A voice, soft and warm yet carrying the weight of eternity, echoed through the endless darkness.
"My child... I ask you once more. Do you truly wish to become one of them?"
In the vast, starless void, a celestial goddess cradled a delicate, porcelain doll in its luminous hands. The doll was small, fragile a creation never meant to feel. Yet, she seemed to pulse with an unnatural yearning, her hollow eyes holding a silent plea. The goddess watched her with an unreadable expression, a being of infinite power faced with a soul that shouldn't exist.
"Your wish is my command," the goddess murmured, its voice carrying both sorrow and reverence. "But remember... this is a gift, not a mercy. And it may become a curse."
The goddess's hand lowered, and the darkness shattered.
A radiant town emerged, bathed in golden sunlight. Laughter danced through the streets. Families gathered, warmth and joy overflowing as children's giggles filled the air. It was the image of a perfect dream ,untouchable, beautiful.
But dreams don't last.
The sun dimmed. Shadows slithered from the corners of the scene, twisting the town into something rotten. The cheerful streets decayed into filth and misery. Drunkards staggered aimlessly. Dark figures prowled the alleys, eyes glinting with malice. A body — a child — lay crumpled on the ground, ignored by passersby too numb or cruel to care. The air grew thick, heavy with despair.
"When you open your eyes," the goddess voice resonated, now colder, "you will awaken to a world far crueler than the one you imagine. This is the truth of humanity — broken, selfish, and unforgiving."
From the abyss, a flicker of light emerged — a tiny, pure-white soul, untouched by the surrounding darkness. Innocent. Unblemished. Yet it didn't belong. It was never meant to exist.
The vision shifted again.
A child's laughter filled the air — bright, careless. A little girl held the doll, making her dance with tiny, delighted hands. The room was warm and filled with toys. But the doll felt nothing. She couldn't. No joy, no freedom — only the endless pull of another's will, forced to move but never to live.
She was never her own.
Time passed. The doll, once cherished, now lay abandoned in a dusty box. Forgotten. Buried beneath old toys and fading memories. The world moved on without her.
More time passed. She sat on a store shelf, surrounded by newer, prettier dolls. No one chose her. Though her painted smile never faltered, something deeper — something wrong — wept inside her. A sorrow no human could hear.
She despaired. And in her despair, she unknowingly called out.
Something answered.
The void parted, shimmering with celestial light. The goddess returned, gazing at her tiny, broken soul with something that looked like pity.
"I will make you human," it spoke softly, "though I know it may destroy you. But before I grant this... let me give you a second gift. A true gift. Tell me, child... what do you wish for?"
The light in the goddess 's hands shifted. The doll's form dissolved, reshaping into that of a small, fragile baby, her soul flickering gently like a newborn flame.
From the depths of her being, a voice — her voice — emerged.
"I have no other wish," she whispered. "Only to be human. But... if you must give me something more... give me a name that belongs to me alone. I swear... with that name, I will carve my place in history."
The goddes was silent for a long moment. Then, with a tender, almost sorrowful smile, it spoke.
"So be it. Your name shall be..."
A pause, heavy with the weight of fate itself.
"Riona."
And with that, the light swallowed her whole.
She fell.