Aira didn't stop running until the sky began to lighten.
Her feet led her to a cave—a place half-remembered from a childhood dream. Inside, the walls were lined with glowing blue moss, and in the center… Mirelle waited.
"You look like a woman who just cracked her own reflection," the shaman said.
"I don't know who I am," Aira admitted. "I don't trust either of them."
"Then trust the ritual," Mirelle said. "Let it show you everything. Not through words. Through flesh, blood, and memory."
"But if I bind with them both…" Her voice shook. "Won't it destroy me?"
"No." Mirelle leaned closer. "It will make you whole. You've lived as fragments across timelines. Now you'll become the mirror that holds them all."
Aira's heart raced. "What if I don't want to choose?"
Mirelle grinned. "Then don't. Let them choose you. Let them surrender."
Aira swallowed. "And what must I do?"
Mirelle placed a small, black vial in her hand. "On the night of the Eclipse, bring them both. Let your bodies and memories intertwine. The potion will open the Echo Gate. If your souls resonate… the curse will break."
"And if they don't?"
Mirelle's smile faded. "Then all three of you will be lost—locked in one eternal moment. A prison of passion and regret."
Aira stared at the vial. "And when is the Eclipse?"
"Five days."
Her fingers closed around it. "Then I'll be ready."
But as she left, her mind whispered a darker truth.
One of them was still lying.
And she had to find out which.
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