The night smelled like rain and smoke.
By the time I found him again, the city had gone quiet, the storm clouds low and heavy over the skyline. Elias sat on the steps of an abandoned train station, his coat torn, blood still dripping down his side.
He didn't look up when I approached. "You shouldn't have followed me."
I hesitated. "You're bleeding."
He gave a small, humorless laugh. "I've been bleeding for centuries."
The words sounded too heavy to be a metaphor.
I crouched beside him anyway, searching for something a way to help, or maybe just an excuse to stay close. "Let me see the wound."
Elias turned his head, eyes catching the faint orange light of a streetlamp. "It's fine."
"It's not fine," I said, pulling the torn fabric of his shirt aside before he could stop me. The sight made my breath hitch. The wound wasn't normal it pulsed with faint blue veins, as if the blood itself was alive.
He flinched. "It'll heal."
"Not like that." I reached out instinctively, placing my hand just above it. Warmth spread beneath my palm. The silver lines under my skin began to glow again.
He caught my wrist too late. The light flowed from me into him.
Elias cursed under his breath, eyes squeezing shut as the energy surged through him. Then, slowly, the wound began to close the glow fading, leaving behind smooth, unbroken skin.
I pulled my hand back, trembling. "Did I just"
"Heal me," he finished softly. "Yes."
The silence that followed was heavy, the only sound the rain starting to fall around us. Elias looked down at his now-unmarked chest, then back at me.
"That's not something you should be able to do," he murmured. "The magic that heals... it's ancient. Forbidden."
"I didn't mean to."
"I know." He met my eyes, and for a moment, there was no coldness there only exhaustion. "You're remembering more, aren't you?"
I swallowed. "Just flashes. A battlefield. Fire. A promise."
Elias's gaze softened. "You always did keep your promises."
Something in the way he said it made my heart ache like a memory I couldn't quite touch.
I sat beside him, watching the rain streak across the broken glass windows. "You said I replaced someone. That I wasn't supposed to exist. Is that what they're hunting me for?"
Elias leaned back against the steps, closing his eyes. "You died once defying the gods. Now they've sent mortals to finish what they couldn't."
"So this isn't just about me."
"No," he said quietly. "It's about what you are to them."
"What am I?"
He opened his eyes then, and the look he gave me wasn't anger or fear it was something closer to reverence. "You're the one thing this world wasn't supposed to remember."
Lightning flashed across the sky, painting his face in white light.
I wanted to ask what that meant, but something about the moment stopped me. The air between us was thick, charged, the rain soaking through our clothes but neither of us moving.
He reached up suddenly, brushing a strand of wet hair from my forehead. The touch was brief, almost uncertain, but it sent a jolt straight through me.
"You shouldn't look at me like that," he said, voice low.
"Like what?"
"Like you still love me."
My breath caught. "Maybe I don't."
His lips curved into the faintest smile. "You will."
Before I could answer, thunder rolled across the sky a sound that felt almost like a warning.
The thunder didn't stop. It rolled across the city like the sky was trying to wake something buried deep beneath it.
Elias stood first, pulling the collar of his coat higher. His movements were sharp again, controlled. The tenderness from moments ago vanished, replaced by that familiar distance.
"Come on," he said. "We can't stay here. They'll track the energy you released."
I followed him through the wet streets, my mind still replaying his words. You still love me.
He didn't look back once, but somehow, I knew he could feel my eyes on him.
We turned into an alley, dark and narrow, the air heavy with rain and rust. Elias stopped at a metal door and pressed his palm against it. A faint symbol lit up under his skin not human, not normal.
The lock clicked open by itself.
Inside, the place looked like an abandoned storage room concrete walls, flickering lights, a few scattered boxes. But the moment he stepped in, the temperature shifted. The air shimmered. The shadows bent in ways that didn't feel natural.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"A refuge," he said simply. "For those who remember."
I frowned. "Remember what?"
He turned then, finally facing me. The glow from a single overhead bulb drew thin lines across his face, highlighting the tiredness beneath his eyes.
"The war," he said quietly. "The one you started."
My chest tightened. "That's not possible. I don't even"
"You don't have to remember to be guilty of it." His tone wasn't cruel, but it was sharp enough to cut. "You challenged the divine order, Ariselle. You tore open the veil between worlds. And when they came for you, I chose your side."
My breath caught at the name. It felt like being stabbed by a memory I couldn't escape. Ariselle. My name or the name that used to belong to me.
I took a step back. "And now I'm Aiden. Just Aiden."
Elias's jaw tightened. "You think names can erase what you are?"
"I didn't ask to come back!" My voice broke, the anger spilling out before I could stop it. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
For a moment, neither of us spoke. The rain outside was the only sound, hitting the metal roof in steady rhythm.
Then Elias stepped closer. Close enough that I could feel the warmth of his breath.
"I know," he said softly. "But you were never given a choice before either."
His hand came up again hesitating then brushing against my cheek. The touch was gentle, almost human this time.
"You were reborn for a reason," he whispered. "And they will come for you again soon."
My voice was barely a whisper. "Then what are you going to do?"
His expression darkened. "What I did the first time."
"Which is?"
He leaned in, eyes locking onto mine cold, haunted, desperate.
"Burn the world for you."
The lights flickered. The air around us trembled. Outside, the thunder grew louder closer as if the heavens themselves were listening.
And then, somewhere in the distance, a low hum began to rise.
Not thunder. Not rain. Something else.
Something calling.