Looking through the memories in her dreams, Renee felt resentful. It’s no wonder she grew up cold and distant-she had never once received love from the people that brought her up. Was it even a surprise that she clung onto Elias’s warmth the moment it touched her? He was so different from the people around her. That’s why she called him her sun.

“Hah!” she laughed hatefully.

If she didn’t treat him like an oasis in the desert, she would have never had her emotions spiral out of control in the first place. It was just for a moment but, she wanted to experience what it felt like to receive kindness.

“In the end, I failed my mission too, huh father?”

Renee curled up into a ball, drifting within the darkness of her mind. She didn’t want to think anymore- it was her fate to embrace death.

“Are you going to continue wallowing in self-pity forever?”

Renee turned around, coming face to face with an older woman she did not recognize.

“Who … are you?” she asked. Had she ever met such a person in her past before?

The woman in front of her looked really familiar. She had snow-white hair that reached past her shoulders, down her back and splayed out on the dark floor. It reminded her of a cascading white waterfall. The woman also wore a strange-looking golden robe that was a little old fashioned and yet, it elegantly suited her stern face. Unlike her frail and thin body, her golden eyes were sparkling with life.

“I am of no importance, Renee,” she shook her head, smiling. She folded her hands on top of one another.

“How do you know my name?” she looked at her suspiciously.

“It doesn’t matter, child. The better question is, what are you going to do now?”

“… What do you mean?”

“Are you going to keep feeling sorry for yourself and sleep forever?”

Renee frowned, her petite nose crinkling as she wondered what this woman was prattling about. Sleep forever? Isn’t she dead? The woman shook her head and sighed.

“You can’t keep hiding away from the reality of your situation. After all, you’ve been given a chance”

“… A chance?”

“Yes. You are the first of us to wake up from our unraveled madness after we've succumbed to the curse. Now, you hold the reigns of your own destiny- whether you break our curse or do something else altogether, that's entirely up to you to decide”

“But … how do I do that? I want to break this damn curse but, father couldn't even find the answers and look at what happened to me when I tried. It’s impossible!” Renee shook her head.

The woman smiled softly, her eyes filled with gentleness and warmth. It made Renee want to cry, even though she didn’t know why it made her feel that way. There was something about this woman that made her feel at ease.

“Believe in yourself, Renee Vellamere. You possess a strength that your family doesn’t have and could never attain”

With that, the woman turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

“Wait!”

Renee called out to her. Strength? What strength? It was because she was weak and fell in love that she failed her mission and caused her own death.

She tried reaching her hands towards the woman but came face to face with an invisible wall instead.

“Wait! I don’t understand what you mean!” she yelled, her fist banging on the barrier between them.

The woman stopped her movements and turned her head around.

“It’s time to wake up now, my grandchild”

And then … she turned into a white dragon and disappeared into the void. Renee blinked, still staring at the space where the woman used to stand.

‘Earlier, she said ‘our family’ didn’t she?’

Gasping, Renee finally recalled why she looked so familiar. In the past, she would sneak into the top floor room which was forbidden by her parents. It was her sanctuary whenever she felt like crying or letting out her emotions. In the Epidotian royal palace, it was a taboo to even show your tears to others.

She remembered that in that dark room filled with cobwebs and dust bunnies, there was a dusty portrait sitting in the corner. Judging from the way the people dressed, Renee deduced it was of the previous rulers of Epidote. In the portrait were a man, a woman, and a child- the woman who stood next to the child who looked like a younger version of her father was the same woman she had met.

Her grandmother, and the previous queen of Epidote - Queen Isadora Vellamere.

Renee trembled at the thought of meeting her grandmother for the first time. Did she just meet a ghost? Why did she come into her dreams now? Was it to take her to the afterlife?

But, wait-

If it was to take her to the afterlife, then why did her grandmother say that she held the reigns to her own destiny now?

Before she could fully process her thoughts, her entire surroundings flashed brightly. She could barely see around her as a huge force pushed her towards the light.

The next thing she knew, she wasn’t looking in the void anymore, but staring into a pair of mismatched eyes.