Yu Meilan stood beneath the Celestial Tree's corpse. Its roots still pulsed faintly.
A whisper called to her in the night. A memory that never belonged to her.
> "You were chosen long before you betrayed him," it said.
She found an ancient rune carved into her spirit—a celestial brand, placed by the previous Emperor to bind her choices and obscure her will.
It had manipulated her decisions in the war.
Furious, she tore it free—but the backlash nearly destroyed her.
She fell unconscious… and dreamed of a mirror version of herself—The Lotus Queen, cruel and divine.