Page 1 of Celestia, Year Four

PROLOGUE

Darkness.

That was what surrounded me. Was I awake?

Or am I asleep? I really can’t tell.

All I knew was my body felt like it was floating, and I couldn't determine when it would stop. Or if I wanted it to stop.

I tried to remember who I was. To recall what had happened that led me to this cold world. That was the only feeling that ran through me while I floated with no sign of redemption.

How did I get here? What is this place? Who am I?

Who...Am…I?

I didn't know why, but that simple question held more worth. It was a question I'd asked more than once. Multiple times. How did I know? I couldn't answer how, even if I fought my hardest to get through the black fogginess that cloaked my mind.

Surprisingly enough, I wasn't scared. Even though it felt like the floating would be never-ending, and the brittle cold trickledup my skin and seeped into my blood and down to my very bones. With all the discomfort my mind had envisioned my levitating body to feel, it didn't.

I felt safe.

Safer than I'd ever felt in my lives.

Lives?

Had I lived before? Another question to add to the growing pile, getting larger while I remained conscious. That was how it had been for a while. A battle between consciousness and unconsciousness, the switches between the darkness that was my reality and the dreams I escaped into.

Were they dreams? Or memories?

I couldn't tell. I didn't know what they were, but I wanted to. I wanted to continue viewing them. To gather the puzzle pieces I needed for this journey I felt like I was about to embark on.

A journey to restore the balance and reveal who the real Queen of these lands is.

Those dreamful memories that made me crave who their owner was. To be able to watch her life unfold and the love she shared with the men who loved her with just as much compassion as she did. They loved her. Every single one of them cherished the woman with eyes that reminded me of someone else.

Almost like me?

Yet, I didn't know who I was. Maybe after watching glimpses of this woman's life, I'd associated myself with her. The way her long gold hair shimmered in the sunlight. Or how her melodiclaugh resonated with your soul when it carried on the passing winds.

I'd always see her standing in a beautiful garden, a place with multicolored roses. Reds, oranges, pinks, and blues. It honestly felt like this woman’s garden was a rainbow in disguise.

A garden that held her hopes and dreams.

She wore a gorgeous white dress. One that made me wonder if it was her wedding day and I was seeing the same memory over and over because it was something she cherished.

She had pure white wings in the beginning, but when she turned around to show her front half, the color would shift.

A rainbow to match the roses that surrounded her feet and stretched for miles without end.

Her eyes were what always struck me in my heart. The stunning mismatched eyes, the left a vivid purple, while the right was a vibrant green.

They would shift colors when they locked onto me, but within myself, I knew she couldn't see me.

I don’t exist in these times. I don’t need my memories to understand that.

When she smiled, I could feel nature itself rejoice at her overwhelming joy, which only left me wondering what happened. In the dreams that I fell in and out of, some were good. Amazingly good. While others… were sad.

Too sad for my poor, cold heart.