Light swallowed Aerin whole.
Not harsh, not burning — but impossibly soft. Like the first breath of dawn stretching across a world waking from centuries of sleep. She felt weightless for a moment, suspended between two heartbeats that did not quite belong to the same life.
She blinked.
And the forest was gone.
Instead, she stood on a vast expanse of shimmering dusk. There was no sky, no ground — only an endless horizon of muted blues and violets swirling like ink in water. Wisps of golden mist curled around her ankles, warm and alive.
Aerin turned slowly."Where… am I?"
Her voice didn't echo. It simply drifted away, caught by the strange, soundless air.
Then she felt it — a presence, soft but powerful, brushing against her thoughts.
"You stand between worlds."
Aerin spun around.
And froze.
The woman from her visions stood only a few steps away, robes flowing as if moved by a wind that didn't exist here. She radiated calm authority — but also something impossibly gentle. Something aching.
Her identical face — older, sharper, timeless — made Aerin's breath falter.
"Y-you…"Words failed her.
The woman smiled — a soft, knowing curve of the lips that felt like déjà vu.
"At last," she said quietly. "You've returned to me."
Aerin took an involuntary step back."No. I don't even know you."
The woman's expression didn't change, but something flickered in her eyes — grief, maybe. Or longing.
"But you did once."
Aerin clenched her fists.
"Who are you?"
The woman's answer was simple.
"I am Elowen."Aerin's breath caught."The First Heir of the Heart of Wishes.The girl you used to be."
Aerin stiffened, pulse hammering.
"That's impossible. I'm not— I'm not you. I don't remember any of this. I don't remember being anyone else."
Elowen approached slowly, and though she moved with regal grace, there was no threat in her steps — only old familiarity.
"Memory is a delicate thing," Elowen murmured."It can be scattered. Hidden. Even buried by time itself. But identity…"
She gently pressed her fingertips to Aerin's chest — over her heart.
"…identity persists."
Aerin felt heat bloom under her skin, as if something awakened deep within her. Her breath hitched, and she stepped back sharply.
"Stop. Just stop." Her voice cracked. "If I'm really you, then why am I here now? Why did everything fall apart? Why does the forest need me again?"
Elowen exhaled like someone carrying centuries of regret.
"Because I failed."
Aerin's throat tightened.
Elowen looked past her, into the swirling dark.
"The night the forest burned…"Her voice trembled."…I couldn't protect what I was meant to. My power fractured. My soul scattered."
She placed a hand over her own heart.
"And pieces of me were reborn — again and again — waiting for the time the forest would call us home."
Aerin's mind spun.
"So I'm just… one more incarnation? Another attempt?"
Elowen smiled sadly.
"No. You are the last. The one meant to finish what I could not."
Aerin swallowed hard.
"And Kael? What does he have to do with any of this?"
Elowen hesitated.
"Ah," she whispered. "Him."
Aerin's breath caught.
"You know him."
"I knew who he would become," Elowen corrected softly. "The Guardian of the Veil. Bound to the Heir. Bound to you."
Aerin's stomach twisted.Bound? How? Why?And why did Kael look at her sometimes like he feared himself?
"Tell me everything," Aerin said firmly. "No more riddles. No more half-answers. Start at the beginning."
Elowen gave a small, almost approving nod — like she had been waiting for Aerin to demand the truth.
She lifted her hand, and the space around them shimmered.
The swirling horizon flickered — and slowly transformed.
Aerin found herself standing in a vibrant forest, lush and golden, sunlight spilling like liquid honey through the branches. Birds with silver-tipped feathers glided above. Flowers glowed softly at their feet.
"This…" Aerin whispered. "This is—"
"The Forest of Wishes," Elowen finished. "Before it fell."
The beauty stole Aerin's breath.
Elowen walked forward, trailing her fingers through glowing leaves.
"Long ago, the forest thrived on harmony — between magic, memories, and those chosen to guard its heart."
Aerin frowned."Chosen? By who?"
Elowen smiled faintly.
"By the forest itself."
Images rippled through the air — a young Elowen receiving a crown of woven starlight, vows spoken under a moonlit canopy, a boy with storm-grey eyes bowing before her—
Aerin stiffened.
"Is that—"
"Kael," Elowen confirmed gently."In his first life."
Aerin's pulse thundered.
Elowen's voice softened.
"He was bound to protect me. And I… I trusted him with everything."
Aerin felt a pang she couldn't explain — jealousy? sadness?Something deeper?
Elowen's expression darkened.
"But when the forest foresaw its own destruction, chaos seized our people. A power older than magic sought to claim the Heart of Wishes. And Kael—"
Her breath hitched.
Aerin leaned forward. "What did he do?"
Elowen closed her eyes.
"He hesitated."
Aerin blinked.
"That's it?"
Elowen nodded.
"In the moment I needed him most… he hesitated. And everything fell apart."
Aerin stepped back, shocked.
Kael? Hesitate? The boy who acted without thinking? The one who would throw himself into danger before she could even stop him?
"That doesn't make sense," Aerin whispered. "Kael isn't like that."
Elowen shook her head softly.
"He is human. He makes mistakes. Even those bound by destiny falter."
The scene shifted.
Flames devoured the golden forest. The Heart pulsed weakly in Elowen's hands. Kael ran toward her, injured, bleeding — too late.
Too late to save her.Too late to save the forest.Too late to save himself.
Aerin felt tears burn in her eyes.
"Elowen…" her voice trembled. "I'm sorry."
Elowen reached out and brushed a tear from Aerin's cheek.
"Do not grieve for me. I have lived my life. You must live yours — but not trapped in my shadow."
Aerin stared at her.
"You brought me here to show me all of this. But I still don't understand why it had to be me. Why this keeps happening. Why I keep feeling like I'm someone I don't even know how to be."
Elowen smiled, a soft, aching expression.
"Because you are not meant to become me."
Aerin blinked.
"You're meant," Elowen finished,"to surpass me."
Aerin inhaled sharply — a deep, steady breath that felt like taking control of her own destiny for the first time.
The forest around them began fading, replaced by the swirling in-between world.
Elowen's form grew faint.
"Aerin," she said, voice already distant,"the archway will open again when the truth is ready for you. But be warned—"
Her eyes darkened.
"Not everyone will want you to remember."
Aerin's heart lurched."Who—?"
But Elowen was already fading.
"Trust Liora… and trust the boy whose eyes have always found you."
The world shattered into white light—
—and Aerin gasped awake in the clearing, body trembling, Liora holding her desperately.
"Aerin! You were gone for so long!"
Aerin couldn't speak yet.Her breath shook.Her heart raced.
Because one thought thundered louder than all the rest:
Kael knew something.Something he had been hiding.Something Elowen had not finished saying.
And Aerin wasn't sure whether the truth would save them—
—or break them apart.