___________________________
November 1971 - 08.40 PM
Location: Huis ten Bosch - Imperial Palace Lake
___________________________
The fire was closing in.
Explosions shattered the garden walls.
Statues of founders cracked under heat.
The lake steamed —
Not from warmth,
But from violence.
Selene staggered out of the water, dripping.
Holding a dagger of the past.
Holding a medal the court tried to erase.
Her body trembled.
From cold.
From memory.
From everything.
Evandra caught her in shaking arms.
"You're insane—!"
"You'll die out here—"
But she froze mid-sentence.
The fire reflected in her eyes.
Then — a shadow.
A man.
Large.
Silent.
With eyes that had seen emperors rise and die.
He said nothing.
He grabbed them both —
Steel hand around Selene's soaked arm,
Other gripping Evandra by the shoulder —
And dragged them toward the rose bushes.
___________________________
A hatch opened.
Metal beneath roots.
A secret that smelled of oil and silence.
They dropped in.
Tunnels swallowed them whole.
No words.
Only footsteps echoing like gunshots.
___________________________
The car waited.
Black.
Unmarked.
Engine purring like a hound waiting for war.
The man threw them in —
Like cargo too valuable to risk.
___________________________
Selene shivered.
She looked at him.
Her voice — barely air:
"...your coat."
No hesitation.
He pulled it off.
Give it to her
Not like a soldier.
Not like a servant.
But like a man who knew
what kind of storm had just been born.
___________________________
Evandra clutched her chest, breath uneven.
Missiles.
Tanks.
Fire.
The garden gone.
Their family scattered.
The Empire burning.
And beside her —
Selene.
Drenched.
Frozen.
Alive.
Still gripping that wooden knife.
Still clutching that old, nameless medal.
___________________________
"What is that for, Selene...?"
Evandra asked.
Her voice cracked like porcelain.
___________________________
Selene didn't look at her.
She removed her gown —
Wet, heavy.
Slipped into the coat.
It swallowed her frame.
She stared forward.
Past the tunnel.
Past the headlights.
Past the future.
And whispered —
___________________________
"It is a key, Sister."
"A key... toward the hell that awaits me."
___________________________
The car roared.
Faster.
Deeper.
Into the underground arteries of the dying empire.
___________________________
Month Later Later
Date: 30 December 1971
Location: Somewhere in Lyon Province, France (Aetherland)
___________________________
Snow fell without sound.
The sky — gray like forgotten dreams.
Guards ran through the hallway.
Shouting.
"She's not in her room—"
"Search the perimeter—"
"Alert the southern checkpoint—"
___________________________
Selene von Aetherwald —
Missing.
Again.
___________________________