That night, I lit no candles.
I sat cross-legged on the floor of the sanctuary's inner chamber, the pendant cradled between my palms, its warmth pulsing like a heartbeat. The moment I closed my eyes, I felt it—the pull. The call.
And I didn't resist.
Vision – The Life Before
I awoke beneath a sky that wasn't ours. Vast and violet, pulsing with stars that danced like flames.
I stood in a temple carved of obsidian and gold. Wind brushed through silk banners etched in glowing script. And before me…
Kaelion.
He looked younger. Or perhaps I did. My reflection shimmered in one of the polished stone walls—hair longer, white robes flowing, eyes glowing faintly with magic I didn't recognize as my own.
But I knew this was me.
Anaria, before the fall.
And I knew the man standing before me had once been my world.
Kaelion stepped toward me—no crown, no blade—just a man cloaked in firelight, his eyes soft.
"Do you remember now?"
My breath caught in my throat. "Not all of it… but this part, I feel."
He reached for my hand.
The moment our fingers touched, the vision expanded.
Suddenly we were standing at the heart of the world—a great flame suspended in the air, both terrifying and beautiful. Around it stood the first circle of mages, all in silence, watching.
Kaelion turned to me and lifted a blade—unfinished, raw, humming with power.
"Together, we will bind it to protect the realms," he said.
"Not with control. Not with fear. With balance."
And then… he placed the blade between us.
I stepped forward. Placed my palm against it.
The fire surged, wrapping around our hands. Neither of us screamed. We only watched each other—unblinking—as the flames fused our souls into the blade.
"This is the bond," Kaelion whispered. "Not of flesh, but of essence. We are fire and breath. Anchor and flame."
I loved him.
Not with hesitation, or guilt, or doubt.
It was pure. Elemental. Cosmic.
But then—
Screams.
The circle of mages turned. Janie stepped forward—her eyes wild, her mouth twisted in fury.
"You would give that power to her? You betray your own blood!"
Kaelion stepped between us. "This is not betrayal. It is balance."
Janie raised a second blade, forged in secret. And then—darkness. Screaming. Spells torn from the sky.
I felt it as the bond shattered. My body thrown back, soul ripped from its anchor.
Kaelion's voice echoed as I fell through time—
"They will scatter you. Rebirth you. But I will remember. And when you remember too… we will become whole again."
Back in the Sanctuary
I awoke on the floor, gasping, heart hammering in my chest.
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
I remembered it all.
The forging of the blade. The first bond. The betrayal.
And Kaelion's promise.
He hadn't lied.He had waited.Across centuries… he had remembered me.
I found him by the hearth.
He was shirtless, a bandage wrapped loosely around one shoulder from our last battle. The firelight flickered across his skin, casting golden shadows that made him look more myth than man.
But when he turned—when he looked at me—
He was just Kai. The man I loved.
And now, the man I had to tell the truth.
All of it.
I stood there for a moment, unable to speak.
He noticed the tears before I did.
"Another vision?" he asked softly.
I nodded. "Not just a vision. A memory."
He set the book he was reading aside and rose slowly, coming toward me. "You saw him again."
"Yes." My voice trembled. "But it wasn't just a glimpse this time. It was everything."
I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around myself. "I remembered who I was. With him. Before the curse. Before even Janie."
Kai said nothing, waiting.
"I helped forge the blade," I whispered. "Kaelion and I… we were bonded. In spirit, in magic. We gave part of ourselves to the flame to create something that could protect the world." I swallowed hard. "And we loved each other. Purely. Fiercely."
The room was so quiet I could hear my heartbeat.
Kai's jaw was clenched, but he didn't look away. "And now that you remember… what do you feel for him?"
I shook my head. "It's not the same. I don't feel love the way I do with you. It's like… like my soul recognizes him, but my heart belongs to now. To you."
He stepped back slightly, like the words didn't land the way I hoped they would.
"But you shared something eternal."
"Yes," I said. "But that life is gone. I'm not her anymore—not completely. I've changed. I've chosen things she never could."
I moved closer. "You, Kai. I chose you—over prophecy, over duty, over power. And I'll keep choosing you."
His shoulders finally relaxed—but only a little.
"He'll come for you."
"I know."
He looked at me, a mixture of pain and devotion in his eyes. "And if he asks you to return to what you were? To finish what you started?"
I reached up and touched his face. "Then I'll remind him I'm not hers anymore. I'm mine. And I'm yours too, if you'll still have me."
He let out a shaky breath, eyes closing for a beat—then he nodded, slowly.
"Always."
He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly, not as a man afraid to lose, but as someone finally understanding that love doesn't erase the past—it redefines it.
And in that moment, I knew—
Whatever Kaelion's remembered of me…Whatever fate had in store…
Kai and I would face it. Together.
Kai stayed still. Watching. Listening.
"I helped forge the blade," I continued, voice trembling. "Kaelion and I… we were bonded. In spirit, in magic. We gave part of ourselves to create something that could protect the world."
I paused.
"And I remembered something else," I said quietly. "You were there, too. In that life."
Kai blinked.
I nodded. "Not like now. You weren't my lover. Not yet. But… you were powerful. Feared. Even Kaelion respected that."
I took a breath, steadying myself.
"You two never got along."
He tilted his head slightly, skeptical. "No surprise there."
I gave a half-laugh, sad and fond. "He had the power to create. Life. Flame. Spirit. The First Flame, they called him. And you..."
I met his gaze. "You had the gift to move through time. Past. Future. You were untethered to linear existence. You saw what others couldn't."
Kai frowned now. "So what caused the divide?"
I exhaled, the memory rising like heat behind my eyes. "He thought your magic was dangerous—reckless. You thought his creations were blind to consequence. You both wanted to protect me… but in such different ways."
Kai's expression darkened. "So even then, we were destined to clash."
"You weren't enemies," I said. "But… you were opposites. Fire and time. Fixed and fluid. He built, you wandered. He bound me. You gave me choice."
He looked away, tension flickering through his jaw.
"He'll hate me now more than ever."
I stepped forward, placing my hand on his chest. "Maybe. But I'm not her anymore. I'm not his anchor. And I'm not caught between you."
I pressed my forehead to his. "This time, I choose."
His hands came up to hold my waist—strong, steady. "Then we face him together."
I nodded. But a part of me—deep down—knew the storm between them had only just begun.
Because now that I remembered…
So did they.
Kai's arms were still around me, but I felt the shift in his body—the subtle stiffening, the quiet tension just under the surface.
He pulled back slightly, searching my face. His brow furrowed, eyes sharp and uncertain.
"Anna…" he said slowly, "Why have you never spoken of your power?"
The question landed like a stone in my chest.
I blinked, heart skipping. "What?"
He stepped back just a bit—enough to look at me fully now. His expression wasn't angry. Just confused. Wounded. A little lost.
"You remembered helping forge the blade," he said. "You were part of its creation. You were Kaelion's balance. But that kind of bond… that kind of magic... it doesn't come from nothing."
He paused. "You had power then, Anna. Maybe still do."
I swallowed hard. The truth had been forming inside me, pressing at the edges of my mind ever since I woke from that vision. But hearing it aloud—
It scared me.
"I didn't know," I admitted. "Not really. Not until the memory returned. But… I wasn't just the anchor. I was something more."
He stepped closer again, voice lower now. "What kind of power?"
I looked down at my hands. They trembled slightly. Not from fear—but from the strange warmth that pulsed just beneath my skin now.
"I could bind," I whispered. "Not like Kaelion, who could create flame and form. Not like you, who could break the flow of time. I could… join things. Souls. Magic. Threads that weren't meant to touch—I could tie them. Or sever them."
His breath caught.
I looked up, meeting his eyes again. "I think that's why they feared me. Why Janie wanted me gone. I didn't just balance Kaelion—I made his power whole."
Kai's expression softened—but the weight in his eyes deepened.
"And now?"
I nodded slowly. "Now… I feel it again. Waking up inside me."
He brushed a strand of hair from my face, gently. "You've always been more than what anyone saw. But I think part of you was afraid to look."
I nodded. "I still am."
He leaned down, kissed my forehead. "Then let's face it. One truth at a time."
The air was still. The stars above the sanctuary glimmered like watchful eyes. Nick had gone to rest, sensing I needed space. But Kai stayed—always just close enough. Always quiet when I needed silence, steady when I felt uncertain.
We stood in the center of the spell circle—etched in salt and memory beneath the moon.
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply.
This is who I was.This is who I am becoming again.
I felt it—the pulse. Not like fire. Not like time. It was older than both.
A thread. A connection. Something sleeping beneath my skin that now wanted to wake.
I opened my hands, palms up, and focused on Kai.
On his heartbeat. His magic. His presence—wild and anchored all at once. My love. My anchor now.
"I want to try," I whispered.
He nodded once, solemn. "I'm ready."
I stepped toward him and raised my hands. The pendant at my chest began to glow.
"I'm not going to control you. Or bind your will," I said. "That's not what this is. I want to share something deeper. I want you to feel what I felt when Kaelion and I first forged the blade."
His eyes didn't waver. "Then show me."
I touched his chest.
And the world shifted.
The Binding Magic Awakens
The circle flared with pale gold light—gentle but vast. A thousand whispering threads of energy sprang from my hands like living silk, reaching, sensing.
They found Kai's essence. His time-born magic. His fire-touched soul.
And then—something unexpected.
He reached back.
His magic responded—not defensively, but instinctively. Willingly.
The threads didn't just touch him. They wrapped through him. Around him.
And then I felt it:
A pulse. A merge.A surge of magic like a heartbeat outside my body.Not domination. Not servitude. But unity.
Deeper than love. Deeper than memory.
We gasped together—his eyes wide as mine—as the energy surged once more and settled.
The bond had formed.
But it wasn't the same as what I'd shared with Kaelion.
This was new.
It was fluid, shifting, a dance between time and soul—not flame and anchor. My magic didn't just bind us—it began to reshape us around each other.
I saw flashes of his past… felt his pain…And he saw mine.All of mine.
He staggered slightly as it ended, grabbing my arms. "What… was that?"
I was shaking. "I didn't mean to go that far…"
He looked at me, eyes burning with more than just shock. "You bound us."
I nodded slowly. "Not like before. It's different. I think… I think it's deeper than I knew it could be."
He touched his chest, where my palm had rested.
"I can feel you," he whispered. "Even now. Not like before… it's not just love anymore. It's like… we're layered over each other."
I blinked through the light still fading from the circle. "This was never meant to happen with anyone but Kaelion. But you… you let me in."
We both stood there—newly altered, raw, linked.
And then the flame at the far edge of the circle flared violently.
A voice whispered into the wind:
"You've changed the pattern. And now… I will change the fire."
The glow of the binding circle hadn't even faded when the flame in the sanctuary flared unnaturally high—deep orange bleeding into white.
Kai instinctively moved in front of me, but I grabbed his wrist. "No—he's not here… not physically."
But Kaelion's presence filled the room like smoke.
Heat pressed against my skin—not cruel, but writhing with emotion.
A voice—his voice—poured from the fire.
"You gave him what was mine."
It wasn't a question. It was a condemnation.
I took a step forward. "Kaelion…"
The flames responded violently. The air around us shimmered, and his form took shape inside the fire—tall, cloaked, glowing gold from within. His face was obscured, but I could see the outline of his eyes: twin suns that once gazed at me with love.
Now they burned with something else.
"You remember what we were. What we created. That bond was not just power—it was eternity."
I didn't flinch. "It was, once. But I'm not the same. You said it yourself—I've changed."
"He is of time. Of unraveling. He'll twist what we built."
Kai stepped forward now, defiant. "She chose me. Not fate. Not memory. Me."
The fire roared.
Kaelion's voice dropped—not loud, but low and sharp, a cut across the soul.
"And you, thief of time, have anchored yourself to something beyond you. Do you even understand what you've done?"
Kai held my hand tighter. "I didn't take her. She gave herself freely."
"She gave what was sacred," Kaelion snarled. "And now the balance has shifted. You've bound your soul to something that fractures reality itself. The fire obeyed order—your bond will burn through the walls between time and creation."
My chest tightened.
"Kaelion—stop. This wasn't meant to hurt you. I'm trying to become whole again. I needed to know I had a choice. You have to let me be who I am now."
The flames flickered. For just a second, his silhouette flickered, uncertain.
"And if who you are… unravels the world?"
The fire collapsed in on itself with a sound like breaking glass—a magical backlash that knocked out every candle in the room.
Silence.
Kai and I stood together, the heat fading slowly, leaving behind only ash and embers where the fire had been.
I stared at the spot where Kaelion had vanished.
He wasn't done. He was just… waiting. Watching.
And now, he was hurt.
Not as a god. Not as a flame.
As a man who'd just lost the one soul he thought he'd always return to.
The fire was out, but I still felt the heat of Kaelion's words burning in my chest.
Kai and I had left the sanctuary. We walked in silence through the woods until we reached the clearing just beyond the garden—a place where the stars stretched wide above us and the air felt too still.
I sat on the cool grass, curling my arms around my knees. The moonlight cast a silver glow across everything, softening the edges of the world. But it couldn't soften the ache in my chest.
Kai stood nearby, arms crossed, watching me quietly. He gave me space, but I could feel his concern tugging like invisible threads between us.
"I never meant to hurt him," I whispered.
He walked over and lowered himself beside me. "I know."
I kept my eyes on the stars. "He said I gave you what was his."
Kai was silent a moment. Then: "Do you think he's right?"
The question hit hard, but I didn't flinch. I shook my head slowly. "No. But… I think I'm afraid he is."
"Anna." His voice was low, gentle. "You didn't take anything. You made a choice. You remembered everything—and you still chose this. Me. Us."
I turned to him, eyes glassy. "But what if the bond we made wasn't meant to exist? What if it's dangerous?"
"He said it might unravel the world," he said softly, voice heavy with memory. "Maybe it will."
He looked up at the sky.
"Or maybe the world needed unraveling."
I stared at him. "You're not scared?"
He turned back to me, something fierce and bright in his eyes. "Of losing you? Terrified. But of what we are? No. I'm proud of it."
I lowered my head to his shoulder, eyes stinging. "He's still in me, Kai. I can feel him. The bond might be broken, but the echo isn't. What if I can't shut it out?"
"Then don't shut it out," he said, threading his fingers through mine. "Feel it. Face it. But never forget—you're not just Anna of the past. You're the woman who changed her fate. Who made a new choice. And I will walk beside her, even if the stars fall."
I closed my eyes. The night wind moved softly around us, like the world itself was listening.
And for a moment, I let myself believe that even if Kaelion still burned…Even if his sorrow would follow me like a second shadow…
I wasn't alone.