The shadow of eternity and the warmth of the end

--- The sound of the wind whipping over the high palace walls was like the screams of ancient spirits heralding the end of an era. The girl strode confidently across the marble floor, each step bearing the weight of an entire dynasty, the servants' eyes fixed on the ground, lest they meet her gaze. Her name was Lyanna Asteria. Sixteen years old, she wasn't just a blood heir to the throne, she was the embodiment of the legend passed down for centuries... "When a lineage is born with eyes of flame and blood, a new dawn will rise from the ruins of the old line." But Lyanna wasn't thinking of the throne, or of legends. She was thinking of what she'd seen that night... when she'd opened her eyes to the sound of whispers, seen the sky split open, and a being resembling a human, but made of shadows and torn books, emerged. The being said to her silently, "Truth has begun to tear at the chain... and your blood will be the key." Her breath trembled, but she showed nothing. The world around her didn't allow for weakness. She knew that everyone in the royal court was waiting for her to fall, like a wolf waiting for its prey to stumble. She raised her gaze towards the stone throne, which had remained empty since her father disappeared in the Northern Wars. "When will they announce his death?" she said quietly, addressing the old general standing beside her. "When you command it, Your Majesty." She smiled. A smile unbecoming of her age, unbecoming of her as a human being. ---