Melania awoke from a deep sleep, feeling no fatigue. It seemed as if the very essence of her body had been renewed, filled with new forces that she could not fully understand. However, the inner sense of unease that gripped her heart did not leave.
She stood up, making no unnecessary movements. Her gaze slid across the unfamiliar room, the first time she had seen it. The ceiling was low, and the walls seemed to dissolve into a gray mist. Beneath her feet was not the familiar ground, but only a cold, transparent surface that reflected her figure.
“Are you ready?” whispered a voice. It was familiar, mysterious, as if resonating in the very core of her being. She turned around, and a new spark ignited in her eyes — determination, something that had been on the edge of her abilities until now.
“For what?” she asked quietly, her voice echoing as though the room itself was alive and listening to every word.
Suddenly, out of the mist before her, a figure appeared. It was a woman, her face young, but her eyes were deep, like an ocean, hiding an endless wisdom. She wore clothes embroidered with strange symbols that seemed to change with every movement.
“You cannot go back, Melania,” the woman said, her voice calm but firm. “We change the world when we change ourselves, but sometimes that can destroy everything we once knew.”
Melania stepped forward, her hands almost touching the surface, which seemed crystal clear yet had some invisible weight.
“But I don’t want to destroy… I want to create,” she replied, trying to find a voice that didn’t sound so doubtful.
The woman smiled, and a flicker of regret flashed in her eyes.
“Creation can only come when you are willing to be part of destruction. Everything that was must be absorbed by the new, or else there will be no room for the old.”
Melania closed her eyes, and in her heart, a deep sense of unease settled. She understood: to change the world, she needed to dive into the very depths of its darkness, become part of it — but was she ready?
Suddenly, the space around her shifted. The mist cleared, and before Melania appeared another figure — a young man with dark, night-like hair and a gaze that sent an unknown chill down her spine. He stood at the threshold, his eyes betraying something she could not understand.
“Is it you?” she asked.
The man nodded, his movements light and quick, as if he had long been a part of this place.
“I am the one who came to change your decisions,” he said, and his voice was calm, yet there was a power in it that could break any barrier. “We can become allies, or… enemies.”
Melania couldn’t take her eyes off his, in which something dark yet alluring reflected. What did he want? What truly lay behind his words?
“But why you?” she asked, her voice firm, though she felt fear in every cell of her body. “You were with them. You were part of what I had to destroy.”
The man smiled, and there was something mysterious in his smile.
“I was part of what we had to destroy, but not what you seek to change. Changes, Melania, begin with your willingness to become part of destruction in order to build the new.” His voice grew more serious, his eyes not leaving hers. “You want to change the world, but your changes will not just be yours. They will touch everyone.”
She shut her eyes and realized that the choice before her was not going to be simple. To change everything, she would have to change herself, become part of this world, even if it meant leaving behind all that she had once loved.
“To be a creator, one must be able to be a destroyer,” those words echoed in her mind.
And then, before her, the doors unfolded again, but they were not simply entrance doors. They were a choice, the choice that had to be made now. Only through accepting destruction could Melania continue on her path.
Her hand stretched forward, and she touched the door. Every movement of hers felt heavy, as if reality itself was twisting around her, as if fate was becoming part of her.
“I am ready,” she said, and her voice was confident despite all the doubts still lingering in her heart.
The doors slowly opened, and the darkness beyond them greeted her with coldness, but also with an invitation to a new path.