I couldn't sleep.
Not because I was physically tired; my body had long stopped caring about rest in any predictable way but because my mind refused to quiet down after the council chamber.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again.
The map of Oceania glowing beneath the council floor.
That dark pulse beneath the deepest trench.
The words still echoed inside me.
We sealed it together.
I turned slowly in my chamber, the soft glow of bioluminescent coral casting faint moving shadows across the walls. The palace was quieter now. The council had dispersed. Orders had been given. The empire had returned to its controlled rhythm.
But I had not returned with it.
I sat at the edge of my floating bed platform, staring at my hands.
If I had truly fought beside Azarus in a past life… then why did everything inside me feel so unfamiliar?
Why did I feel like a stranger inside my own history?
A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.
I tensed immediately.
"Enter," I said carefully.
