"Because that's where your real mother is."
The First Queen's words silenced everything.
I stared at her.
"My real mother?"
She nodded slowly.
"Marina is your mother by birth."
My heart tightened.
"Then who is in the fifth world?"
The First Queen looked away.
"The woman who gave you your first life."
I didn't understand.
"I already had a life before Marina?"
"Yes."
Shawshank stepped closer.
"What are you saying?"
The First Queen looked at him.
"Bjei's story did not begin with her birth on land."
She looked at me.
"It began before that."
A sharp pain struck my head.
Images flashed.
A woman standing beneath a black moon.
A baby crying.
A golden ocean.
A crown floating above the water.
And a woman whispering:
"My child, forgive me."
I stumbled.
Shawshank caught me.
"Bjei!"
I opened my eyes.
"I saw her."
The First Queen nodded.
"You did."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Lyra."
The name sent another strange feeling through me.
"Lyra…"
I whispered it again.
The golden mark on my chest reacted.
Suddenly, the battlefield disappeared.
I was standing somewhere else.
There was no sea.
No sky.
No land.
Only darkness filled with tiny stars.
And a woman stood in front of me.
She was beautiful.
Her hair was silver.
Her eyes were golden.
And when she looked at me, tears immediately filled them.
"My child."
I couldn't move.
"Who are you?"
She smiled sadly.
"You know me."
"No, I don't."
"You did once."
She reached toward me.
I stepped backward.
"Don't."
Her hand stopped.
"I understand."
"Why can't I remember you?"
"Because I asked them to erase me."
My heart dropped.
"Why?"
"To keep you alive."
"Who was trying to kill me?"
She looked behind me.
"Nerath."
I turned.
Nothing was there.
When I looked back, she was crying.
"Nerath wasn't always evil."
I frowned.
"What?"
"He was created to protect the fifth world."
"Then why did he become this?"
"Because he was betrayed."
"By who?"
She looked toward the darkness.
"Me."
My mouth fell open.
"You betrayed Nerath?"
"I had to."
"Why?"
She stepped closer.
"Because he wanted to use you."
"For what?"
Her eyes met mine.
"To destroy the boundaries between all the worlds."
I swallowed.
"But isn't that what everyone is fighting over now?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you hiding here?"
She looked down.
"Because I failed."
The vision began fading.
"Wait!"
I reached for her.
"Are you really my mother?"
She smiled.
"I am the mother of the power inside you."
My heart shattered.
"But Marina is my mother."
"Yes."
"Then what are you?"
She whispered,
"Your first mother."
The vision disappeared.
I returned to the battlefield.
Shawshank was holding me.
"What happened?"
I looked at the First Queen.
"Her name is Lyra."
The First Queen nodded.
"She remembers you."
I stared at her.
"She said she was my first mother."
The First Queen closed her eyes.
"She was."
My breathing stopped.
"Then Marina…"
"Marina carried you into this world."
"And Lyra?"
"Created the life you were meant to have."
I shook my head.
"This is too much."
Shawshank wrapped his arms around me.
"You don't have to understand everything tonight."
I held him tightly.
Then a voice came from behind us.
"Actually…"
Nerath stepped from the shadows.
"…she does."
I turned.
Nerath smiled.
"Because Lyra is dying."
My blood ran cold.
"What?"
"She has been keeping the fifth world alive for centuries."
He pointed toward the sky.
"And now that you have awakened…"
The stars above us began disappearing.
"…she no longer has enough power."
I stared upward.
One star vanished.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The First Queen whispered,
"No…"
Nerath's smile widened.
"The fifth world is collapsing."
Shawshank looked at me.
"What happens if it falls?"
Nerath answered before I could.
"All five worlds collapse with it."
The golden mark on my chest burned violently.
I looked toward the sky.
And somewhere beyond the stars…
I heard Lyra whisper my name.
"Bjei… come home."
Then the fifth world began falling toward us.