The morning after Ayden spoke to Elira, Edenvale didn't feel the same.
The sky shimmered strangely, and shadows clung to places they had no right to be. Streetlights flickered even in daylight. The air was charged with something... unnatural.
Kael felt it instantly.
"The barrier between realms is thinning," she muttered as she walked beside Zion.
Zion nodded grimly. "The moment Ayden remembered Elira, the Void marked her soul again. She's not just a forgotten girl now—she's an unclaimed soul with a key to both realms."
Kael stopped in her tracks. "They're going to try to take her."
Zion nodded. "And if they do… they'll have a gate strong enough to consume your bond with Ayden."
Kael's wings—still invisible to human eyes—shivered beneath her skin.
> She would not let Elira be taken.
Even if it meant facing the cost of her greatest mistake.
---
Meanwhile – Ayden and Elira
Ayden met Elira again—this time at the abandoned greenhouse near the outskirts of town.
She stood among the broken vines, ghostly and glowing, her feet not quite touching the ground.
"You remembered me," she whispered.
"I see you now," Ayden replied. "Not just in dreams. In real time."
Elira smiled, then her expression flickered with sorrow. "But I'm not real anymore. I'm a memory shaped like a girl."
Ayden reached out. "You feel real to me."
The moment their fingers almost touched, the ground shook violently—cracking like a mirror.
A black ripple shot through the air.
> A rift.
Ayden turned sharply. "Did I do that?"
"No," Elira whispered. "They found me."
---
The Rift Opens
Black mist slithered from the sky, tearing open like a wound.
A voice crawled through the air, low and venomous:
> "There you are, little ghost."
Lucien stepped through the rift—no longer in human form. His eyes were blazing voidfire, and dark wings stretched behind him, skeletal and endless.
Kael and Zion arrived seconds later.
Kael's breath caught as she saw Elira—glowing, fragile, and terrified.
"Elira, get away from him!" she cried.
But Lucien raised a hand. "Too late."
Chains of shadow leapt from the rift, coiling toward Elira.
Ayden acted on instinct. His sigil burned bright—and this time, his body moved without thought.
> He stood in front of Elira and unleashed a wall of pure celestial light.
The shadows hissed and recoiled.
Lucien narrowed his eyes.
"You're evolving," he growled. "No matter. You can't protect them both."
---
Revelation – The Fracture of the Star
Kael stepped between Lucien and the others, her own wings unfurling in a burst of radiant gold.
"You won't take her," she said, eyes glowing.
Lucien smirked. "Still trying to rewrite fate, Kaelith? What happens when the boy finds out the real reason you fell?"
Kael's jaw tightened.
Ayden looked between them. "What does he mean?"
Lucien's smile grew wicked. "She didn't just sacrifice Elira's fate. She broke the celestial law in a deeper way. She didn't fall… Kael chose to fall—because she couldn't bear watching you die again."
Ayden froze. "Again?"
Kael's voice was barely a whisper.
> "You've died before, Ayden. In a thousand timelines. I kept saving you. Over and over. Until the universe broke."
Ayden's breath hitched.
"And that's why she's fading now," Lucien finished. "Because this time… you're meant to choose. Her. Or Elira."