Our foreheads still touched, breath mingling with the scent of old stone and starlight. The quiet had finally settled in my bones—something close to peace, something like hope.
Then the air changed.
Not with wind.
Not with sound.
But with a presence.
It was as if the stars themselves paused mid-breath. The torches along the courtyard walls flickered, then steadied—not by flame, but by unseen will.
I pulled back from Kai, sensing it before I saw it.
So did he.
He stood, fingers still brushing mine, his gaze turning upward.
And then…
She descended.
From the fractured dome of the old temple, light poured downward in spirals of gold and silver mist, folding into shape as it touched the ground.
A figure emerged from the veil—a woman draped in silken robes made of twilight and dawn. Her hair was the color of the moon before it wanes, flowing down like rivers, and her eyes held stars that had long since died.
Each of her footsteps echoed across the marble with no sound, but with weight.
We knew her before she spoke.
Because her presence pressed into the soul, like gravity, memory, and prophecy all at once.
"Anna of the Flameborn," she said, voice like chimes in a dream. "And Kai, Keeper of Fire and Oath."
We bowed—not out of obedience, but instinct. Reverence.
"I am Elyria," she continued, "goddess of change, of broken cycles, of beginnings that defy endings."
She stepped closer, and her gaze met mine.
"You have shifted time, rewritten fate, and chosen mercy where vengeance once burned. The spirits saw your heart. I have come to see your future."
My voice trembled. "Why now?"
Her expression was unreadable—neither smile nor frown, but something deeper.
"Because you stand on the threshold of peace... and that is where true battles begin."
She turned, hands outstretched.
Around us, the broken temple shimmered—rebuilding in flickers, stone rising, ivy retreating, stained glass stitching itself together in slow, radiant waves. The very air hummed with old power.
Then she looked to Kai.
"You have followed flame to its edge, but your fire has not yet been tested in silence."
Kai stepped forward slightly, lips parting. "Tested how?"
Elyria's gaze returned to both of us.
"You will face gods who do not want balance. Kingdoms who will not kneel to peace. Children who carry the hatred of their fathers like swords."
"The choice you've made today? To lead without ruling… to rise without conquering… it threatens the old world."
She raised a hand, and from her palm grew a crystal seed, pulsing with soft golden light. She placed it in mine.
"This is the Heart of Renewal. Plant it in the land you reclaim. Nurture it not with magic—but with choices. With kindness. With sacrifice."
"And when the time comes, it will grow into a power even I cannot command."
A pause.
Then softer, almost gentle:
"But beware: those who walk with gods… are never unseen by the gods' enemies."
With that, her form began to dissolve into mist and light, her voice echoing once more through the night:
"Peace is not given. It is grown. You must still fight for the world you dream of."
And she was gone.
The temple fell quiet once more.
But everything had changed.
I looked down at the crystal seed in my palm, still pulsing faintly.
Kai's voice was quiet beside me.
"Well… I guess we just got our next chapter."
I nodded.
And for the first time, I didn't fear what was coming.
I was ready for it.
But she did not vanish.
Not yet.
Elyria's gaze settled back onto me—deeper now, not just watching, but measuring.
She stepped forward, the hem of her twilight gown sweeping soundlessly across the stone.
"And to protect what you have built… you must bind your fate to the divine."
I stiffened slightly. "What do you mean?"
Her eyes gleamed like moons just before eclipse.
"The mortal world wavers. Even your strength—remarkable though it is—cannot stand alone when gods move against you."
"A kingdom reborn must be sealed in divine unity."
She raised one hand. The air shimmered—and beside her, a second figure emerged from light.
A man, tall and resplendent in silver and violet armor etched with celestial runes. His skin held the hue of dawnlight, and his eyes were endless wells of power—ancient, and calm.
"This is my son, Caelion, god of starlit vows and celestial justice. He has watched you from beyond time."
I stared at him—struck first by his silence, then by the sheer presence he carried. Not cold, but… distant. Like thunder before it breaks.
Elyria's voice became clear again.
"I offer you a bond. A divine union between realms. Wed my son, and your kingdom will never fall. The gods themselves will bless its soil, its skies, its people."
Kai took a step forward beside me—stiff, unreadable.
I felt his tension rise like heat behind my back.
"And if I refuse?" I asked softly, eyes not leaving Caelion's.
Elyria tilted her head slightly, a shadow passing behind her serene expression.
"Then you walk alone. Mortal time will wither what you've built. Enemies will rise unchecked. The old gods will come… and they will not show mercy."
The square beyond the temple had quieted. As if the world itself leaned in to hear my answer.
Caelion finally spoke, his voice like a whisper of constellations collapsing.
"This is not a punishment. It is a gift. One I offer with full heart, but no chains."
I turned toward Kai. His jaw was clenched. His hands balled into fists.
He wouldn't look away from Caelion.
"So that's it?" Kai muttered, barely keeping his voice calm. "Fight fate, defy death… only to lose you to a god dressed in stars?"
"It's not that simple," I said gently.
"No," he replied, stepping back. "It never is with you."
I looked down at the crystal seed Elyra had offered… then up at the goddess, and the silent son at her side.
A choice was before me.
One that could shape kingdoms—or unravel hearts.
The temple walls loomed around me.
The goddess Elyria and her son still stood in silence, watching.
Kai had stepped back, eyes hard, arms crossed, like a man trying not to bleed in front of a battlefield.
The crystal seed still glowed faintly in my hand, and somewhere beneath the weight of gold and starlight, I felt myself starting to crack.
I needed air.
I needed... her.
So I stepped away—past the broken arch, past the divine gaze, past Kai's guarded silence—and walked into the garden behind the temple ruins. The moonlight bathed the wild flowers and broken stone in silver hues. A fountain barely trickled in the corner, forgotten by time.
I dropped to my knees beside it and whispered:
"Mary... please. I don't know what to do."
The air didn't stir. There were no flashes of light. No thunderclaps.
Only the faint glimmer of spirit energy rising from the surface of the water.
And then—
Her voice.
Soft.
Gentle.
Familiar.
"You always knew what to do, Anna. Even when you thought you didn't."
I gasped and looked down. In the rippling reflection of the water, her face appeared—Mary's face, just as I remembered it. Strong. Loving. Steady.
"This is too big for me," I whispered. "They want me to marry a god. To trade my freedom for power. For protection. And Kai… he—he looked at me like I'd already betrayed him."
Mary's reflection smiled faintly. "Power without love is a cage. Love without choice is a chain."
"So what do I do?" My voice cracked. "Let my kingdom fall to protect my heart? Or sacrifice my heart to protect everyone else?"
Mary leaned forward in the reflection, her eyes piercing into mine like a sister's embrace.
"You were never meant to walk this path the easy way. But listen, Anna: you don't have to choose between your heart and your kingdom. You just have to stop letting others decide what both should look like."
"You choose how to protect them. Who you become in the process. That's the real power. Not Elyria. Not Caelion. Not even the crown."
The reflection began to fade, the ripples settling.
"Follow your heart," Mary's voice whispered one last time. "And don't be afraid to fight for both love and peace."
I reached for the water—but her image was gone.
The night was still.
But inside me, something had steadied.
I stepped toward him, heart still raw from the memory of Mary, from the goddess's impossible demand, and from the ache I saw in Kai's eyes.
"Kai…"
He looked up, gaze steady, but quieter than I expected. Not angry. Not sharp.
Just… tired.
"You don't owe me anything, Anna."
His words hit like ice.
"What?" I asked softly.
"You heard me." He shifted his weight, not meeting my eyes. "This choice—it's yours. It always was. And maybe I've spent too much time chasing after you, thinking I had a place in this story."
I stepped closer. "You do. You always have."
Kai gave a bitter chuckle, not cruel—but wounded.
"Then why does it feel like I'm always a heartbeat behind? Like every time you stand at a crossroads, I'm not someone you lean on—just someone who watches you carry the weight alone."
That stopped me cold.
Because he wasn't wrong.
His voice softened, the edge replaced with something more painful—honesty.
"I didn't come back across time just to be your sword, Anna. I came back because… I thought maybe we could build something beyond the war."
"But now? You're standing between a goddess and a god, and I'm standing here just… hoping you remember how we bled together."
Silence fell between us.
The wind stirred the vines around the temple arch.
I stepped forward and reached for his hand—not in reassurance, but in truth.
"I do remember. Every moment. Every fire. Every breath you pulled me back from."
"But I needed to believe I could be enough on my own."
"You are," he said instantly, his hand finally closing around mine. "You always were. But… you don't have to be alone anymore."
He looked at me now—not as a soldier. Not as a guardian.
As Kai.
"I don't want to hold you back. I just don't want to be the thing you leave behind every time the sky splits open."
My throat tightened. "Then don't be."
"Walk beside me, even when it's terrifying. Even when the gods try to own the outcome."
His voice dropped into a whisper. "Even if I'm terrified I'll lose you to something bigger than both of us?"
"Especially then."
He gave a small nod. Not a declaration.
But a promise.
And when I return to Elyria, I would carry more than resolve.
I would carry us.