"Between love… and destiny."
Bella shook her head. "No. I won't leave him. I came here to save him."
The Guardian looked sad. "Sometimes saving the one you love… means letting go."
"No," Bella whispered fiercely. "I won't let that be true."
In the center of the circle, two paths appeared.
One led to a crown of light. Power. Immortality. The throne she once held.
The other… a single blossom. Faint, but still blooming. Fragile. Human. Real.
Bella didn't hesitate.
She walked to the blossom.
She knelt beside it.
And picked it up.
"I choose love," she said. "Even if it breaks me. Even if I forget him again. I will always choose him."
The blossom shimmered—then melted into her palm.
A ring of light burst from the stone circle.
The garden rejoiced.
The Guardian smiled for the first time.
"You remember."
Bella turned.
Kael stood at the edge of the circle.
Bloodied. Weary. But alive.
He ran to her.
She to him.
Their hands met in moonlight.
"Bella," he whispered.
"I remember now," she said. "All of it."
Kael smiled—truly smiled—for the first time in a hundred years.
And in the heart of the moon-blessed garden, they kissed beneath the blooming stars.
To be continued…