Selene did not sleep.
Not because she was physically incapable—her transformation into Fae had removed such limitations—but because rest meant vulnerability.
And after her conversation with the Watcher, she could not afford weakness.
Something old was waking.
Something that should not be stirring yet.
And, for reasons she did not yet understand, she was at the center of it.
---
She stood atop the Verdant Nexus, her gaze sweeping across her ever-growing domain. The Fae Queen’s Wall stretched in the distance, reinforced by Sovereignty’s command and Harmony’s enhancements. Her court had expanded, her vassals were settling into their places, and her influence had spread beyond what any of the other transmigrated lords had achieved in such a short time.
By all rights, she should have felt victorious.
But instead, she felt watched.
Not by the Watcher. That presence was distant now, waiting, observing. It had asked its question and left.
This was something else.
---
A faint hum rippled through the air, an unnatural stillness creeping into the grove. The air was too quiet, the energy too concentrated.
Selene did not react outwardly.
She simply listened.
And, as expected, the whispers returned.
Faint. Faint, but growing.
They drifted along the edges of perception, curling through the spaces between light and shadow, heat and cold, time and stillness.
Selene exhaled slowly.
"You are impatient."
The whispers halted.
Then, for the first time, they responded.
Not in words.
But in intent.
---
A pressure settled around her, as if something vast and unknowable was shifting in recognition.
It heard her.
It knew her.
And it was waiting.
Selene did not move.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Why now?" she asked, her voice even.
The whispers coiled, not answering, but acknowledging.
Not yet speaking, but imposing.
Selene closed her eyes.
She had faced foes, armies, and power-hungry vassals.
She had conquered.
She had ruled.
But this was not a game of rulers and kings.
This was something deeper.
Something that did not deal in armies, castles, or courts.
This was the weight beneath existence.
And it was shifting.
---
The presence withdrew just as suddenly as it had come.
Selene opened her eyes, watching the moonlight flicker across the landscape.
A test, then.
Not a confrontation.
Not yet.
A reminder.
A warning.
She was being measured.
And that meant she had time.
For now.
---
A Court in Session
By the time she returned to the Grand Hall, her Fae Lords and vassals were already assembled. The tension in the air was almost palpable.
Word had spread.
Not of the whispers. Not of what she had felt.
But of something changing.
They could not name it.
But they knew.
Selene strode into the chamber, her posture composed, her expression unreadable. The moment she sat upon her throne, the room stilled.
Sovereignty was the first to speak. "The Boundless Continent stirs."
Selene met their gaze. "It does."
IronFist frowned. "Something is coming, isn't it?"
Selene did not answer immediately.
Instead, she studied them.
Her vassals—some loyal, some cautious, some still learning what it meant to kneel.
Her Fae Lords—unquestioning, bound by the laws of their nature.
And all of them looked to her.
---
"It is not war," Selene said finally. "Not yet."
Duskwind, ever the cautious schemer, leaned forward slightly. "Then what is it?"
Selene tilted her head slightly, watching him.
"It is awareness."
A pause.
"Something is paying attention to us."
SilverLily's expression hardened. "What kind of 'something'?"
Selene considered how much to reveal.
Not of the Watcher.
Not yet.
But of the other.
The one that should not be awake.
She let her words fall like stone upon glass.
"A presence older than anything on this Continent."
A ripple of unease spread through the room.
"Not a king," Selene continued. "Not a lord. Not a kingdom rising in secret."
She met their eyes.
"It is something that was meant to remain sleeping."
---
The room was silent.
Then, unexpectedly, it was Thornhaven who spoke next.
"If it's waking up now," he said slowly, "then that means something broke the pattern."
Selene smiled slightly.
A sharp mind.
She nodded. "Yes."
And then, for the first time, she allowed the truth to slip into the open.
"It is waking because of me."
The words hit like a hammer.
---
IronFist's fingers twitched against the table. "How do you know that?"
Selene exhaled slowly.
"Because I was never meant to be Fae."
Another silence.
A dangerous one.
Sovereignty did not react. Their presence remained as steady as ever. They had accepted her as higher in station. Her status was irrelevant.
But for the humans who had once ruled in their own world?
For them, this was different.
They had come to serve a Queen of Balance.
And now they were learning she had never been meant to exist at all.
---
Duskwind's voice was quiet.
"The system… changed you?"
Selene nodded.
SilverLily, ever the tactician, folded her arms. "So you're saying whatever this thing is, it noticed that. That’s why it’s waking up."
"Yes."
Thornhaven exhaled, leaning back. "That is… a problem."
Selene allowed herself a small smile.
"It is a challenge."
---
Sovereignty finally spoke, their voice a calm counterweight to the storm of uncertainty.
"The world seeks rulers," they said. "It does not care for reason, only for the weight of those who shape it."
Selene inclined her head slightly. "Exactly."
She stood, looking across the room, taking in the faces of her vassals.
"You fear this knowledge because you still think in terms of kings and lords, of soldiers and battles."
She let the words sink in.
"But this is not a war of men."
She turned toward the open balcony, her gaze drifting toward the distant horizon.
"This is a war of gods."
---
The meeting ended with no answers.
Only certainty.
They did not understand it yet.
They could not grasp the weight of what was to come.
But they would.
Because Selene would make them.
Balance was not about acceptance.
It was about knowing when to tip the scales.
And she was about to tip the Boundless Continent off its axis.
