Chapter 1
Prologue: The End Before the Beginning
The stage is bathed in flickering candlelight, the velvet curtains heavy with dust and sorrow. A single spotlight illuminates Tobias Kiramman, standing center stage, his hands trembling as he grips the edge of his coat. His face is weary, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
The grand theater, once filled with laughter and music, now stands hollow and silent. The air is thick with smoke, a haze lingering from a night that should have been triumphant but ended in tragedy. Shadows stretch along the empty seats, but some figures remain, ghosts of a love lost too soon.
Vander leans against the back wall, arms crossed over his broad chest, his face unreadable. Beside him, Benzo exhales deeply, shaking his head as if this sorrow was always inevitable. Jinx sits slumped in a chair near the front, her wild blue hair hanging in front of her face, eerily still. Ekko lingers in the rafters, hidden in the dim glow of the stage lights, watching but unwilling to step closer. Mel Medarda, draped in gold and deep red, sits among the abandoned seats, her expression carefully composed, but her hands tighten into fists against her lap.
Jayce stands just offstage, his usually proud shoulders weighed down with something heavier than regret. Viktor is beside him, his mechanical fingers twitching as he stares at the floor. No words are spoken between them. None are needed.
Tobias inhales shakily, his voice breaking as he speaks the words that haunt them all.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn..." He pauses, his throat tightening. He closes his eyes for a moment, then looks out into the empty void of the audience. "Is just to love... and be loved in return."
His voice echoes through the silent theater.
The candles flicker. The air stills.
And the curtain falls.
Darkness.