The dream began the same way it always did — in silence.
Airi stood before a vast lake under twin moons, their silver light dancing across the water. The air smelled faintly of lilies and ash. And far beyond the horizon, the world pulsed like a heartbeat — slow, steady, eternal.
In that stillness, she heard the whisper again.
"Keeper of the Source… you were warned."
Her reflection shimmered. The image staring back wasn't her — not Airi Sakurai, the girl from the house next door — but Elara, the Keeper of the Source. A woman of divine blood who once held the power to bind souls, heal worlds, and shatter stars.
Airi clutched her chest as her heart began to ache.
Elara… was me.
And suddenly, everything flooded back — her life, her choices, her mistakes.
She remembered the day she met Rai.
He had come to the temple as a warrior sworn to guard her. His armor was worn, his eyes tired, but when he smiled, it was like sunlight breaking through centuries of shadow.
"You're not what I expected," she had said.
"And what did you expect?" he asked with a grin.
"A soldier who followed orders."
He laughed. "Then you'll be disappointed. I only follow my heart."
She should have turned him away then. A Keeper must never fall for her guardian. That was the first law of the Source — for love led to attachment, and attachment led to ruin.
But she didn't turn him away.
She let him stay.
And with each battle, each sunrise, each quiet conversation under the twin moons, the walls around her heart began to crumble.
Then came Ren.
He was Rai's brother — the High Guardian. Calm, brilliant, distant.While Rai burned like fire, Ren was the wind — unseen, untouchable.And though his eyes were gentle, they hid storms that no one could tame.
He came to her one night, cloaked in shadows.
"Do you trust my brother?" he asked.
"With my life," she replied.
"And what about your heart?"
Elara had hesitated. That hesitation — that single heartbeat of silence — was enough.
Ren smiled, but it was not kind. "Then your fate is already sealed."
The war came soon after — a war between light and void, between gods and the dying remnants of creation.
Elara stood atop the great citadel, channeling the Source through her veins as the sky burned with falling stars. Rai fought below, a golden light cutting through endless darkness. Ren stood beside her, his blade humming with quiet rage.
"You could stop this," Ren said softly.
"How?" she whispered.
"Give me the Source."
She turned to him, horrified. "You know I can't."
His eyes glowed faintly red. "Can't… or won't?"
"Ren—"
He grabbed her wrist, his voice trembling. "He'll die, Elara. Rai will die down there, and so will you! You can't hold the Source forever!"
"I must. It's my duty."
He laughed — broken, bitter. "Your duty? Or your punishment? You'd rather die than let me save you?"
"Save me?" she echoed. "You'd destroy everything!"
Ren's expression hardened. "Then everything deserves to burn."
Before she could react, he placed his hand over her heart and whispered an ancient spell.
The world shattered.
Airi gasped as the dream deepened — too vivid to be a dream, too painful to be a memory. She saw Ren pulling the Source from her body, the golden light splitting into fragments. She saw Rai running toward them, screaming her name as the citadel collapsed.
"Ren! Stop!" Rai shouted, his armor blazing with holy fire.
Ren's hand trembled, but he didn't stop. "You were always meant to choose him," he said quietly. "But if I can't have your heart… then no one will."
A surge of black energy erupted from his hand, swallowing the light — swallowing everything.
Elara's last sight was Rai's outstretched hand, reaching for her as the world disintegrated.
Then darkness.
Airi woke up screaming.
The sound tore through the night, sharp and ragged. She fell from her bed, clutching her chest where the pain still lingered. Her room felt wrong — too real, too small for what she had just seen.
There were tears on her face, but they weren't just hers. They belonged to Elara — the goddess she once was.
Her phone buzzed.
Toshio: "I saw it too. The citadel. You… him… everything."
She wiped her eyes with shaking hands before replying.
Airi: "Then you know. It was my fault."Toshio: "No. He cursed us, not you."Airi: "I gave him the chance to. I let him love me."
The dots blinked for a long time before Toshio responded.
Toshio: "Then let me break what he started."
Airi stared at those words for a long moment, her fingers trembling.
The thought of Toshio — the boy who reminded her so much of Rai — risking his life again filled her with both hope and dread.
Because deep down, she knew the truth.
The curse was not just a punishment.It was a cycle — one that restarted every time their love bloomed.Each lifetime ended the same way: Rai dying for her, Ren watching from the shadows, and Elara left to mourn in eternity.
To break it meant one thing.One of them would have to die permanently — with no rebirth, no memory, no echo.
And she couldn't bear the thought of losing him again.
The next morning, she found Toshio waiting outside her gate, soaked from the rain. His golden hair clung to his forehead, his uniform half unbuttoned, and his eyes — those same eyes from centuries ago — burned with resolve.
"We can't keep running from it," he said simply. "We have to face him."
Airi hesitated. "If we do, we might not come back."
He smiled faintly. "Then at least we'll fall together this time."
Her heart trembled. For the first time in lifetimes, she reached out and took his hand.
At that moment, the pendant around Toshio's neck glowed once more — two colors intertwining: gold and crimson.And far away, in a darkened room, Ren's eyes opened.
He looked at the same pendant hanging from his wrist — the crimson twin to Toshio's gold — and whispered,"So it begins again."