A Song Of Shadow And Starlight

Prologue

The last thing she felt was the whisper of magic on a child’s skin. Not her own, but her daughter’s. She watched, a silent scream caught in her throat, as the intricate patterns of their lineage, the ones that once glowed like constellations, faded from her daughter’s arms and face. It was a cruel act of mercy, a spell she wove with her dying breath. It would keep the child safe, a mortal girl in a mortal world, away from the corruption that bled through the roots of their dying kingdom.

She had to make her forget.

The world they called the “diary” was fading, its pages burning to ash. The darkness was not a shadow but a poison, a curse that had already twisted her own skin, leaving it a stark, lifeless gray. But there was a sliver of hope, a single, golden thread of a prophecy.

Her daughter would be the key. When her sixteenth year arrived, the spell would break. A whisper, the last part of her soul, would find its way to her daughter. It would guide her back to the forest, back to the world she had to save. It was the last gift a mother could give a daughter.

She didn’t have time to mourn. The darkness was closing in. Her final thought was a plea, a silent, desperate prayer into the void.

Let her find her song.

Let her find the starlight in her skin.

Let her find her way home.