Previously in Echoes of the Immortal Flame…
Aryan's rebirth in Crimson Willow Valley wasn't just a return to life—it was the awakening of something ancient. While the sect trembles under quiet shadows and whispers of forgotten things, Aryan's bond with the mysterious girl—who may or may not be Lirael reborn—deepens. When her moonfire touched his flame, a buried memory stirred… and a pact neither fully understands began to awaken.
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The forest had gone too quiet.
Moonlight spilled in silver threads through the canopy above, bathing the clearing in pale glow. Aryan stood with his hand still outstretched, fingertips smoldering from the moment before—the touch that shouldn't have meant anything. But it did.
Across from him, the girl held her palm to her chest, breathing heavily. Her eyes, silver as still water, blinked rapidly… but she didn't step back. She didn't run. Her voice trembled when she spoke, "I… remember something."
Aryan's throat tightened. "What do you remember?"
"A name," she whispered. "Not mine. Yours."
She stared at him. "Aryan."
The world stilled. The name had come like a whisper from lifetimes ago, drawn from some place deeper than memory—closer to soul.
"How do you know my name?" he asked softly.
"I dreamed it," she said. "No—I lived it. I don't know how, but I remember falling… fire… and a promise beneath stars I can't see anymore."
Aryan's gaze dropped to the space between them, where a faint symbol glowed on the earth—a spiral of flame twined with a crescent of light. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat between them.
The pact.
He hadn't made it in this life… but perhaps they had made it before.
"Your flame… calls to me," she said. "Like it's always been there."
"And your moonfire," Aryan murmured, "reminds me of the only warmth I ever trusted… before everything burned."
Wind stirred. The symbol on the ground flared briefly, then sank into the soil as if sealing itself.
They stood in silence, bound by something older than either of them.
Aryan turned his gaze to the sky. The stars were shifting, just slightly. Watching.
The world was beginning to move again. And they… were no longer just pawns.
They were bound.
Flame and moonlight.
Past and present.
And something was coming for them both.
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Author's Note:
The bond has begun to awaken—one that goes beyond this life. What did they promise each other before? And what will that promise cost now?
Chapter 22 will unveil the first true test of this pact. Stay with me.
— R.E. Solcrest