Prologue

  - The Castle -

  I saw the castle being born.

  I was standing on the porch, a cup of tea in hand, freshly prepared by my wife.

  She sat beside me in her rocking chair, cradling our baby with a tenderness that seemed to defy the passage of time.

  In that moment, she looked so beautiful — just as she had the day we first met.

  I lifted the cup to my lips, letting the warmth seep into my body on that cold night.

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  Outside, the rain began to fall, soft and steady, tapping on the roof in a rhythm that Elie loved listening to before sleep.

  Everything felt so... normal.

  And then came the flash.

  A colossal roar tore through the sky, so powerful it felt like a god’s furious axe striking the earth.

  My heart froze.

  Above, tangled in a web of lightning, the castle appeared — a towering, impossible vision that made my eyes question reality.

  Nina woke up with a terrified cry.

  Elie jumped up at once, fear flashing in her eyes as she tried to calm our daughter, clutching my arm with desperate strength.

  And then it happened.

  The rain of swords began.

  Blades fell from the sky like dead stars.

  It was the day the world ended.