"Your memory of him."
The words echoed through the five worlds.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't breathe.
I stared at Shawshank.
He stared back at me.
"No," he whispered.
The voice returned.
"Forget him, Bjei, and the five worlds will survive."
My hands began shaking.
"Forget…"
I swallowed.
"…Shawshank?"
"Yes."
My heart cracked.
"And if I refuse?"
Silence.
Then the answer came.
"He will be forgotten by the worlds."
I looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
The First Mother stepped forward.
"It means everyone will remember the worlds."
She looked at Shawshank.
"But no one will remember him."
My eyes widened.
"No."
"His existence will be removed from every memory."
I grabbed Shawshank's hand.
"No."
"You will still know there was someone you loved."
My tears began falling.
"But you won't remember his face."
I stared at him.
"You won't remember his voice."
I shook my head.
"You won't remember his name."
"No!"
My voice echoed across the chamber.
Shawshank pulled me closer.
"Bjei…"
"Don't."
I held his face.
"Don't tell me to accept this."
His eyes were wet.
"I don't want you to lose me."
"You think I want to lose you?"
"No."
"Then don't ask me to."
He looked down.
"I would rather disappear knowing you survived."
I stepped back.
"That's not love."
He looked at me.
"Love isn't deciding what the other person should lose."
He said nothing.
I wiped my tears.
"You taught me that."
His lips trembled.
"I remember."
"Then let me choose."
The five worlds began shaking violently.
The sea rose above the horizon.
Lightning tore across the sky.
The fourth world began collapsing into itself.
The fifth world was almost completely dark.
The voice spoke again.
"Choose."
I closed my eyes.
And suddenly, I remembered everything.
Not just the memories I had lived.
The ones I had forgotten.
I saw myself as a child.
Running beside the sea.
Laughing.
I saw Shawshank watching me from beneath the water.
I saw him following me when I was afraid.
I saw the first time he held my hand.
The first time I trusted him.
The first time I realized I loved him.
Then I saw something else.
A memory I had never seen before.
It was before the worlds.
Before the queens.
Before the crowns.
Before the darkness.
Shawshank stood beside me.
But we were different.
Not king and girl.
Not guardian and chosen one.
Just two souls standing beneath a golden sky.
I looked at him.
"Will you find me?"
He smiled.
"Every time."
I woke from the memory crying.
Shawshank was holding me.
"What did you see?"
"You."
He smiled sadly.
"Then keep it."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Keep the memory."
He touched my cheek.
"Even if it means losing me."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Bjei…"
"I've forgotten too much already."
My voice trembled.
"I forgot where I came from."
I looked toward Marina.
"I forgot who my mother was."
I looked at Angela.
"I forgot why people were protecting me."
Then I looked at Shawshank.
"But I refuse to forget who loved me."
The First Mother watched silently.
I turned toward her.
"There has to be another way."
"There isn't."
"There is always another way."
"You cannot defeat the oldest law of the first world."
I looked at the five stones floating around me.
Blue.
Silver.
Gold.
Black.
And the fifth stone.
I suddenly understood.
The five worlds were not asking me to choose.
They were asking me to remember.
I stepped toward the stones.
The First Mother frowned.
"Bjei, what are you doing?"
I reached for the golden stone.
"I finally understand."
The stone entered my hand.
"This world was created from a choice."
I picked up the blue stone.
"The sea chose life."
The silver stone came next.
"The sky chose freedom."
The black stone.
"The darkness chose survival."
Then the fifth stone.
"And the forgotten world chose to be remembered."
I looked at Shawshank.
"And I choose love."
The stones began glowing.
The First Mother stepped backward.
"No…"
"What?"
"You cannot combine them."
"Why?"
"Because the fifth stone was never meant to be used."
I looked at it.
"What is it?"
Her face changed.
"The memory stone."
My heart stopped.
"What memory?"
She looked at Shawshank.
"The memory of the first choice."
I stared at him.
Shawshank slowly understood.
"You."
I nodded.
"The first choice wasn't the worlds."
I walked toward him.
"It was us."
The golden light surrounded us.
The voice screamed from above.
"STOP!"
The entire sky cracked.
But I didn't.
I took Shawshank's hand.
"I won't forget you."
The fifth stone began breaking apart.
"I won't erase you."
Cracks spread across the sky.
"I won't sacrifice you."
The five worlds began pulling toward each other.
"I will remember."
Shawshank squeezed my hand.
"Bjei…"
I smiled through my tears.
"And if memory is what holds these worlds together…"
The fifth stone shattered.
"…then let them remember us."
A massive wave of golden light exploded across the universe.
The sea stopped.
The sky stopped cracking.
The fourth world stopped falling.
The fifth world stopped collapsing.
Every creature.
Every queen.
Every forgotten soul.
Every human.
Every being across the five worlds suddenly saw the same memory.
A young Bjei.
A young Shawshank.
Standing together before the worlds existed.
And a promise.
I will find you.
I will remember you.
The voice disappeared.
The darkness vanished.
Silence followed.
Then the First Mother whispered,
"You found the answer."
I looked at her.
"What answer?"
She smiled.
"The one nobody before you understood."
"What is it?"
She looked at Shawshank.
"Love was never the thing that had to be sacrificed."
My eyes filled with tears.
"It was the thing that had to be remembered."
Shawshank pulled me into his arms.
I held him tightly.
For the first time, I wasn't afraid of losing him.
But then the fifth world trembled.
The golden light faded.
And somewhere far beneath the sea…
something opened its eyes.
A voice whispered:
"You remembered him."
A pause.
"Now remember yourself."