The night inside the tower felt different.
Not darker.
Not quieter.
Heavier.
The upper floors were expanding, stone forming itself layer by layer as the Demon King commanded. New corridors appeared where none had existed moments ago. The tower was growing faster than ever before—responding not just to its master, but to something else.
Something gentle.
Something dangerous.
Elowen walked barefoot across a newly formed balcony, humming softly as glowing flowers bloomed behind her with every step. Artificial stars—tiny spheres of warm light—floated above her head like fireflies.
The assistant watched from a distance, unease crawling up his spine.
"My King," he said carefully, "the tower core has entered an unstable resonance."
The Demon King did not turn. "Explain."
"It is reacting to her presence," the assistant continued. "Not rejecting. Not submitting. It is… synchronizing."
Elowen looked back. "Oh! Is that bad?"
The assistant hesitated. "For the world? Yes."
She smiled apologetically. "Oops."
---
Deep beneath the tower, the core pulsed.
Not violently.
Rhythmically.
As if listening.
Elowen knelt near the center of the upper floor and placed both hands on the stone. Her expression shifted—still soft, still kind—but her eyes glowed faintly gold.
The air trembled.
The Demon King felt it instantly.
A presence.
Not divine.
Not demonic.
Older.
"Princess," the assistant said sharply. "Step away from the core."
She tilted her head. "Why?"
"Because," he said slowly, "the last time this happened… continents disappeared."
Elowen blinked. "Oh. That explains the dreams."
The Demon King finally turned.
"Dreams," he repeated.
She nodded. "I've always had them. A tower. A lonely king. A world that keeps breaking because it doesn't listen."
Silence swallowed the floor.
The Demon King stared at her.
"For how long?" he asked.
"Since I was little," she replied. "Everyone said I was blessed. But blessings don't usually feel… sad."
The core flared.
Memories—not hers—flooded the air.
A golden tower in a dead world.
A king standing alone among ruins.
Gods screaming as reality collapsed.
The assistant dropped to one knee, breath shaking. "This… this is not holy power."
Elowen's voice remained gentle. "It's not."
She stood.
The flowers stopped glowing.
The light around her sharpened.
"I don't belong to the gods," she said softly. "They just found me first."
The Demon King stepped closer.
"What are you?"
She looked at him, nervous for the first time.
"…I don't know."
The tower answered instead.
The runes across every floor shifted simultaneously.
A new symbol appeared.
CORE ACCESS: AUTHORIZED
The assistant's eyes widened. "Impossible. Only you—"
"She's allowed," the Demon King said calmly.
The assistant froze.
"My King?"
"If the tower accepts her," the Demon King continued, "so do I."
Elowen's shoulders relaxed. "Thank you."
---
Far above the tower, reality cracked quietly.
In the Celestial Realm, alarms screamed.
"She's awake."
"The anomaly has synchronized with the Demon King."
A god whispered in terror,
"She's not a princess."
Another answered, voice shaking,
"She's the key."
---
Back in the tower, Elowen smiled weakly.
"I promise," she said, "I won't break anything."
The Demon King looked at the growing tower, the adapting runes, the world slowly bending.
"I don't mind," he replied.
"As long as it listens to me."
For the first time—
Something in the world had returned
that even the gods had failed to erase.
And it stood beside the Demon King,
smiling nervously among flowers.