-Hope-
He was too important to lose, yet somehow, I found myself agreeing to let him go. I had never witnessed such agony in someone’s eyes before. It was crushing to see, and I knew then that trying to force him to leave simply wouldn’t be possible.
The king would be where his queen was. Maybe it was feasible for him to stay in here, but I truly hoped we could rescue them both. I hoped no one would remain trapped or perish. I hoped that when we found the queen, we could bring her back with us, or at least retrieve whatever fragment of her remained.
“Where are we?” I heard the king ask.
I glanced around, puzzled that he didn’t recognize our surroundings. Then it dawned on me. We weren’t in a memory he knew anything about because he hadn’t been there. I had—when I dreamt about Phoenix.
