Every story begins somewhere.

Some begin with a birth.

Some begin with a victory.

And some begin with a loss.

Sia's story began with a tragedy.

The rain poured heavily outside as four-year-old Sia sat in a hospital waiting room. Her small hands tightly held her favorite teddy bear while strangers walked around her.

She didn't understand what was happening.

People were crying.

Doctors were whispering.

Everyone looked sad.

A woman knelt beside her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Sia..." she said softly.

The little girl looked up.

"Your parents had an accident."

Sia blinked.

"Where are Mommy and Daddy?"

The woman hesitated.

Tears appeared in her eyes.

"They're gone."

The words meant nothing to Sia at first.

Gone?

Where?

When were they coming back?

Nobody answered her questions.

That night changed her life forever.

Twenty years later...

The sound of thunder echoed outside.

Sia stood on a wooden chair in front of an old cupboard.

Dust covered every corner of the room.

"Why do I always get stuck cleaning?" she muttered.

She reached toward the top shelf and pulled down several old boxes.

One slipped from her hands.

"Ah!"

Crash!

The box fell onto the floor.

Papers scattered everywhere.

Sia groaned.

"Great."

She jumped down and began picking everything up.

As she cleaned, something strange caught her attention.

Behind the cupboard was a small crack in the wooden wall.

She frowned.

"Was that always there?"

Curious, she pushed against it.

Click.

A hidden compartment opened.

Sia froze.

"What?"

Inside the compartment lay a single book covered in dust.

It looked ancient.

The black cover was faded with age.

Across the front were written golden letters.

LEGENDS.

Sia carefully picked it up.

The moment her fingers touched the cover, a strange feeling ran through her body.

For a second, she thought she heard whispers.

Then the feeling vanished.

"Okay... that's creepy."

She laughed nervously.

The book felt surprisingly heavy.

Almost important.

She carried it to her desk and opened the first page.

It was a comic.

Beautiful illustrations filled every page.

Knights.

Monsters.

Magic.

Castles floating among clouds.

The artwork was incredible.

As Sia continued reading, she became completely absorbed in the story.

Hours passed without her noticing.

Then she reached a page that made her stop.

Her smile disappeared.

The comic showed two characters standing in front of a castle.

A man and a woman.

Something about them felt familiar.

Very familiar.

Sia stared at the drawing.

Her heart suddenly began racing.

"No way..."

The woman looked exactly like her mother.

The man looked exactly like her father.

She quickly grabbed an old family photo from her desk drawer.

Her hands trembled.

The resemblance was impossible.

Same faces.

Same smiles.

Same eyes.

It couldn't be a coincidence.

Could it?

Sia turned another page.

Then another.

And another.

The more she read, the more frightened she became.

The characters weren't just similar to her parents.

They were her parents.

Their names.

Their appearance.

Everything matched.

"What is this...?"

She whispered.

The room suddenly felt colder.

A terrible feeling settled in her chest.

Her eyes moved to the next page.

There, written in a speech bubble, were words that changed everything.

"We have to find a way back to the real world."

Sia froze.

Her breath stopped.

The comic slipped from her hands and hit the desk.

The real world?

Her mind raced.

This had to be some kind of joke.

Some weird coincidence.

Nothing more.

Yet deep down, she knew something wasn't right.

Slowly, she picked up the comic again.

For the next several minutes, she read in complete silence.

Each page revealed another impossible truth.

A magical world.

A prison.

A powerful hero named Keal.

And two people trapped far from home.

Her parents.

The people she had believed were dead for twenty years.

By the time she reached the final page, tears filled her eyes.

One sentence was written at the bottom.

"To be continued..."

Sia stared at the words.

The story wasn't finished.

Which meant...

Her parents' fate wasn't finished either.

For the first time in twenty years, hope appeared in her heart.

A dangerous hope.

A foolish hope.

But hope nonetheless.

She slowly closed the book.

Outside, lightning flashed across the sky.

At that exact moment, the golden title on the cover began glowing.

Sia's eyes widened.

The room started shaking.

The comic opened by itself.

Its pages turned rapidly.

Wind exploded through the room.

"What is happening?!"

A bright light burst from the center of the book.

Sia stumbled backward.

The light grew larger and larger until it formed a glowing doorway in the middle of her room.

A doorway to somewhere else.

Somewhere impossible.

The comic's pages stopped turning.

Silence filled the room.

Then a voice echoed from inside the portal.

A voice she hadn't heard in twenty years.

"Sia..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

It sounded exactly like her mother's voice.

To be continued...

"Sia..."

The voice echoed from inside the glowing portal.

Sia's heart stopped.

For a moment, she couldn't move.

It sounded exactly like her mother.

The same gentle voice she remembered from her childhood.

The same voice she had not heard in twenty years.

Tears filled her eyes.

"Mom...?"

The room remained silent.

The portal shimmered with golden light.

Sia slowly stepped closer.

Every instinct told her to run.

This was impossible.

People didn't come back from the dead.

Magic portals didn't appear in bedrooms.

Comic books weren't supposed to glow.

Yet everything was happening right in front of her.

The book on the table suddenly flipped open by itself.

Its pages moved rapidly until they stopped at a single illustration.

Sia looked down.

The picture showed a giant castle surrounded by dark clouds.

At the very bottom of the page, new words slowly appeared.

"The story awaits its missing reader."

"What does that even mean?" Sia whispered.

The letters vanished.

Then another sentence appeared.

"Enter."

A cold chill ran through her body.

Before she could react, someone knocked loudly on her front door.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sia jumped.

The portal disappeared instantly.

The room became quiet again.

Only the comic remained.

Confused, Sia rushed downstairs and opened the door.

Standing outside was David.

Her childhood friend.

His hair was soaked from the rain.

"You took forever," he complained.

Then he noticed her expression.

"What happened?"

Sia hesitated.

Nobody would believe her.

At least, that's what she thought.

"David... I need to show you something."

Ten minutes later, they sat in her room.

David listened silently as Sia explained everything.

The hidden compartment.

The comic.

Her parents.

The portal.

The mysterious voice.

When she finished, David stared at her.

Then he laughed.

Sia crossed her arms.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"No, no," David said. "I'm trying to figure out whether you're joking."

"I'm serious."

David looked at the comic.

"Okay. Let's pretend this is real."

Suddenly, the comic began glowing again.

Both of them froze.

"Did you do that?" David asked.

"No."

The pages flipped open.

A powerful wind filled the room.

David's eyes widened.

"Okay... I believe you now."

The portal appeared once more.

Larger than before.

Golden light poured across the room.

Neither of them spoke.

The impossible was standing right in front of them.

David carefully approached it.

"What if this really leads somewhere?"

"What if it's dangerous?" Sia asked.

David looked at her.

"What if your parents are actually in there?"

The question hit her hard.

For twenty years, she had believed they were dead.

Now there was even the smallest chance they were alive.

Could she really ignore it?

No.

She couldn't.

Sia took a deep breath.

"I'm going."

David blinked.

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

"Into the magical portal?"

"Yes."

"Inside the mysterious comic book?"

"Yes."

David rubbed his face.

"This is officially the craziest day of my life."

Despite his words, he smiled.

Then he held out his hand.

"If you're going, you're not going alone."

Sia smiled for the first time that evening.

Together they stepped toward the portal.

The light became brighter.

The air around them vibrated.

Suddenly the comic's pages began turning wildly.

A strange symbol appeared in the center of the portal.

The room shook.

"Something's wrong," David said.

Before either of them could move, a powerful force burst from the portal.

The floor beneath them cracked.

The comic flew into the air.

And for a split second, Sia saw something inside the portal.

A pair of glowing red eyes.

Watching her.

Waiting.

Then a deep voice echoed from the other side.

"The reader has finally arrived."

The portal exploded with light.

To be continued...

The portal exploded with light.

Sia instinctively covered her eyes.

A powerful force pulled her forward.

"SIA!" David shouted.

She reached out for him, but everything around her became a blur.

The room disappeared.

The light swallowed everything.

Then suddenly—

Silence.

Sia fell onto soft grass.

"Ow..."

She slowly opened her eyes.

Above her stretched a bright blue sky unlike anything she had ever seen. Floating islands drifted among the clouds, and giant birds soared through the air.

For a moment, she simply stared.

"This isn't possible..."

She sat up.

The portal was gone.

Her bedroom was gone.

Everything she had ever known was gone.

She was inside the world of Legends.

"Sia!"

A familiar voice called out.

She turned and saw David lying a few feet away.

"You made it!" she said.

David stood up and looked around.

Then he looked around again.

Then a third time.

"Okay," he said. "Either we're dreaming or we've officially lost our minds."

Sia laughed nervously.

Before she could answer, a loud roar echoed across the valley.

Both of them froze.

"What was that?" David whispered.

Another roar followed.

This one was much closer.

The ground trembled.

Something huge was approaching.

The grass suddenly parted as a giant wolf-like creature emerged from the forest.

Its eyes glowed yellow.

Sharp teeth filled its mouth.

And it was staring directly at them.

"Sia..."

"Yes?"

"Run."

The monster charged.

Both of them screamed and sprinted away.

The creature chased them across the field.

Its footsteps shook the ground.

"It's getting closer!" David yelled.

"I noticed!"

The monster leaped.

Just as it was about to reach them—

A flash of silver crossed the air.

Slash!

The creature crashed to the ground.

Everything became quiet.

Sia and David stared in shock.

A young man stood between them and the monster.

He looked about their age.

Messy golden hair.

Bright green eyes.

A sword hung loosely in his hand.

The stranger smiled.

"Wow. You two are terrible at surviving."

David pointed at the monster.

"It was trying to eat us!"

"Exactly."

The boy nodded.

"Which is why running in a straight line was a bad idea."

Sia blinked.

The stranger seemed completely relaxed despite the giant monster lying behind him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The boy grinned.

"My name is Aries."

Sia froze.

Aries.

She remembered that name.

He was one of the characters from the comic.

The cheerful friend of the legendary hero Keal.

Before she could say anything, Aries tilted his head.

His smile disappeared.

"You look exactly like her."

Sia's heart skipped a beat.

"Like who?"

Aries stared at her.

"The little girl from the prophecy."

A strange expression crossed his face.

"As expected..."

"What are you talking about?" David asked.

Aries looked toward the distant mountains.

Far away stood a dark castle surrounded by storm clouds.

Even from this distance, it felt threatening.

Aries sighed.

"I was hoping I wouldn't meet you this soon."

Sia stepped forward.

"You know who I am?"

"Yes."

Aries looked directly into her eyes.

"I know who you are."

The wind suddenly grew colder.

"And if you're here..."

His expression became serious.

"Then Keal will know too."

Far away, inside the dark castle, a man sat upon a black throne.

Golden eyes slowly opened.

A mysterious smile appeared on his face.

"The reader has arrived."

Keal stood up.

At that moment, every candle in the castle extinguished itself.

"Interesting."

To be continued...