"I waited centuries for eyes like yours… for you to come to me."
Her blood ran cold.
Every hair on her skin stood on end. The voice was like silk soaked in ash. And yet something about it felt buried in her bones. She saw it flashes, the blaze devouring wood and flesh, screams swallowed by crackling fire, hands reaching through smoke, too late.
"No—!" she screamed, shoving him with everything she had.
He barely moved, but it was enough.
Astra scrambled to her feet, breath ragged, heart threatening to break through her chest.
"Who—who are you?!" she shouted, her voice trembling as much as her legs. "What do you want from me?!"
He stepped closer, pausing thoughtfully before speaking, "Don't you remember me?"
"No… I don't know you! Who are you?" she snapped, panic edging her voice.
"You don't remember the first time we met. But I do. I remember everything."
Astra staggered back as her mind flooded with visions she had long tried to deny. She saw again—a sword drenched in blood, its edge gleaming crimson beneath a sky darkened by smoke. Screams tore through the chaos, blending with the crackling fire. Faces, half-burned and twisted in agony, reached out desperately through choking ash.
A voice echoed, low and relentless, whispering her name again and again, dragging her deeper into the nightmare.
Thousands of bodies lay scattered, broken and lifeless, their eyes empty, souls ripped away. The ground itself seemed soaked with sorrow and death, a crimson river flowing endlessly beneath her feet.
The fire surged higher, devouring everything.
She trembled as the echoes of pain and loss crashed over her, the past bleeding into the present with merciless clarity.
"Do you feel it now? The heat in your bones? That is my memory."
"No, I don't feel anything!" she insisted, desperation rising.
He smiled faintly, voice low and heavy. "You do… When the stars turned to ash, they waited for your soul to ripen."
The visions surged violent, merciless crashing through Astra's mind like tidal waves. Her breath hitched as her heart slammed against her ribs, a relentless pounding as if something inside her was breaking open. A raw, guttural sound escaped her throat part gasp, part cry as if her body could no longer contain the pain clawing up from her very bones. And then—something shifted.
Kriya stilled. His breath caught. He saw it. Felt it. The same visions, the same fire. They struck him like lightning, foreign yet searingly familiar.
His chest rose sharply. His expression tightened from pain, from the recognition that shook him to the core. He stumbled for a moment, confusion flickering through his stance… but he didn't let go. He couldn't.
"The seal was a lie," he said, voice strained but steady. "You are the lock… and the key."
Astra shook her head, stepping back denying, resisting but Kriya's grip found her again, pulling her close. The pain only grew more violent. It pressed against them both like a force trying to tear them apart from within.
"You carry my end… and my beginning."
Astra clenched her eyes shut, trembling in his hold. Her breath was shallow, her body rigid with fear and memory.
Kriya faltered. He opened his mouth, but his voice nearly broke. There was something unraveling inside him, a storm rising, echoing through him. Still, he pressed on, drawn by something beyond understanding.
"Every life you lived…" he whispered, his voice hoarse, "every death you faced… in every lifetime, you wandered back to me."
Astra's eyes flew open, locking on him in stunned silence. Her body still trembled, but something else stirred a flicker of recognition.
"Even in ruin," Kriya said, almost a whisper now, "I remembered you."
Astra went still. For a heartbeat, the tremble in her limbs stopped—but his didn't. It only grew. As the clouds shifted and the full moon broke through, casting silver light over them, Kriya dropped to his knees with a choked breath, clutching his chest. His fingers curled into his robes, his breathing sharp and uneven.
Something's wrong.
His thoughts spun, chaotic.
What is this feeling? Why does it hurt like this?
Astra remained frozen, her mind splintered between past and present, unable to make sense of what was real anymore.
Then—
A sound.
She flinched.
It started low, like the wind catching in the trees—then it twisted, warped, and rose into a wave of screams. Hundreds of them. Shrieks of agony, howling in the dark, brutal and ancient and echoing from every direction. The air turned cold in an instant, the kind that cuts deep into bone.
Her blood turned to ice.
Kriya's fists clenched against the earth. He grabbed Astra by the arm, yanking her down beside him. "Leave," he hissed through gritted teeth. "You have to leave."
She couldn't move. Her mind couldn't keep up with what was happening—the sound was everywhere, closer, louder, pressing in like a wall of death. Her chest heaved, sweat dripping cold down her neck as she stared around in horror.
The woods were alive with shadows malicious, formless shapes writhing just beyond the trees.
"What are you doing?!" he growled, positioning himself between her and the encroaching dark. "Leave! Now! Those are malevolent spirits—they'll tear you apart if you let them possess you!"
But she didn't run.
Instead, Astra turned to him, breath caught in her throat. Her hands rose shakily, fingers trembling as they cupped his face. Kriya froze, caught off guard, his words breaking off.
And then—
She pulled the blindfold from his eyes.