The Memory of Ren
When the world finally went quiet,
Zero sat under the broken moonlight, holding the necklace close to his chest.
The fog shimmered like glass around him, and a sharp sound pierced his skull a memory.
He saw a girl's face.
Her hair, white as snow, eyes full of fire.
Her voice echoed in his head:
"Ren, don't leave me."
Ren.
That name struck him like thunder.
He whispered it under his breath once, twice.
"I'm… Ren?"
His mind shattered like ice, fragments of faces and screams flashing through his skull.
The name felt familiar yet foreign, like a forgotten wound that never healed.
He pressed his head against the cold ground, whispering,
"If Ren is who I was… then who am I now?"
He didn't have an answer.
Only the fog, the blood, and the necklace that didn't belong to him.
The Secret of the Ice Queen
Far away, beyond the smoke and death,
inside the crystal towers of the Arian Kingdom,
a woman stood before a frozen window.
Her name Queen Alina, the Ice Queen.
Her eyes were cold as winter itself,
but behind them burned a mother's grief.
Years ago, before the war began,
she married a nobleman from the Naryan people
a man of peace, who believed love could end the centuries of hatred.
They had a daughter.
Her name was Aria.
When war broke out, he refused to leave his wife's side.
He said, "Love can survive even between enemies."
But love died in battle.
After her husband's death, Queen Alina disguised herself as a nurse in the Naryan camp,
trying to protect both sides until she was found and dragged back to her throne.
The war paused for a moment when her return was known,
but peace never lasted long.
Her only command after the battles resumed was simple:
"Find my daughter. Bring her home."
None of the soldiers knew what the lost princess looked like.
None of them knew the girl they had shot
the girl lying dead in a ruined zone
was Aria, the child of their own queen.
And somewhere, beneath that same broken moon,
Zero or perhaps Ren
still carried the princess on his back.
Still running through the fog.]