Masked Betrayal

The staircase swallowed her whole.

Selena stepped down into a place untouched by sun, star, or time. The world above—the Vault of Chains, the memory of her mother's warmth, the echoes of war and loyalty and love—felt like a distant dream, fraying at the edges. Each step she took seemed to erase a part of her past, not like a theft, but like a bargain she had unknowingly struck. As if, the moment her boot kissed the first ancient stone, the universe had rewritten itself around her descent. She was no longer a daughter, a warrior, or a lover. She was only a vessel.