Chapter 90

Chapter 90 – The Forgotten Realm

It felt like drowning in starlight.

Selene's body wasn't falling, but unraveling—strand by strand, her soul peeled back from its mortal tether. She didn't scream. She couldn't. The Forgotten Realm had no sound. No time. No ground. No sky.

Only memories.

And none of them were hers.

Valerian's hand remained in hers, the only anchor in the weightless dark. His grip burned—warm, ancient, unyielding. "You still with me?" he asked, voice echoing inside her skull like a thought she hadn't had yet.

"I think so," she murmured, though her lips didn't move. "Where… are we?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't.

Because they weren't anywhere.

And then—

A pulse.

Like a heart too large to fit in a body.

The world stitched itself back together.

Slowly, around them, a forest emerged—but it was wrong. The trees were skeletal, their bark made of blackened bone. The sky overhead wasn't sky but a dome of rippling reflections—scenes, visions, dreams. And in every reflection, Selene saw herself—dying, screaming, burning, fading.

"This is the place where all forgotten fates go," Valerian said quietly, scanning the still woods. "Where every road not taken still lives."

She turned toward a twisted mirror of herself. One version of her wore a crown made of thorns. Another, a bloodstained wedding veil. Another—chained at the feet of a king not Valerian.

"I hate it here," she whispered.

"So does the Eye," said a new voice.

Ezryn stepped out from the mirror beside them.

Selene blinked. "You—how—?"

"I was never fully in your world," he said. "Part of me has always remained here. Guarding the source."

Valerian stepped forward. "Tell us how to end this."

Ezryn hesitated. "You don't destroy the Eye… you rewrite it."

Selene frowned. "How?"

Ezryn looked at her. "With your death."

Valerian snarled instantly. "No."

But Selene—her heart calm in the storm—lifted her gaze. "Explain."

Ezryn spoke slowly. "The Eye was born to correct anomaly. You, Selene, are that anomaly. The moment you exist and choose your fate, it loses control. But to erase its influence forever… you must return what it gave you: life."

"You mean I have to die willingly."

Ezryn nodded. "Only a death freely chosen, within the Forgotten, can rewrite the prophecy's ending."

Valerian's hands trembled.

"No," he said. "There has to be another way."

Ezryn turned to him. "You are death, Valerian. You are the storm. But she is the light it never predicted. And if she chooses to burn out—on her own terms—the Eye will blink… and never reopen."

Selene swallowed. "And what happens to the Forgotten?"

"They vanish," Ezryn said. "The world will remember itself again. Truthfully."

Valerian pulled her to him. "I won't let you die here, Selene. Not when I just found you. Not after everything."

She touched his cheek. "I was born from a broken fate. I've always known I wouldn't live like others. But this… this means I lived for something."

The ground beneath them pulsed.

The Eye was coming.

From the center of the forest, it began to descend—a massive, pulsing sphere of silver light, veins of memory crackling like lightning. It wasn't just watching.

It was preparing to devour.

Selene stepped forward, a single tear trailing down her cheek.

She turned once more to Valerian.

> "Promise me you'll live, even if I don't come back."

He shook his head. "I can't promise that."

"Then promise me you'll remember."

"I'll do more than remember," he said fiercely. "I'll carry you in every life I walk."

Then—her hand left his.

Selene walked into the core of the Eye.

It screamed.

Light exploded.

The forest of memories twisted. The reflections shattered. The Forgotten Realm began to unravel as Selene's body was lifted into the Eye, her soul burning with one singular, unchangeable choice:

To choose her fate, not be chosen by it.

The Eye cracked.

And blinked—

For the last time.

Then it was gone.

Silence fell.

When Valerian opened his eyes, he stood in the cathedral again. The sky was blue. The war was over. And in his hands…

A silver ring of moonfire.

The last thing she left behind.

He fell to his knees.

> "I remember," he whispered. "I remember everything."

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🖤 Chapter 91 is coming