(Kael's POV)
My shadow magic screamed in terror.
That had never happened before. In my entire life, my shadows had never been afraid of anything. They were creatures of pure horror, beings that fed on fear itself. But as Princess Lyra's golden fire exploded around us, every shadow I controlled tried to run and hide.
"Impossible," I whispered, watching her flames turn three war demons into ash with a single blast.
War demons were the strongest creatures in my world. I had spent years learning to control just one of them. It took everything I had to call three at once, and even then I could barely keep them under control.
But Lyra had just erased them from existence like they were made of paper.
"Stay back!" she yelled at the screaming crowd, her hands still glowing with dragon fire. "There might be more!"
I stared at her in complete shock. This wasn't the weak princess everyone had described. This was someone with power I had never seen before, not even in the ancient stories my father told about the old days.
But here's what really scared me: I hadn't called those demons.
I was the only person in this kingdom who should be able to control shadow things. So if I didn't call them, who did?
"You," Lyra said, suddenly turning to look at me. "You're not surprised they're here."
My heart nearly stopped. "What do you mean?"
"Most people would be asking what those things were. You just look angry that someone else summoned them." Her golden eyes were looking right through me, like she could see all my secrets. "Which means you know exactly what war demons are."
I opened my mouth to lie, but something about her expression made me pause. She didn't look afraid of me. She looked... disappointed.
"You're Prince Kael," she said quietly. "The Shadow Prince everyone's terrified of."
There was no point in denying it anymore. "How did you know?"
"Because I've been waiting for you." Lyra stepped closer, and I could feel the incredible heat coming from her skin. "The question is, did you send those devils to test me? Or is someone else playing games with both of us?"
"I didn't summon them," I said truthfully. "War demons aren't pets you can send to attack people. They're barely managed chaos. Whoever called them here either has power that matches mine, or they're completely insane."
Lyra nodded like she had expected that answer. "Then we have a problem. Because someone just tried to kill me using your magic."
The way she said it made something click in my mind. "You think someone is trying to start a war between our kingdoms."
"I don't think it. I know it." Lyra looked around at the panicking fair crowd, then grabbed my arm. "Come with me. We need to talk somewhere quiet."
"Why would I go anywhere with you? For all I know, this is a trick."
Lyra laughed, and the sound was nothing like the gentle princess laugh I had expected. "Kael, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. That dragon fire you just saw? That was me holding back."
She wasn't bragging. She was just stating a fact, and that scared me more than any threat could have.
I followed her through the crowd toward a quiet corner of the fair grounds. My shadows kept mumbling warnings in my ears, but not about Lyra. They were telling me that something much worse was coming.
"Explain," I said once we were alone. "How did you know who I am? How did you know I didn't call those demons? And how in the seven hells do you have dragon magic when every report says you have basic light powers?"
Lyra was quiet for a long moment, like she was deciding how much to tell me. "What if I said I remember dying? What if I said I remember a life where you and I were enemies, but we fell in love anyway?"
My blood turned to ice. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" She held out her hand, and golden flames danced across her palm like live creatures. "Five minutes ago, you would have said it was impossible for anyone except you to kill war demons."
She had a point. But what she was saying was beyond impossible. It was crazy.
"You're talking about reincarnation," I said slowly. "About past lives and eternal souls."
"I'm talking about someone who has been manipulating our countries for longer than you can imagine. Someone who makes sure we stay enemies instead of friends." Lyra's fires grew brighter, and I could see anger in her eyes. "Someone who killed us both in that other life."
Before I could ask what she meant, my ghosts started screaming again.
Not talking. Screaming.
"Something's coming," I said, drawing my sword. "Something that scares even my demons."
Lyra spun around, her hands already glowing with fire. "Where?"
"Everywhere." My shadows were pouring out of every corner, making a protective circle around us. "Whatever it is, it's not from this world."
The air began to crack.
Not metaphorically. The real air around us started splitting apart like broken glass, showing glimpses of something horrible on the other side.
"Void magic," Lyra breathed, and her face went totally white. "She's here."
"Who's here?"
Before Lyra could answer, a woman stepped through one of the cracks in reality. She was beautiful in the way that toxic flowers are beautiful - lovely enough to make you want to touch her, deadly enough to kill you if you did.
"Hello, children," the woman said, her voice like honey mixed with broken glass. "Having fun playing with magic you don't understand?"
My shadows tried to attack her unconsciously, but they couldn't get close. Every time they touched the air around her, they just disappeared.
"Morwyn," Lyra said, and I could hear real fear in her voice for the first time.
The woman smiled, showing teeth that were too sharp. "Very good, little dragon. Though I prefer my full title these days."
"Which is?" I ordered, raising my sword even though I already knew it would be useless against someone who could walk through reality itself.
"I'm the Void Sorceress," Morwyn said, like she was introducing her favorite food. "The one who has been killing you two lovebirds for over a thousand years."
My mind went blank. "What?"
"Oh yes," Morwyn laughed, and the sound made reality crack even more. "You and your precious princess have found each other, fallen in love, and united your powers exactly seventeen times across seventeen different lifetimes."
She raised her hand, and dark power began swirling around her fingers like liquid night.
"And I've murdered you both exactly seventeen times to stop you from becoming powerful enough to destroy me."
Lyra grabbed my arm, and I could feel her dragon fire burning through her skin. "Kael, she's not lying. I remember some of it now. We keep finding each other, and she keeps killing us before we can save the world."
"Save the world from what?" I asked, though part of me was starting to remember things that couldn't be my memories.
"From her," Lyra said simply. "She's trying to destroy all magic everywhere. And the only thing that can stop her is dragon fire and shadow magic working together."
Morwyn clapped her hands like a happy child. "Such clever little souls! Yes, when you two combine your powers, you can rewrite the rules of magic itself. Which is very awkward for someone trying to erase magic from existence."
She pointed one finger at me and one at Lyra. "But this time, I'm not going to wait for you to remember everything and fall in love. I'm going to kill you both right now, while you're still weak and confused."
Dark lightning started building around her hands, and I could feel it pulling at my soul like it wanted to rip me apart from the inside.
"Any last words?" Morwyn asked sweetly.
I looked at Lyra, and she looked at me. Neither of us was strong enough to fight this monster. Not alone.
But maybe...
"Do you trust me?" I asked her.
"With my life," she answered without hesitation.
I held out my hand, and she took it. The moment our fingers touched, silver shadows and golden fire burst around us in a spiral of power unlike anything I had ever felt.
For just a second, I remembered everything. Seventeen lifetimes of loving her. Seventeen times we had died trying to save the world. Seventeen times we had failed.
But this time felt different. This time, we were ready.
"Impossible!" Morwyn shrieked, her attack shattering against our united magic like waves against a mountain. "You're both too young! Too weak! You shouldn't be able to—"
Her words cut off as something extraordinary happened.
The cracks in reality around us didn't close. They opened wider, and through them stepped troops of creatures I had never seen before. Dragons made of pure golden light. Shadow beasts with silver eyes. And leading them all was a person I recognized but couldn't believe.
It was me. But older, wearing a crown made of living shadows, with power that made the air itself bow before him.
"Hello, little brother," the other Kael said quietly. "I think it's time you learned the truth about what we really are."
Beside him stepped another figure that made Lyra gasp out loud.
It was her. But this version was older too, wearing armor made of dragon scales and carrying a sword that burned with endless fire.
"Hello, little sister," the other Lyra said with a sad smile. "We've come to teach you how to win this war."
As I stared at these impossible versions of ourselves, one frightening thought kept repeating in my mind: If there were other versions of us, how many different worlds were there?
And how many times had we died trying to save them all?