The shadow man blinked. His confusion spiked.
He was silent for a long moment. The other two shadows had stepped back, giving us space. The thousands of monsters below had stopped choking, thank God, but they were still watching, still waiting, still holding their breath like they expected me to explode at any moment.
The shadow man straightened his shoulders. When he spoke again, his voice was different. Formal. Like he was reading from a script he had memorized long ago.
"Seven hundred and thirty thousand years ago," he began, "the rift between worlds opened for the first time."
I blinked. Seven hundred and what?
"This realm had no king. No queen. No order of any kind. Just monsters fighting each other for territory, for food, for the simple pleasure of tearing something apart." His eyes met mine. "Then one day, you appeared."
"I appeared."
"From nowhere. The rift spat you out like a seed from a fruit. You fell from the sky and landed in the middle of the largest monster gathering in history. Fifty thousand of the most powerful creatures in this realm, all gathered in one place, all ready to tear each other apart."
He paused.
"You screamed."
"I... screamed?" I raised a brow at him, nudging him to continue. I'm a mother, I don't have that kind of patience.
"One scream. That was all. Just one." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Twenty-five thousand monsters died instantly. Their bodies turned to dust. Their souls, if they had souls, scattered like ash in the wind."
I felt the blood drain from my face. My golden-glowing, supermodel face.
"The remaining twenty-five thousand fell to their knees. Not from fear. From worship. They had never felt power like yours. They didn't even know power like yours could exist."
"That's..." I swallowed. "That's not possible. I'm just a mom. I changed a diaper like twenty minutes ago. Or however long ago. Time is weird."
The shadow man tilted his head. "You became our queen that day. You ruled this realm. You taught us language,we had no words before you. You taught us knowledge. You educated the monsters. You showed us how to grow food, how to build, how to create technology and magic that had never existed before."
He gestured to the golden chamber around us. To the diamond ceiling. To the intricate carvings on the walls.
"All of this came from you. Every brick. Every spell. Every law. You built this civilization with your own two hands over centuries upon centuries."
Centuries. Not days. Not years. Centuries.
"Monsters died of old age," he continued. "Their offspring were born. Their offspring's offspring. Generation after generation. And through all of it, you remained the same. You never aged. Never weakened. Never changed." His voice grew heavy. "Your power only grew. By the time the rift closed, a single gesture from you could level mountains. A single word could reshape reality."
I looked down at my hands. The hands that had changed a diaper. The hands that had wiped chocolate off a three-year-old's face. The hands that had braided hair and packed lunches and signed permission slips.
These hands had killed twenty-five thousand monsters with a scream. These hands had built an entire civilization.
"This realm," the shadow man said, "became the most powerful realm in all the monster worlds. Because of you. Because you made us smart. You educated us. You gave us power beyond anything we could have imagined."
I felt sick. Not physically sick,my new body seemed incapable of that,but sick in my soul. In whatever part of me remembered being a normal woman with normal problems and normal children.
"And now," he said, "after seven hundred and thirty thousand years of waiting, the rift has opened again. To the human world." His eyes burned. "You are ready to devour them. As planned."
I raised a brow.
"Devour the human world."
"As planned, my Queen."
"As planned," I frowned again.
"Yes, my Queen."
Okay, what the hell was? I'm not some villain here and why the hell would I freaking do that?
I leaned back on the throne. The gold was cold. The crown was heavy. The gown shimmered like it was laughing at me.
"One question," I said.
"Anything."
"What's your name?"
The shadow man hesitated. For the first time since this conversation started, he looked almost... embarrassed.
"I am... One Thousand Thirty, my Queen."
I stared at him.
"One Thousand Thirty."
"Yes, my Queen."
"That's not a name. That's a number."
"You have not given us names, my Queen. Only numbers."
I looked at the other two shadows. The girl. The shifting one.
"What are your numbers?"
"Eight Hundred Twelve," the girl said quietly.
The shifting one spoke for the first time,a voice like wind through dead leaves. "Two Thousand One."
Numbers. Not names. Seven hundred and thirty thousand years of loyalty, and I had never given them names.
"That's..." I shook my head. "That's going to change. But not right now. Continue."
The shadow man, One Thousand Thirty, seemed relieved. "Today was the day you have been waiting for, my Queen. The rift reopened. Your legion is assembled. The human world is vulnerable." He paused. "Everything is proceeding according to your plan."
I sat in silence for a long moment.
Seven hundred and thirty thousand years.
That was longer than human civilization. Longer than writing. Longer than fire. Moses was, what, three or four thousand years ago? This was seven hundred and thirty thousand. That wasn't history. That was geology.
But I didn't feel seven hundred and thirty thousand years old. I felt like a tired mom who had been kidnapped by a purple light and turned into a glittering nightmare queen.
Unless...
Unless the memory loss was part of the plan. Unless the "me" who ruled this realm for eons had chosen to forget. Chosen to become a normal woman with normal children and normal problems.
But why?
What could possibly be worth giving up this?
I pushed the thought away. Too big. Too confusing. I needed facts. I needed proof.
"One Thousand Thirty," I said.
"My Queen."
"Tell the legion to stand down. Tell them to stay put and wait for my signal. Send them back to their... whatever they have. Homes. Nests. Caves. I don't care. I want to be alone."
I made a small gesture with my hands,a swaying motion, like shooing chickens back into a coop.
The legion immediately clutched their chests. Their eyes went wide. Their mouths opened in silent screams.
Oh, come on.