BOOK TWO: THE KINGDOM BEYOND THE GATE
Chapter 18: The Queen Who Should Not Exist
The shattered Hourglass exploded into thousands of stars.
Time itself seemed to stop.
The glowing fragments floated around the mysterious woman standing in the center of the Chamber of Tomorrow.
She wore black armor trimmed with silver.
A long crimson cape flowed behind her.
Upon her head rested a broken silver crown.
But the most shocking part...
She had Riva's face.
Not merely a resemblance.
She was Riva.
Older.
Stronger.
Her eyes carried centuries of grief.
The chamber fell completely silent.
---
Aarvi pointed at the woman.
"I've officially stopped trying to understand anything."
Eva couldn't take her eyes off the stranger.
"She looks exactly like you..."
Riva slowly stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The woman answered without hesitation.
"My name is Queen Riva."
"The last ruler of the First Kingdom."
"I come from a future that no longer exists."
---
Lucien immediately drew his sword.
"No."
"The First Kingdom never had a Queen named Riva."
Queen Riva looked at him sadly.
"Not in your history."
"But history changes."
"That's why I'm here."
---
Alaric lowered his head respectfully.
"So... the impossible has happened."
Caelum looked equally stunned.
"You crossed a broken timeline."
Queen Riva nodded.
"My world collapsed."
"The Gates fell."
"The Observatory was destroyed."
"I was the only one left."
---
Riva stared at her older self.
"If you're really me..."
"Then tell me something only I know."
Queen Riva smiled gently.
"When you were six years old..."
"You hid beneath the staircase in the orphanage because you believed monsters couldn't find you there."
Riva froze.
No one else knew that.
The Queen continued.
"The first picture you ever drew..."
"Wasn't the Gate."
"It was a house."
"You stopped drawing houses after your first vision."
Tears filled Riva's eyes.
She had never told anyone.
---
The chamber remained silent until Orion spoke.
"If she's telling the truth..."
"Then why come back?"
Queen Riva looked at each of them.
"To stop you."
Lucien frowned.
"From what?"
She answered in one sentence.
"From opening the Last Door."
---
The words echoed through the Observatory.
Eva looked toward Alaric.
"You've all been warning us about the Last Door."
"But no one has explained what it actually is."
Queen Riva slowly walked toward the broken Hourglass.
"The Last Door..."
"...isn't a place."
Everyone stared at her.
"It is a choice."
---
She touched one of the floating stars.
A vision appeared above them.
They saw the First Kingdom.
Beautiful.
Peaceful.
Filled with life.
Then...
A massive darkness covered the sky.
People screamed.
The Gates began collapsing.
The vision shifted.
A younger Lucien stood before the Last Door.
Beside him stood...
Riva.
Only she wore a silver crown.
Queen Riva whispered,
"I chose to open it."
The vision shattered.
---
Lucien stepped backward.
"No..."
Queen Riva nodded.
"I believed I could save everyone."
"I was wrong."
---
Suddenly—
The Observatory shook violently.
The giant clock outside struck once.
DONG!
Cracks spread across the crystal floor.
Alaric looked upward.
"Someone is forcing their way inside."
---
Before anyone could react—
The massive entrance doors exploded.
A wave of black mist swept through the chamber.
Out of the darkness walked the Crown Collector.
But he wasn't alone.
Walking beside him...
Was the older Lucien.
The future Lucien.
The same man they had met on the Bridge Between Worlds.
Everyone was shocked.
"You..."
Aarvi whispered.
"I thought you disappeared."
The older Lucien nodded.
"I did."
"I returned because the future has changed again."
He looked directly at Queen Riva.
"So..."
"You survived."
Queen Riva smiled sadly.
"Barely."
---
Riva looked between the two future versions.
"What is happening?"
The older Lucien answered.
"We both came from different futures."
Queen Riva continued.
"In my future..."
"The Last Door opened."
The older Lucien added,
"In mine..."
"It never opened."
Eva frowned.
"Then why is your world destroyed?"
The older Lucien lowered his eyes.
"Because sometimes..."
"Not opening a door creates an even worse future."
Silence filled the chamber.
There wasn't one future.
There were many.
Each with different consequences.
---
Alaric whispered,
"The timeline has split."
Caelum nodded.
"The Observatory has never seen this before."
---
Suddenly, the crystal sphere from Eva's compass floated into the air.
Instead of showing one path...
It split into three glowing roads.
The first road led to the Last Door.
The second led to a forgotten city beneath the sea.
The third...
Led somewhere beyond the stars.
Ancient writing appeared beneath them.
Eva translated slowly.
The Path of Sacrifice.
The Path of Silence.
The Path Beyond Memory.
Aarvi sighed.
"Great."
"Now we have three impossible choices."
---
Without warning—
The broken pocket watch in Eva's hand stopped ticking.
Every clock inside the Observatory stopped again.
The room became unnaturally quiet.
Queen Riva's expression changed.
"No..."
The older Lucien immediately turned toward the sky.
"We're too late."
A gigantic shadow passed over the Observatory.
Not a cloud.
Something alive.
Everyone rushed toward the nearest window.
Far above the floating island...
A colossal figure drifted through the stars.
It was larger than the Black Mountain.
Larger than entire kingdoms.
Its body was made of endless darkness, with countless glowing eyes opening across its surface.
Wherever it passed...
Stars disappeared.
Worlds vanished.
Memories faded.
Even the Gates trembled.
No one could speak.
Alaric slowly fell to one knee.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"The Devourer..."
"...has finally arrived."
The enormous creature slowly turned.
Thousands of glowing eyes focused on a single person.
Riva.
Then every voice inside the creature spoke together.
"Welcome home..."
End of Chapter 18