Laughter rolled across Cygnus Theme Park, blending with bright orchestral music and the mechanical roar of rides in motion. The scent of caramelized sugar and machine oil lingered in the warm afternoon air.

  “Miss!”

  Rhona did not turn.

  She was already seated in the front cart of the Cygnus Adventure ride, her pulse hammering beneath her calm expression. Behind her, Agi’s footsteps thundered against the metal platform.

  Too late.

  The safety bar locked with a sharp click.

  Her bodyguard was forced into the cart behind.

  “My bodyguard is right behind us,” Rhona whispered to the man seated opposite her. “He could reach us any second.”

  “Relax,” the man in the cap replied softly. “I prepared something to keep him busy.”

  The ride jerked forward.

  Music swelled.

  Metal clashed behind them.

  And no one outside noticed anything was wrong.

  "Miss! Watch out!"

  Rhona shut her eyes briefly.

  Agi must have collided with one of the mannequins. The replicas of the Cygnus Knights were built from light steel—decorative, but loud when struck.

  Good.

  Noise meant distraction.

  The cart rolled into the artificial twilight of the Golden Forest exhibit. Towering mechanical trees arched overhead, their bronze leaves whispering as hidden gears turned within their trunks. Rare creatures blinked with glass eyes from the undergrowth, frozen in carefully crafted lifelike poses.

  Statues of the Cygnus members stood among them—men carved in traditional Anex attire, robes flowing with intricate embroidery, their expressions solemn and eternal.

  Guardians of a legend.

  Or relics of it.

  "Get ready to jump."

  Rhona nodded.

  As the cart banked sharply around a bend, they leapt.

  The ground slammed into her feet harder than expected. Her ankle twisted, and the world tilted—

  Strong hands caught her before she fell.

  "Move."

  No time to recover.

  He pulled her forward, and they sprinted through the mechanical forest until they reached a massive artificial tree. With practiced urgency, he pressed against a hidden seam in the bark.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A narrow door opened.

  They slipped inside.

  The trunk sealed behind them, flawless once more.

  The hum of machinery replaced the distant cheer of park visitors.

  Dust floated in the dim light. Broken replicas lay stacked in corners—discarded animals, cracked branches, hollow shells of a fabricated wilderness.

  Rhona bent forward, trying to steady her breathing.

  This was real.

  She had never defied her father like this before.

  Not openly.

  Not irreversibly.

  "We have to hurry, Vid," she said.

  The young man turned toward her.

  Something in his gaze had changed.

  The warmth she knew was gone.

  In its place was something sharp.

  Unfamiliar.

  "Are you really going to leave everything behind?" Vida asked quietly. "Your home. Your father. Your future… just for me?"

  Rhona exhaled slowly.

  She had agonized over this decision for days.

  Wils Dingzu did not accept opposition—not even from his only daughter. If she wanted freedom, she would have to seize it.

  "We disappear first," she said. "You build your success somewhere beyond his reach. When you become someone he cannot ignore… he will have no choice but to accept you."

  She moved toward a narrow window and glanced outside.

  Visitors passed by, oblivious.

  No Agi.

  No guards.

  For now.

  "From here," she continued, turning back, "how do we get to the Nirwana Core Forest?"

  She froze.

  A silver blade hovered inches from her chest.

  "Vi… Vida… don’t point that at me."

  His hand trembled.

  "T-this is only precaution."

  He lowered the knife and stepped closer.

  Too close.

  His fingers brushed her cheek.

  Once, that touch would have made her heart race.

  Now it made her skin crawl.

  He studied her face as though memorizing it—the pale skin, the gold-flecked hair, the clear blue eyes that had once looked at him with unquestioning trust.

  The pride of Yodania.

  A flower that would wither today.

  His fingers slid from her cheek…

  …and clamped around her throat.

  Hard.

  Air vanished.

  Rhona choked, clawing at his wrist.

  THUD.

  Vida folded with a strangled groan as her knee drove upward into his groin.

  She stumbled back, gasping, her throat already burning where his fingers had pressed.

  Her mind refused to understand.

  The man she loved—

  The man she chose—

  Had just tried to kill her.

  "You slut!" he spat.

  The word struck harder than his grip.

  No one had ever spoken to her like that.

  Not in eighteen years.

  "Why?" she forced out, her voice shredded.

  "Why?!" His eyes blazed. "I approached you for one reason—to kill you! Your father destroyed my family!"

  Her heart lurched.

  "My father was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit," Vida continued, his voice breaking into something feral. "He died in that cursed place. And my mother—she hanged herself. Shame strangled her before the rope did."

  The knife rose again.

  "My father was Wian Scoot."

  The name hit like falling stone.

  Aurora.

  The research company accused of stealing state secrets.

  Six months ago.

  Her father had asked for her help—just a simple breach, he said. A necessary act for national security.

  She had done it.

  Proud of her skill.

  Blind to consequence.

  Assets frozen.

  Arrest made.

  A life erased.

  "You paved the road to his grave," Vida snarled.

  Her hands began to shake.

  "I… I’m sorry…"

  He lunged.

  "Die!"

  Rhona did not move.

  Perhaps this was justice.

  Perhaps this was what it meant to finally see the weight of the lives she had crushed from behind a glowing screen.

  She closed her eyes.

  SRAAK—

  Warm liquid sprayed across her face.

  Silence followed.

  Rhona opened her eyes slowly.

  The blade had never reached her.

  It was buried deep in Vida’s neck.

  Blood poured between his lips as his body collapsed, twitching once before going still.

  Dead.

  A small, trembling voice came from the doorway.

  "I… didn’t mean for it to be that violent."

  She turned.

  A young man stood there—black hair damp with sweat, green eyes wide with shock. His hand remained half-extended, as though he still felt the echo of the throw.

  "I just wanted to stop him."

  Their eyes met.

  The silence pressed down like deep water.

  Rhona looked at Vida.

  At the widening pool of red.

  At her own shaking hands.

  She was alive.

  But something inside her had shattered beyond repair.

  The Scoot family was gone.

  Because of her.

  Because of choices she had once believed harmless.

  A sound tore from her chest.

  "No—!"

  The room spun violently.

  Darkness swallowed her before she felt the floor.