As Bryn opened her eyes, the golden shine of the ceiling greeted her. She exhaled softly and stretched around a little as thin, white, velvety sheets brushed against her naked skin. Her feathery wings spread as she lay on her back and she finally sat up.

With another deep sigh, her gaze fell onto her sizable chest and she smiled. There weren’t many valkyrjas with more prominent breasts than her. It always made her proud. Today, for some reason though, she felt a faint trace of weird anxiety in her mind as she looked at her bust, unable to pinpoint what it was and why it felt strange.

She shook off the mysterious sensation and stepped off her grand bed, glancing around her bedroom made of almost pure gold with occasional detailing that used white marble and some other, silvery metals. With a dainty step, she arrived at the balcony overlooking the whole ARK.

Today was the day. She would lead her squad to reclaim the last part of the land underneath their settlement from the Scourge. The monsters had been almost fully pushed away to the borders of their region. The valkyrjas of Tyr had already planned the fortifications they would lay down to secure the ground and everything was on a great path.

With a flick of her wrist, she called her staff to her hand. It rushed through the air with a pleasant hum and fell into her grasp. It shone briefly and Bryn’s body got enveloped in its light, soon becoming material and turning into her favorite white-gold armor.

She smiled to herself and spread her wings, preparing to take flight. After a strong flap, she shot out of her bedroom and gained altitude, heading towards the castle their Council used for its meetings.

Three minutes later, she descended onto the golden path shortly before the gates to the grand building. That caused a small commotion amongst the passerby valkyrjas.

“Look, it’s the Valkyrja Queen!” one of the spectators pointed at Bryn and whispered to her companion.

“You are right! She’s as magnificent as ever,” the other one replied with an excited but hushed tone.

“And beautiful,” a third one added after joining them. “I’m so envious of her figure, especially her magnificent chest.”

“Shhhh!” the other two shushed the newcomer down.

“It’s rude to talk about such vulgar things in Her Majesty’s presence!” the first woman explained and the slightly jealous valkyrja covered her mouth.

Bryn smiled wryly to herself, overhearing the whole conversation. She couldn’t shake off this weird feeling about her chest and it was starting to bug her out a little. Why wouldn’t she be happy about others envying her looks? Weren’t big chests very desirable amongst her kin anyway?

The more she thought about it, the more confused she got, even to the point of a slight headache pricking her brain. She shook her head and decided to ignore that feeling. There were many more important things to deal with first.

With a proud step, she walked towards the double gate and the two guards bowed respectfully before opening them for her. Everyone she passed stopped to lower their heads and Bryn answered each person with a nod.

Soon, she reached the big round hall with a circular table in the middle of it. A bunch of other valkyrja surrounded it—the Council members.

“Greetings, Sky Queen,” one of the mature ones, Hilda, welcomed her with a smile and the others quickly repeated the greeting.

Bryn waved her hand at them. “Thank you, everyone. How are the preparations?”

“Everything is proceeding as planned, my Queen,” Eir replied courteously.

“Great. It’s time to finally secure a good piece of our long-lost lands and cultivate it properly. We won’t be limited to just the farming grids integrated into our ARKs,” Bryn exclaimed with confidence, and a cheerful murmur traveled through the chamber.

Something flashed in her mind and she turned to Kara and Rota.

“Remind me, please, how are our supplies holding on? We received all we were supposed to from our new trade partner, right?”

The two valkyrjas flipped through their notebooks for a moment and gave each other a slightly uncertain glance.

“We are a little under the line regarding bandages and alcohol, still doing decently fine, though, but… new trade partner, my Queen?” Kara glanced at her with slight confusion.

Bryn blinked a few times, furrowing her brows. “What? Weren’t we supposed to get those from… from… uhhhh…”

She could swear they had been going to deal with that shortage but there was nothing coming to her mind regarding the merchant. She couldn’t remember which ARK they were from, nor how they even looked while she was sure they had surely met.

“Is something wrong, my Queen? You look pale,” Hilda asked with a gentle tone.

“I’m… fine.” Bryn waved her concern away. “I must have confused something somewhere. Maybe fragments of a dream have mixed into my memories.”

“You are always overworking yourself for our sake, my Queen,” Eir said with a smile. “You should rest more. You deserve it.”

Bryn nodded. “I will. After we finish this. Are the troops ready?”

Hilda bowed slightly. “At your command, my Queen.”

The women left the meeting room together and stepped into a high balcony. Hundreds of fully armored valkyrjas stood in perfectly formed rows down below, looking up at their leaders.

“Greetings, Sky Queen!” they shouted all at once.

Bryn answered with a raise of her hand. Then she glanced everyone all over and raised her weapon into the air.

“Today! Today is the day of our victory! Join me, warriors of Tyr, and let’s show every single valkyrja in every single ARK that those monsters can be pushed back! Let Tyr be the beacon of hope and promise of a bright future!”

“Uraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” the troops roared while pointing their own gear to the sky.

“Sky Queen! Sky Queen! Sky Queen!”

Their chants soon filled the air and Bryn took off from the balcony.

The Councilors remained on the ledge while the army of valkyrjas followed their leader, turning the surroundings into one giant mass of wings releasing deafening noise into the area. In a few minutes, they were all gone.

Bryn led the valkyrjas down towards the ground, towards the last spot they had to secure before getting a chance to fortify their defenses. It was a small mountain pass, perfect for strategic advantage.

Hundreds of valkyrjas stormed the narrow path and hell broke loose. The monsters of the Scourge began getting decimated by the winged troops, using their position to their advantage, raining death from the sky.

Each valkyrja fought bravely, assisting their companions all the time. They were all trained warriors, taught the importance of watching each other’s backs. They broke into smaller squads and tackled groups of enemies together under their team leaders.

Bryn was down there with them too. She mostly focused on healing her comrades and assisting them with her magic, but she was no weakling either. Her staff-spear was perfect to mutilate her opponents when they got a bit too close to her. She loved the thrill of battle just like her sisters did too.

Part of a formation broke and she quickly joined to reinforce it. While the injured valkyrjas fell back to recover, she plugged the created hole with her own person, starting to skewer the monsters with the sharp blade at the tip of her staff.

She pierced one of the dark-skinned, humanoid monsters right in the chest and it staggered. A weird image flashed through Bryn’s mind as she stared at its corpse spread over the ground.

It felt somehow familiar.

She took down more of the enemies and the weird feeling just grew as she cut the monsters' chests and stomachs. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Fortunately, the other valkyrjas had recovered and soon joined her side to fight again.

“My Queen, thank you for rescuing us!” one of the young girls thanked her respectfully. “Are you okay, my Queen? You look unwell.”

Bryn pointed at a dead monster with her weapon. “Don’t they look like… men?”

The other woman furrowed her brows. “What’s a man?”

A powerful headache hit Bryn almost instantly the moment the last word left the valkyrja’s mouth. She caught her head in both hands and groaned as various images flashed through her mind. The same question suddenly echoed in her head. But, instead of the young girl, it was her asking it, with a good-looking youth in front of her.

“This… This is not real…” Bryn finally realized, looking around in shock. “I’m not worthy of the title of the Sky Queen. We have no means to push the Scourge back.”

“My Queen?” The woman by her side showed a great deal of concern.

Bryn turned to look at her. “Tell me. Is my chest big?”

“Yes, my Queen. It’s magnificent. Every valkyrja envies you secretly.”

“Lies,” Bryn muttered to herself. “That’s not how things are.”

She then spread her wings and launched herself into the air. Stopping above the battlefield, she looked down at the valkyrjas winning easily against the monsters.

“Asterios… That was his name… The name of my current contractor and master…” she whispered to herself. “How did I get here? How do I leave? Right, the thrones. We were exploring an underground vault.”

Unaware of any other options she could have, Bryn ignored the chaos below her feet and soared back to the ARK. She flew at her highest speed and stormed into the throne room of the Sky Queen, a valkyrja unanimously chosen by all twelve ARKs to lead them. Something that hadn’t happened in centuries.

She quickly locked her eyes on the magnificent golden throne and stopped in front of it with a violent gust of wind. In a hurry, she dropped herself down onto it.

“I reject this fake reality! This is not me! Let me return to my people, and to my master!”

A figure of a giant, ethereal, winged woman materialized in front of Bryn. A proud smile painted the translucent valkyrja’s lips as she drove a splendid spear of light right into Bryn’s chest.

But, Bryn felt no pain.

Warm, white radiance soon claimed her and she watched the mysterious woman’s impressed smile fade into nothingness.

※ ※ ※

The sound of a pleasant bell woke Silvia up. She opened her eyes and saw the ornate door to her chamber open. A woman in a conservative maid uniform walked inside with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Princess! It’s already eleven! Did you spend half of the night in the library again?” The maid put her hands on her hips and sighed.

“Camille,” Silvia murmured, sitting up. “Are Father and Mother waiting for me?”

“They are still preparing so you are not late if that’s what you are asking about. Now, we better get moving if you want to make it to breakfast on time, Young Lady.”

Silvia jumped off the bed and the maid instantly showed up by her side, yanking the nightdress off her. She smiled softly while taking a glance at the princess’ thin and petite figure, giggling at the girl when receiving a raised brow during the motion.

Camille quickly brought Silvia’s favorite clothes and helped her dress up. The princess soon wore a comfortable military-styled outfit of pure white color with dark orange details. It had a long coat tightly wrapped around her body just as she liked.

“Ahhhh, I really wish to see you in a beautiful dress for once, Princess.” The maid sighed in admiration.

“You know I dislike them, Camille. They are troublesome to move in.”

“I know, I know. But, a maid can dream, can’t she?” Camille giggled. “Now, we should hurry. I heard that His Majesty finally found you an instructor after you bested him completely in both knowledge and practice.”

Silvia frowned lightly. “Don’t I already have an instructor?”

Camille put her hands on her hips, raising a brow at the princess. “Of course not. It’s always been a problem with how talented you are. No one can match you, not even mentioning teaching you.”

It didn’t feel exactly right to Silvia but she wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like her personal maid would lie to her this blatantly. They grew up together, pretty much. She trusted the slightly overenthusiastic woman.

There was no time to ponder over that, though. She had breakfast to attend. And a big banquet later in the day. It was her birthday. It would be rude not to show up to the party in her own name even though she disliked those types of gatherings.

The maid led her through the corridors until they reached the king’s personal dining hall and Camille let Silvia inside while bowing respectfully as she held the door for her. At the short table stuffed with incredible food, two people sat down side by side.

For some reason, Silvia’s chest felt really tight when she looked at the pretty woman with long black hair and emerald eyes. It was like something gripped her heart when she saw her mother. She stopped in front of her chair and kept staring at the queen.

“Silvia, dear, are you okay? Why are you crying?” the woman suddenly asked.

Silvia blinked a few times and realized that a single tear was traveling down her cheek as more threatened to escape the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped the wetness off with her sleeve and glanced at it in consternation.

Why had she cried?

“I’m fine, Mother. I think a bit of light was reflected into my eye,” she replied, sitting down with her parents.

With everyone gathered, they started their breakfast in relative silence. Now and then, Welrond chatted his wife up with some small talk or the woman brought up something related to the kingdom and its inner workings.

“I heard that you found an instructor for me, Father,” Silvia spoke at one point.

Welrond glanced at her and groaned. “That loose-lipped maid can’t even hold a single surprise in.”

The woman chuckled softly. “You should have known how close these two are. It was bound to happen.”

“Right. Anyway, it’s true, I finally found someone decent. Since the cat is already out of the bag, I planned to introduce them to you after the banquet.”

“Is he a Summoner from Tyrienheim?” Silvia asked.

The king raised his brows at her. “That’s… weirdly specific. Why would you assume they are from Tyrienheim? Or that they are a man? How would a Summoner be helpful to your bloodline?”

“I… I don’t know,” she replied honestly.

These words just rolled off her tongue before she could even notice. It truly was weirdly specific, as her father said.

“Nevertheless, you will know soon. I hope you enjoy the party. Plenty of people will surely bring gifts.” Welrond smiled softly.

“Yeah. They surely will,” she replied, already imagining how other nobles would try to gain favor with their presents.

After breakfast, Silvia spent her time at the training grounds. She enjoyed practicing her Aura Materialization even though she had already fully mastered it long ago, surpassing even her father.

Then, she moved to the royal library to read about various aspects of magic and not only. There was barely anything she could focus on to help her grow further and that was why finding an instructor was such a big deal. If they were truly skilled enough, they could push her to another level.

Finally, the time of the banquet came. Silvia walked into the busy hall in the same military outfit. Everyone turned their heads to look at the princess as she paraded through the grand hall. Noblemen and noblewomen lowered their heads respectfully, sending her their best smiles.

Soon, the party started and everyone began enjoying the atmosphere. As expected, many people approached Silvia with their birthday wishes and various gifts. To her surprise, though, most of them actually felt genuine and the presents were small and symbolic instead of grand and almost flattering. It didn’t seem like anyone tried to court her favor tonight.

She knew it was just like always but seeing the nobles interact with her and with each other without hidden agenda and intentions felt… off. It was certainly nice and made her comfortable at the banquet, but deep down, something was warning Silvia that it was weird.

Two hours flew by and Welrond finally approached her to introduce her to the instructor he had found. She felt excited. They could potentially be of huge help to her. It could be a lot of fun to explore her magic alongside someone else other than her father.

Then, she saw the elven woman in dark brown robes and felt somewhat disappointed for a reason she did not understand. The magician was strong, she could feel it, but something was lacking.

Silvia requested a duel and the woman agreed with a confident smile. They moved to a private arena and equipped some safety measures since the woman urged her to go all out against her as she was an expert in the Fire Element.

The duel started and the instructor immediately brought up a wall of swirling inferno between them, obstructing Silvia’s view. Silvia quickly condensed a small Fireball at the tip of her battle staff and forced it to flatten. With a wide swing, she sent the projectile into the wall of flames and it suddenly exploded with an air-shaking boom, canceling the woman’s spell.

Silvia then noticed the magic the instructor had been preparing behind that smokescreen she had erected.

She instantly began mirroring the woman but with a small difference in their dance-like movements. After half a minute, the elven instructor finished first and a giant magical circle of crimson red materialized behind her. With a loud roar, a gigantic flame in the shape of a Lesser Dragon flew towards Silvia.

But, Silvia remained calm and completed her own spell. A much more complex formation of glowing orange appeared behind her and the head of a True Dragon thrice as big as the other woman’s creation peeked out of the array alongside part of its sinister torso.

Silvia’s True Dragon roared much louder and shook the whole arena. Then, it took a deep breath and spewed violent, amber fire in an unbelievably thick pillar of flames right at the Lesser Dragon moving through the air with snake-like movements.

The woman’s spell was overpowered easily and the True Dragon’s fire breath reached the instructor, enveloping her wholly in stone-melting flames. A huge chunk of the floor and the walls of the arena turned into sizzling liquid, with no trace of the elf left behind.

“I see,” Silvia muttered to herself.

Silence fell onto the battling grounds as Silvia dismissed her spell. Her father and mother soon showed up by her side and found her deep in thought.

“Silvia?” the queen called to her daughter.

She turned to look at Welrond. “Dad?”

“Yes, my daughter?” the king replied calmly, sneaking a few glances at the aftermath of the fight.

“Da… Ekhm. Daddy?” She called to him once more, a little awkwardly this time.

“Yes? Is something the matter? If you are worried about the woman—”

“I understand now.” Silvia nodded to herself. “It’s a false reality built on my subconscious desire, meant to keep me in the perfect dream world, with some kind of a suggestive seal on my memories.”

She looked at her parents.

“My inner desire to grow up with you by my side, Mom. My inner desire to attend normal noble balls with no schemes in the shadows. My inner desire to surpass you, Father, and earn your recognition. And…” She glanced at the fuming earth. “My inner desire to have won that duel against the instructor, using what they showed me to better myself during the fight and respond with a much stronger spell.”

Silvia then trotted to her mother and hugged her tightly. “I’m almost inclined to stay here…”

The queen brushed through her hair gently. “Oh, then you can stay within my embrace as long as you want.”

“But Dad always kept saying that you should let the past go.”

A pillar of fire suddenly erupted from under Silvia’s feet and enveloped the two of them. In a flash, the woman was reduced to cinders and the fire receded, revealing just Silvia standing untouched in the same place, glancing down at her hands. She squeezed them into fists, assuming a serious expression.

“If this trap is meant to test my convictions, then know that I will make my dreams come true with my own two hands!” Silvia shouted into the sky. “Well, and maybe with some guidance from a certain someone,” she added with a smile and began disappearing in white light.