Chapter 1: Not the Chosen Ones

We were nobodies—two girls from Ohio suddenly stuck playing background extras in someone else’s epic. The cheap carpet scratched our bare feet, and the smell of cold pizza lingered from last night. That was home, once—our cluttered apartment where the ceiling fan creaked in lazy circles, tossing odd shadows over the chaos. Back then, survival meant splitting a coupon pizza and hoping for enough tips to keep the lights on. Now? We clung to scraps of comfort in a palace of immortals, both of us still just trying to get by.

Aubrey’s introduction to this world was as the gorgeous side girlfriend of the Crown Prince of the Celestial Court. Back home, Aubrey could stop traffic just by walking down Main Street, all honey-blonde curls and an attitude that could melt steel. Here, she wore silk and jewels, but now, every compliment felt like a trap, and every jewel was just another shackle.

Me? I was always the tagalong, the one people forgot at the end of the night. Here, I was Lillian—pale, quiet, treated like fine china. My claim to fame? A place at the General’s side, for all the good it did. Sometimes I wondered if he even remembered my name when the palace doors closed.

Neither of us was the main woman, but we’d managed to get by on our connections. We’d hustled our way through five centuries, always one step ahead of disaster.

We learned to use what we had—our wits, our looks, our little scraps of leverage. In a world where your worth was written in magic and bloodlines, you hustled hard or you got eaten alive. Five centuries sounds impressive, but it just meant we’d gotten good at ducking trouble.

Then a prodigy showed up and made it to the top.

We’d heard the whispers long before we saw her—a storm was coming, and even the immortals were on edge.

For the first time, the usually unflappable crown prince actually looked surprised.

His cool poker face finally cracked. You know the type—never raises his voice, never loses his chill. Even he looked rattled.

Even the General’s cold, distant stare seemed to flicker.

The General—Caleb—who could stare down a demon lord without blinking, suddenly seemed off his game. His grip tightened around his spear.

Oh crap, the real heroine just entered the scene.

I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the mountain wind. If this was a TV show, the theme music would be blaring right about now, and you’d know the real story was about to begin.