INSIDE THE CROWN - THE VOID BETWEEN TIMELINES
The Eternal Circle surrounded me.
Twelve figures in golden masks. Ancient beyond measure. Their presence CRUSHING—like standing at the bottom of an ocean.
"You wear the crown," they said in unison. "But you cannot CONTROL it. You're fragmenting. DISSOLVING. In moments, you'll be ABSORBED. Become part of US. Another failure. Another forgotten author."
I looked down at myself.
They were RIGHT.
My form was BREAKING. Pieces of me scattering like ash in wind. I could feel my MEMORIES dissolving. My NAME fading. Who was I? What was I?
Seraphina. No. That wasn't my REAL name.
I was... I was...
The name slipped away like water through fingers.
"You're LOSING yourself," the Circle observed. "Forgetting. Soon you'll be NOTHING. Just power. Just POTENTIAL. And we'll SHAPE you. Use you. Write the perfect world. FOREVER."
"No," I gasped. But my voice was fading too.
