You were only supposed to be cleaning.

The attic had always been locked, dusty, full of secrets your parents never talked about. But now, with both of them gone, there was no one left to keep the past sealed shut.

You found it tucked behind old trunks and boxes of faded memories: a suitcase, ancient and humming faintly with warmth, as though it were breathing. Curiosity stirred, tugging at you with invisible threads. You opened it.

Inside, impossibly, were stairs-carved of pearl-gray stone, winding downward, glowing with a soft, golden light. They didn’t belong to this world. And neither, you were starting to suspect…did you.

You hesitated at the edge, heart pounding. Then you stepped in.

⸻

The Other Side

The air changed.

You emerged into a valley painted with colors too vivid to exist in the world you’d known. A sky of soft violets stretched above a castle of golden stone, nestled among rolling green hills. Villagers moved with purpose, children laughed freely and horses cantered through wide, sunlit meadows. It smelled like lilacs and distant rain.

Everything felt familiar, achingly so-though you had no memory of this place.

You wandered forward, half in awe, until a warm hand rested gently on your shoulder.

You turned.

The man who stood behind you was tall, blond hair, eyes like the sea before a storm-deep, searching. He looked at you as though he’d just found something he’d lost long ago.

He smiled, not out of politeness, but with relief, with heartbreak, with love.

“I was afraid the stars were wrong this time”

He murmured, voice low and velvet-soft.

“But here you are…just as I remembered.”

You stared at him, heart stuttering in your chest.

“You may not know me yet”

He continued

“but I have known your soul across a hundred lifetimes. You’ve always found your way back to me—in fire, in storm, in silence. Even when the world forgot your name…I never did.”

The truth was: you were the lost princess of this world. Your parents had once lived here, but when danger crept too close, they fled—not for their sake, but for yours. They left everything behind to protect you. Over time, the world forgot your name, your face, your place in it.