6. Echoes of the Past

The night after the ball was restless.

Pandora turned on the huge soft mattress of her dorm room. The scene of Morgana’s kiss still burned in his mind - not by the kiss itself, but by the looks that surrounded it. Raven walking away with her jaw locked. Persephone clenching her fists. Amy looking away, as if she wanted to disappear.

But what really did not come out of his head was the old woman.

"The heiress has awakened."

These words danced through his thoughts like shadows with life of their own.

The next morning, the castle was quieter than usual. It was as if everyone were waiting for the next move of the piece that had just been placed on the board.

Pandora was walking through the corridors of the Dawn Wing when she decided to go to the Relic Room, a place forbidden for students in the first semester - but as always, curiosity spoke louder than the rules.

The room was old, protected by a spell of illusion. She only saw it because something inside her just... knew.

He pushed the wooden door carved with arcane symbols and entered.

The air inside was cold, thick, charged with ancestral energy. The relics floated in glass domes, each with a plate indicating their origin.

But one called her.

A crystal tiara with a silver-engraved symbol: three moons intertwined with a star in the center. When touched, the world turned.

Pandora was swallowed by a vision.

She was in another time. She wore queen’s robes, a crown identical to that one. Fairies bowed before her. Next to her were familiar figures with different faces - an elf with golden eyes, a vampire fairy with black wings... and a wolf warrior with scars on her face.

And then, fire. Screams. Betrayal.

She saw herself being pushed off a cliff by someone she loved.

Awakened with a scream.

"Pandora!" Amy came running, her face pale with worry.

She knelt beside her friend.

"Are you all right?"

"I... touched the tiara. I had a vision. It was me, Amy. In another life."

Amy hesitated, bit her lip and then confessed:

"I was going to tell you later... but tonight... I dreamed of you. Dying. Covered in blood, in the middle of the black forest. And had a voice... that said you needed to remember."

Pandora felt her heart beat faster. Fate seemed to scream in her ear.

They looked silently until a bang echoed outside. They ran to the courtyard where a crowd gathered. In the center, Persephone and Morgana were face to face.

"Do you think you can kiss whoever you want just because you’re the alpha of the Instinct Wing?" the elf shot, face tense.

"I only kissed who wanted to kiss me too" Morgana replied with a provocative smile.

"Pandora is not a trophy" Persephone roared, summoning a wind current around the body.

Pandora intervened before they became a spectacle.

"Enough! I am no one’s possession. And if they will fight for me, let it be for something more than vanity."

The two retreated, ashamed. Morgana shrugged and moved away, but Persephone seemed really shaken.

Back in the dorm, still shivering, Pandora went to her bed... and something strange caught his attention.

In the lower corner of the chest that Persephone shared with her, a compartment was half-open.

Ali, rested an old diary.

She opened it, feeling her fingers tremble. The pages were yellow, the leather worn out, but the most impressive was the handwriting.

It was yours.

Same as yours.

"That’s... not possible" he murmured.

On the back, an inscription with golden ink said: "For my next life, I know to finish what I started."

Pandora closed the diary, eyes wide open, heart pounding.

The diary begins to record words alone before her... as if being written from beyond.

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The night enveloped the Arkanum Academy like a thick veil of magic and secrets. Raven’s tower - secluded, elegant, full of mirrors and black floating sails - seemed even quieter than usual. Pandora was there, sitting in a chair lined with purple velvet, feeling her heart racing every time her eyes crossed those of Raven.

The vampire fairy was barefoot, dressed only in a long black silk robe that left part of her neck exposed, revealing an ancient crescent-shaped scar. The smell of sandalwood and jasmine in the air was intoxicating.

"What did you see when you touched the relic?" Raven asked, his voice low as a dangerous whisper.

"I... think I was myself. But in another life," Pandora replied, hesitating. "And there was you. And Morgana. And others that I still don’t recognize."

Raven walked slowly to her, kneeling in front of her, his eyes red with the flickering light of candles.

"There is a reason for this." She took out a locket from her neck and opened it before Pandora. Inside, there was a very old drawing: a purple-haired fairy holding a child. "You carry the mark of reincarnation. For centuries, a fairy lineage is chosen to be reborn when the balance between light and darkness is threatened."

Before Pandora could respond, a noise echoed from the bottom of the tower.

Persephone.

The elf had climbed the tower using a levitation spell - and was furious. She found a secret entrance, pushed the door and entered without thinking. His eyes quickly went through the room until they landed on documents scattered on the table.

There were star maps, records of magical lineages... and in the center, a scroll with the title:

"Prophecy of the Lost Daughter"

Persephone felt her stomach turn. The description spoke of a reborn fairy with uncontrollable powers, able to awaken old loves and sleeping enemies.

"So this is what you wanted with her?" the voice of the elf came out cold. "Use it as a key?"

Raven stared at her calmly.

"I’m not wearing it. I’m trying to protect it. From people like you, who see it as possession."

Pandora stood up, confused and tense.

"What’s going on here?"

"You are part of an ancient prophecy, Pandora" Raven replied, without taking her eyes from Persephone. "And there are those who wish to manipulate you because of it."

Persephone took two steps forward, the look still wounded.

"I would never hurt her. I just... wanted to know if I was also part of her destiny."

Pandora felt the weight of words.

It was too much. Too many emotions. Too much information.

Persephone left, without looking back.

Alone with Raven, Pandora felt the air rarefied. The tension between the two vibrated like raw magic.

"Do you trust me?" Raven whispered.

Pandora nodded, even without words.

Raven wrapped her arms, hands cold in contrast to the warm skin of Pandora. Their faces approached each other. Their lips almost touched.

But Pandora retreated, the heart leaping.

"I... I can’t. Not yet."

Raven respected, moving away slowly, although the eyes still asked for more.

"It’s okay. I wait."

Pandora tried to take a deep breath, but the air seemed to fail. The room spun.

Raven held her before she fell.

"Pandora?"

She fainted in the teacher’s arms, her eyes rolling slowly.

And then the dream.

It was in a flowery field, shrouded in mist. A little girl with violet eyes and black hair ran to her with a smile.

“Mom!”

Pandora recognized her.

Lili.

The daughter of Raven.

But... why did she call it that?

Lili’s voice echoes in the dream...

"You promised to come back to me."