Chapter 3: The Path to the Floating Gardens

The city was behind her now. The velvet-lined theaters, the golden chandeliers, the carefully curated life—Lira had left them all beneath a sky that stretched infinitely ahead. The world beyond the lights of fame was quieter, but it thrummed with a different kind of energy, one that pulsed beneath her feet as she walked.

Nova flitted ahead, darting between the silver branches of towering trees. The further they traveled, the stranger the landscape became. The air smelled like rain before it falls, and the stars above shimmered in colors she had never seen before—soft lilacs, deep sapphires, and streaks of molten gold.

"The Floating Gardens aren’t exactly a place you find," Nova mused, glancing back at her. "They’re a place that lets you in. If you’re ready."

Lira pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders. "And how do I know if I’m ready?"

Nova stopped midair, hovering just above a stream that moved as though it were breathing. "You don’t," he said simply. "That’s the point."

Lira frowned, kneeling beside the water. It was clear, but not like any river she had ever seen. The surface didn’t just reflect the world—it shifted with it, as though the sky and the earth were painting something new with every ripple. When she reached out to touch it, a voice curled through the air like mist.

"Tell us a secret," the river whispered.

Lira pulled her hand back. "Did that water just—?"

"Yep," Nova said, perching on a rock. "Rivers here don’t take kindly to strangers. You’ll have to give them something if you want to pass."

Lira hesitated. A secret. What could she possibly offer? She had spent years letting the world believe they knew her, letting them write her story for her. But the truth? That had always belonged to her alone.

She looked into the water, into the reflection of a woman she was still learning to recognize. Then, she exhaled.

"I don’t know if I was ever meant to be a star," she admitted softly. "I love it—the films, the stories—but I never felt like I belonged to them. Like I was always waiting for something else."

The river stilled. Then, with a shimmer of violet light, the water parted, revealing a stone path beneath its surface.

Nova gave her an approving look. "Well, would you look at that?" he said, leaping onto her shoulder. "Looks like you just opened the door."

Lira stepped forward, her boots skimming over the stones, the path stretching further than she could see. The Floating Gardens were waiting.

And for the first time, she wasn’t afraid of what she might find.