Chapter 10 - THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHINGEthan stared at the photograph.
Princess Eleanor held the note with trembling hands.
"DO NOT TRUST ETHAN."
He could barely breathe.
Roland stepped toward him.
"Explain."
Ethan shook his head.
"I don't know!"
King Edward descended the throne steps.
His expression had changed.
The hope was still there.
But now it was mixed with suspicion.
"Why would Eleanor write that?"
Ethan looked toward the phone.
"I've never seen this picture before."
Roland frowned.
"Then perhaps the princess knows something you don't."
Ethan felt cold.
What if Eleanor had remembered more than she admitted?
What if she knew about the portal?
About Adrian?
About Ethan himself?
He tried to remember their conversations.
The university lecture.
The pendant.
The chapel.
Then something surfaced.
On the day they met, Eleanor had asked him a strange question.
"Have we met before?"
Ethan had laughed.
"No."
But Eleanor seemed unsettled.
She said his face felt familiar.
Ethan assumed it was a coincidence.
Now he wondered.
What if they had met before?
In another century?
Another timeline?
He looked toward the king.
"Your Majesty, I think Eleanor remembers me."
Edward frowned.
"From where?"
Ethan swallowed.
"I don't know."
Roland looked toward the photograph.
"Perhaps from the future."
Ethan nodded slowly.
Then the phone vibrated.
A new image appeared.
It showed Eleanor standing inside the throne hall.
But she was not alone.
Beside her stood Ethan.
He wore the same gray hoodie.
The same black jeans.
And around his neck hung the golden sun pendant.
Ethan stared.
"That's impossible."
Edward stepped closer.
"Why are you wearing my daughter's necklace?"
Ethan shook his head.
"I don't know!"
Roland looked toward the screen.
Then noticed something.
The photograph showed a different throne.
The golden crown was missing.
The royal banners had changed.
And behind Ethan stood a man wearing a black cloak.
Adrian.
Roland's expression darkened.
"Your Majesty..."
Edward stared.
The photograph seemed to show Ethan standing beside Adrian.
Not as a prisoner.
Not as an enemy.
But as an ally.
The king's face hardened.
"You have been working with my brother."
Ethan stepped backward.
"No!"
Edward reached for his sword.
Roland raised a hand.
"Your Majesty, wait."
The king turned.
"Why?"
Roland looked toward the phone.
"Because the photographs may be lies."
Edward hesitated.
Ethan nodded desperately.
"Exactly!"
Roland continued.
"If Adrian controls the images, he may be trying to turn us against one another."
Edward slowly lowered his hand.
But the suspicion remained.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Then noticed something.
In the photograph, the golden pendant around his neck was glowing.
The same blue light as the portal.
He looked closer.
There were twelve small symbols engraved around the pendant.
One was illuminated.
Ethan remembered the chapel carvings.
Twelve symbols.
Twelve positions.
Perhaps they represented different moments in time.
He looked toward Roland.
"The pendant is more than a key."
The knight frowned.
"What?"
Ethan raised the phone.
"It's a control device."
Edward stared.
"Explain."
Ethan took a slow breath.
"The Sun Gate might not just open randomly."
He pointed toward the symbols.
"These markings could determine where—and when—it opens."
Roland looked surprised.
"Then Eleanor could choose a destination."
Ethan nodded.
"Yes."
Edward stepped forward.
"Then why did she arrive five hundred years in the future?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Maybe she didn't choose it."
The king frowned.
"Then who did?"
Ethan looked toward Adrian.
The prince had been traveling through time for decades.
He knew how to use the gate.
He had taken Eleanor to the future.
And he had somehow erased her memories.
Ethan felt cold.
"Adrian."
Roland nodded.
"That explains why she was found near the chapel ruins."
Edward's expression hardened.
"Then we must stop him."
Ethan looked toward the phone.
But another question troubled him.
If Adrian controlled the gate, why had Ethan been sent into the past?
Why had the portal opened beneath the ruined chapel at the exact moment he entered?
Why had it brought him directly before King Edward?
And why did the photographs keep changing?
Ethan looked toward the king.
"Your Majesty, I think someone wanted me to come here."
Edward frowned.
"Who?"
Ethan hesitated.
Then whispered:
"Eleanor."
Roland stared.
"What?"
Ethan continued.
"She may have sent me."
Edward looked toward the phone.
"Why?"
Ethan swallowed.
"Because she couldn't come herself."
The hall fell silent.
Then the phone began glowing.
A bright blue light spread across the screen.
Ethan stepped backward.
Roland reached for his sword.
King Edward stared.
"What is happening?"
Ethan looked at the device.
The photographs disappeared.
A live video appeared.
Princess Eleanor.
She was standing inside a modern room.
Her dark hair fell across her shoulders.
The golden sun pendant hung around her neck.
Her face was filled with fear.
Ethan froze.
"Eleanor?"
She looked directly into the camera.
"Ethan!"
His heart pounded.
"You can see me?"
She nodded.
"Yes!"
King Edward stepped closer.
He stared at the screen.
For the first time in seven years, he saw his daughter moving.
Breathing.
Speaking.
Alive.
"Eleanor..."
The princess froze.
Her eyes widened.
"Father?"
Edward's face crumpled.
"My daughter..."
Eleanor began crying.
"Father!"
The king reached toward the screen.
His fingers touched the glass.
Ethan watched in silence.
For a moment, five hundred years seemed to disappear.
A father and daughter were speaking again.
But Eleanor suddenly looked over her shoulder.
Her expression changed.
"Ethan, listen carefully."
He nodded.
"What's wrong?"
She spoke quickly.
"Adrian knows you're there."
Ethan felt cold.
Roland stepped closer.
Eleanor continued.
"He sent you to the king."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
She nodded.
"The portal wasn't an accident."
King Edward looked toward Roland.
Ethan stared.
"Why would he send me?"
Eleanor's voice trembled.
"Because he needs you to bring my father to the gate."
The king's expression hardened.
Roland drew a sharp breath.
Ethan looked toward the screen.
"Then why did you tell us not to trust me?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"I didn't write that note."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
She continued.
"Adrian made it."
Roland looked toward the king.
The photographs had been manipulated.
Just as Ethan suspected.
Eleanor leaned closer.
"Listen. The Sun Gate is not what you think."
Ethan frowned.
"What is it?"
She swallowed.
"A prison."
The hall fell silent.
King Edward stared.
"A prison?"
Eleanor nodded.
"Something was locked inside it centuries ago."
Ethan felt cold.
"What?"
Eleanor looked terrified.
"I don't know its true name."
She paused.
"But Adrian found a way to speak to it."
Roland stepped backward.
Eleanor continued.
"It promised him the power to change history."
King Edward's expression darkened.
"And what did it demand?"
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
"The blood of the royal family."
Edward stared.
Roland looked toward the throne.
Ethan felt sick.
The gate.
The pendant.
The royal bloodline.
The photographs.
Everything was connected.
Eleanor leaned closer.
"Father, you must not enter the chapel."
Edward looked at her.
"My daughter, I cannot leave you there."
She began crying.
"You have to."
The king shook his head.
"No."
Eleanor's voice broke.
"Please!"
Then she looked toward Ethan.
"There's something else."
He swallowed.
"What?"
Eleanor hesitated.
Then whispered:
"You and I have met before."
Ethan froze.
"When?"
She looked over her shoulder.
Someone was approaching.
Eleanor turned back.
"Five hundred years ago."
Ethan stared.
"That's impossible."
She shook her head.
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"You were there the night I disappeared."
Ethan felt his heart stop.
Roland stared.
King Edward looked toward him.
Eleanor continued.
"You helped me open the Sun Gate."
Ethan shook his head.
"I've never been here before today!"
Eleanor began crying.
"You don't remember."
The connection flickered.
Ethan stepped closer.
"Remember what?"
Eleanor looked directly into his eyes.
Then whispered:
"Ethan... you were the one who sent me to the future."
The screen went black.
The throne hall fell silent.
Ethan stood motionless.
King Edward slowly turned toward him.
Roland's hand moved toward his sword.
Ethan stared at the dark phone.
His mind raced.
He had arrived only minutes earlier.
He had never met Eleanor in the past.
He had never opened the Sun Gate with her.
Or had he?
A sharp pain suddenly struck his head.
He stumbled.
A memory flashed.
The chapel.
Blue light.
Eleanor screaming.
A man wearing a black cloak.
And Ethan standing beside the portal.
He heard his own voice.
"RUN, ELEANOR!"
Then another memory.
Roland drawing his sword.
King Edward collapsing.
And the Sun Gate opening.
Ethan gasped.
The vision vanished.
He fell to one knee.
Roland approached.
"Ethan!"
The boy looked up.
His face was pale.
"I remember something."
King Edward stepped closer.
"What?"
Ethan swallowed.
"The night Eleanor disappeared..."
He looked toward the king.
"...I was there."
Edward stared.
Roland froze.
Ethan's voice trembled.
"But something went wrong."
The king's expression hardened.
"What happened?"
Ethan looked toward the golden throne.
Then whispered:
"I think I tried to save her."
Roland stepped closer.
"From whom?"
Ethan slowly raised his eyes.
His face was filled with horror.
"From you."
The throne hall fell silent.
King Edward stared at him.
Then a familiar blue light appeared beneath the golden throne.
The stone floor began trembling.
The torches flickered.
Roland drew his sword.
Ethan stepped backward.
A circular portal opened in the center of the hall.
And through the blue light came a woman's voice.
"Ethan!"
He froze.
"Eleanor?"
The voice continued.
"Don't let him touch the crown!"
King Edward looked toward his golden crown.
Then slowly raised his hand.
Ethan stared.
"Your Majesty..."
The king's expression changed.
His eyes became strangely empty.
Roland stepped between them.
"Your Majesty?"
Edward lowered his head.
Then spoke in a voice that was not his own.
"She remembers."
Ethan stepped backward.
The portal grew brighter.
Roland raised his sword.
And the king smiled.
A cold, unfamiliar smile.
May you like
"Then it is time for her to come home."
TO BE CONTINUED.
