When the spell broke, I opened my eyes to see where I was. I found myself in a room decorated in my favorite colors—black and red—styled exactly to my liking. But I had no idea where I was, and I couldn't sense Kai anywhere nearby. A wave of unease settled over me, tightening my chest. The silence felt too perfect, too controlled, and despite the familiar colors, something about the room made my skin crawl.
Slowly, I rose to my feet, my bare toes brushing against the soft velvet rug beneath me. I glanced around, noting the ornate furnishings—an arched mirror with dark, gilded edges, a bookshelf filled with leather-bound volumes, and a fireplace that glowed with a flickering blue flame. I ran my fingers over the edge of a nearby table, half-expecting it to vanish beneath my touch. Every detail seemed tailored for me… but I didn't remember ever being here. 'Kai?' I called out softly, my voice trembling as it echoed off the walls.
There was no answer—at least not from Kai. Instead, a voice, smooth and familiar yet subtly different, came from the shadows. "You always say his name first."
I spun around, startled, and there he stood—taller than I remembered, with eyes that mirrored Kai's but carried a colder glint. Jaz. Kai's twin brother. The one I hadn't seen in what felt like ages. "Jaz?" I whispered, unsure if it was truly him or just another illusion.
He stepped forward, the firelight casting flickers across his face. "In the flesh. You look… just like her."
"Like who?" I asked, frowning.
His smile didn't reach his eyes. "The first time you walked into this room, you were someone else. You just don't remember. But I do. I remember everything."
My pulse quickened. "What do you mean? You're talking about Anaria?"
He looked away briefly, as if weighing whether to continue. "You've only been told fragments. Stories that suited someone else's purpose. But your past... it's far more tangled than Kai or your mother ever let on. And some of it—" he stepped closer, his voice dropping—"some of it was mine to carry, too."
The moment his words settled into the air, something cracked open inside me. A sharp, searing pain bloomed behind my eyes. I staggered back, clutching my head as the room blurred around me. Heat rushed through my veins like fire.
Then I was no longer standing in the black and red room. I was elsewhere.
A stone courtyard under a blood-colored sky. I stood in armor, a blade in my hand, my hair whipping in a wind that carried the scent of ash. Before me, two brothers—Kai and Jaz—stood on opposite sides of a ceremonial altar, both bleeding, both betrayed. And I—
I was the one who had chosen. The one who had betrayed them.
Jaz's voice echoed faintly through the memory. "You promised me, Anna... and yet you still chose him."
The vision collapsed like shattered glass. I gasped and fell to my knees, back in the quiet room, tears stinging my eyes. My hands trembled. The weight of that ancient guilt clung to me like smoke.
Jaz was already kneeling beside me, not touching me but watching closely. "You saw it, didn't you?" he murmured.
I nodded slowly, my voice barely a whisper. "What did I do to you…?"
He didn't answer immediately. Just gave a small, hollow laugh. "That's the first real question you've asked me since you were reborn."
I stared at him, my breath shallow, heart pounding like a drum in my chest. The echo of that vision still clung to me—my own voice screaming, the look in Jaz's eyes as I turned away from him, blade drawn, blood already staining the altar. "I didn't know. I didn't remember..." I whispered, trying to convince both him and myself.
Jaz exhaled slowly, like he'd been holding something in for centuries. "No. You didn't. But that never stopped the consequences, Anna." He rose to his feet and began to pace, his voice tight with restrained pain. "You were the hinge between our fates. You chose Kai, and the balance between us shattered. You might have been Anaria then, but the choice—it still came from you."
"You act like I meant to hurt you," I said, standing shakily, needing him to see the truth in my eyes. "Whatever I was... I'm not her anymore."
He stopped pacing and looked at me, truly looked at me. "Aren't you?" he asked, softly now. "You carry her soul. Her power. Her guilt. The blade still calls to you like it did back then. And that means you'll face the same crossroads again—soon."
I swallowed hard, my hands clenching at my sides. "Why are you telling me this now?"
He stepped closer, his tone sharper. "Because I'm tired of being the villain in someone else's story. You deserve the truth, Anna—but you also need to decide what kind of ending you're going to write this time. Kai believes in your light." He paused, jaw tightening. "I've seen your shadow."
The room fell into tense silence, the only sound the low crackling of the blue fire. I didn't know what to say—didn't even know if I could trust my voice. But I knew one thing with terrifying clarity:
Whatever I was before, it wasn't finished. And neither was Jaz.
The silence between us felt thick—like it was holding secrets just out of reach. My pulse still hadn't slowed, and the vision clung to my thoughts like smoke in my lungs.
Where was Kai? That question beat at the edge of my mind like a second heartbeat. If I had fallen under some kind of spell or illusion, why hadn't he been there when I woke? Why had it been Jaz—his twin, his shadow—watching me instead?
"You keep talking in riddles, Jaz," I said finally, my voice hoarse but steady. "If I'm going to face this again—whatever it is—I need the truth. No more fragments. Start with the blade. Why does it keep calling to me?"
He watched me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering in his eyes—sorrow? Regret? Fear?
"Because it was made for you," he said simply.
**I narrowed my eyes. Why now? Why him? Jaz had always been a presence kept at the edge of the story, the one everyone seemed careful not to mention too often. And yet here he was, holding answers I didn't even know I was missing.
"I know that much," I snapped, stepping toward him. "But that vision—the altar, the blood—was that the first time I used it? Or the last?"
Jaz's mouth tightened. "Both."
I froze. "What?"
He walked to the hearth, letting the blue firelight play across his features. "The blade was forged in an ancient binding—part light, part shadow. It was meant to seal a rift between worlds, to contain something... older than either of us. But when you wielded it the first time, you didn't just close a rift. You opened one. One that connected you to both me and Kai in ways that can't be undone."
My chest ached. Why hadn't Kai told me any of this? Had he known? Had he kept it from me—or had someone kept it from him too?
I tried to process Jaz's words, but they struck like sharp pieces of truth against the edges of my forgotten past. "What do you mean... I opened something?"
He turned to face me, expression grim. "The crossroads, Anna. They weren't just symbolic. They were real. You stood between fate and freedom, and you chose love over duty. Kai over me. But now the cycle is beginning again, and the blade is waking—just like last time."
"You make it sound like I doomed everything."
"You didn't doom it," he said. "But you tilted it. And this time, if you don't remember the whole truth—if you don't learn what the blade truly demands—it won't just be your past that unravels. It'll be this entire timeline."
I swallowed hard, glancing toward the sealed doorway. Still no sign of Kai. The room had become a cage of memory and firelight. Why was I here with Jaz? Was he protecting me—or keeping me away from something... or someone?
"So what happens now?" I asked, barely above a whisper. "Do I choose again?"
Jaz's voice softened. "No. This time, you'll have to become what you were meant to be. And that… comes with a price."
I narrowed my eyes, the unease in my chest growing tighter. "Then answer me this, too—why are you the one here with me? Where's Kai?" My voice sharpened. "Why wasn't he the one I saw when I woke up?"
Jaz's expression didn't shift, but I saw something flicker behind his eyes—pain, maybe, or guilt. "Because Kai couldn't follow you where you went. Not this time."
"What does that mean?" I asked, stepping closer, my pulse quickening. "Did you do something to him?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. But the spell that pulled you under—pulled you here—responded to what's buried in you. To your blood. To the past. And I'm part of that past in ways Kai can't reach. That's why you woke here. With me."
I didn't know whether to believe him, but his words felt... anchored. Real. Too real. Still, the blade's silence echoed louder than ever in the back of my mind, like it was waiting for something—or someone.
"So I was drawn here because of you?" I asked quietly.
"Because of what you left unresolved," he replied.
The fire crackled behind him as he stepped back, giving me space. "You need to remember, Anna. Not just what you did—but why. Only then will you understand why the blade calls to you... and what it truly wants."
"Because of what you left unresolved," Jaz said, his voice low, as though afraid the room itself might listen in.
I stared at him, jaw tight, heart pounding in my chest. His words stirred too much—too fast. Guilt. Doubt. Anger. Kai couldn't follow me? That didn't sound like him. He would've torn through dimensions if he had to. Unless… unless something—or someone—stopped him.
And then, it happened.
A sudden pulse beneath my ribs, sharp and warm. The blade. I didn't see it, but I could feel it. Its energy thrummed in my chest like a second heartbeat, in perfect sync with the emotions surging through me.
It was reacting. To me.
I gasped, taking a step back. The pulse grew louder, like a storm behind a wall, each throb intensifying the memory of the altar, the betrayal, the pain.
Jaz's eyes flicked to me instantly. He noticed. "You're feeling it again, aren't you? The blade always responds to truth. And fear."
"What is it trying to show me?" I asked, my voice trembling.
He hesitated—just for a second. And in that second, I knew. He knew something Kai didn't. Something no one had told me.
"Tell me, Jaz," I demanded, the energy building behind my sternum like a storm. "What haven't you said yet? What do you know that Kai doesn't?"
He looked away, jaw tightening. When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter—more haunted. "Kai always thought it was his love that saved you. That your bond was what awakened you from your past... from Anaria's shadow. But that's not the full truth."
I froze, the blade's rhythm faltering inside me. "Then what was it?"
He met my gaze. "It was me."
The world seemed to tilt.
"What?" I breathed.
"Before you made your final choice... before you sealed your soul to his, it was me you called to. I was the one who carried you from the battlefield. The one who bore the blade's curse for breaking the bond before it could destroy you both."
I could hardly breathe. The pulsing inside me began to shift again—grief now, and guilt, wrapped in something deeper. Something I didn't have a name for yet. Jaz… he had saved me?
"Why didn't you ever tell him?"
He gave a hollow laugh. "Because he already had your heart. What was left of mine didn't matter."
"Before you made your final choice... before you sealed your soul to his, it was me you called to," Jaz said. "I was the one who carried you from the battlefield. The one who bore the blade's curse for breaking the bond before it could destroy you both."
I could hardly breathe. The pulse of the blade within me stuttered, like a heartbeat losing its rhythm. I didn't know what to believe anymore.
Why couldn't I tell what was true? I had always trusted Kai—his warmth, his devotion, the unwavering way he looked at me as if I were his whole world. But now Jaz stood here, not with rage or bitterness, but with sorrow. Real sorrow.
Could they both be telling the truth? Or had they each chosen to remember a version of me that best served their pain?
"Why didn't you ever tell him?" I asked, voice cracking.
He gave a hollow laugh. "Because he already had your heart. What was left of mine didn't matter."
The room blurred again, a low hum in my ears growing louder. The blade flared suddenly, no longer just reacting—it was pulling. Drawing something out of me.
And then—I was gone.
FLASHBACK – Centuries Ago
A dense forest bathed in twilight. Mist hung low along the moss-covered ground. I stood barefoot, cloaked in a familiar white robe I didn't remember putting on. The air shimmered faintly with magic, thick with memory.
Ahead, a young woman stood by a dark river. She had wild, black curls, a crimson mark across her cheek, and eyes like storm clouds—piercing, fierce.
Janie.
Jaz's ancestor. And—somehow—I knew she had held the blade first.
"You came too close to the wrong brother," she was saying, not to me—but to another version of me, standing in front of her. "You always think love is enough to stop destiny. But it isn't. The blade demands more than love."
"Then why does it give me a choice at all?" the past-me shouted.
Janie turned, her expression hard but not unkind. "Because the choice is the curse. Whichever brother you choose, the other will fall. That's how the bond was forged—blood and betrayal. One must always break for the other to survive."
The wind tore through the trees then, carrying the whisper of names—Jaz... Kai... Janie... Anaria...
I gasped as I was pulled back into the present, knees buckling under me. The firelight flickered wildly. The air felt colder now.
Jaz was kneeling beside me again. He didn't speak—but his expression told me he knew what I had just seen.
"It wasn't just you and Kai, was it?" I whispered, trembling. "This curse—it goes back even further. Janie… she said the choice is the curse. That one brother always breaks."
He nodded slowly. "And you were never just caught in the middle, Anna. You are the fulcrum. The blade doesn't want balance—it wants sacrifice."
"The blade doesn't want balance—it wants sacrifice," Jaz said.
But something still didn't feel right.
My pulse raced. The blade inside me was no longer just reacting—it was searching. Tearing through layers of memory, demanding clarity. Demanding truth. And suddenly, it gave me another vision—this one more violent, more invasive. Like it had been buried for too long.
VISION – THE FORBIDDEN TEMPLE
The world twisted. Darkness rippled at the edge of my sight until it took shape—stone walls, a high altar, a black blade resting atop a glowing seal. The room pulsed with old power.
And there she was. Janie.
But this time, she wasn't the grieving mentor, the voice of warning. No—her posture was different. Confident. Cold. A smirk played at the corner of her lips.
Across from her stood the two brothers of her time, nearly identical to Kai and Jaz—but younger, dressed in ceremonial armor. One wore white and gold—the other black and silver.
Janie turned to the dark-clad brother—the one who mirrored Jaz. Her eyes softened. "You'll understand soon enough. This is all to protect our line."
"Janie, don't," he said. "You said you chose me—"
"I did," she interrupted, smile twisting. "But the blade chooses sacrifice. You were always meant to fall."
She raised her hand. A pulse of energy struck him in the chest—not with love, but betrayal. His eyes widened as he collapsed to his knees, hand reaching for her, for understanding.
The golden-clad brother—the one who mirrored Kai—stepped forward in shock. "You said you were going to seal the curse, not feed it!"
Janie turned, cool and controlled. "I did what I had to. The curse protects our bloodline, and now your line will carry the burden forward. Generation by generation. One brother survives. One brother breaks. And one woman always chooses wrong."
She touched the blade, sealing the altar in light—but the magic warped, twisted. Instead of binding the curse, she strengthened it.
PRESENT – BACK IN THE ROOM
I cried out, stumbling back from the vision. My hands were shaking. Jaz reached for me, but I jerked away.
"It wasn't you, Jaz," I whispered. "It was her. Janie. She lied."
He blinked, startled. "What are you talking about?"
"She wasn't a victim of the curse—she created it. She betrayed your ancestor and blamed the blade. Said the sacrifice was necessary to protect her bloodline... but it was all a lie." My voice trembled. "She loved your bloodline—and she chose to damn it."
Jaz stood frozen. "You saw her?"
I nodded. "She said the woman always chooses wrong. But she made sure of that. She rigged the curse to repeat. Every generation. Every time."
His jaw clenched, breath sharp. The pain in his eyes wasn't just grief now—it was fury. "So all this time… we've been fighting each other for a lie."
The room pulsed with silence after my words. The truth of Janie's betrayal hung heavy in the air, and I could see it breaking something inside Jaz—something that had been buried under centuries of pain.
"So all this time… we've been fighting each other for a lie," he said, his voice hollow.
"No," I whispered. "We were made to fight. Manipulated. She set the game, and we were the pieces."
I stood slowly, strength returning to my legs as the blade's pulse steadied in my chest—not wild or burning now, but clear, like a heartbeat in sync with my will. For the first time, I wasn't being dragged by the magic. I was walking with it.
"It ends with me," I said aloud, my voice steady.
Jaz looked up sharply. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I won't let her curse define us," I said, my eyes locking with his. "Not you. Not Kai. Not me. I won't choose one of you to destroy the other. I'm going to find a way to break the curse completely—to free you both."
"You can't just will it away, Anna."
"No," I said, my voice like steel, "but I can unravel it. The blade is responding to me because I carry more than just Anaria's memories—I carry the fault line. And if I'm the one she used to tie this curse together, then I can be the one to tear it apart."
Jaz stepped back, as if seeing me for the first time not as the girl torn between brothers—but as something more. "You sound like her."
"No," I said. "I sound like me."
The air around me shifted—warped. The blade pulsed sharply again.
I felt him.
Kai.
His presence brushed against my soul like a distant flame—flickering, calling to me from somewhere nearby. He was fighting to get through whatever boundary had kept him from reaching me.
"He's close," I murmured, eyes burning. "He's been trying to find me."
"Then go," Jaz said softly, his voice no longer bitter. "He deserves to hear what you saw. What we both now know."
I turned toward the door, magic beginning to swirl at my fingertips.
"Anna," Jaz called after me. I glanced back.
"If you find a way to break the curse… promise me—don't choose for us again. Let us choose for ourselves this time."
I nodded once. "That's the only way this ends."