It felt like time had stopped breathing.
The forest wasn't real — it was a memory wearing the mask of eternity. The mist carried whispers of forgotten names, and every echo of her heartbeat sounded like someone else's.
Liana stood still, staring at Amara across the shimmering void between them.
The other woman's presence was both comforting and terrifying — like fire that could warm or burn, depending on how close you dared to stand.
"You've seen pieces," Amara said softly. "But not the whole truth. Would you like to know why you exist?"
Liana's throat went dry. "You mean… why I was born?"
Amara's smile didn't reach her eyes. "No. Why I was reborn through you."
---
The air rippled. The world shifted around them like pages turning in an invisible book.
Suddenly, Liana was standing on the balcony of a massive obsidian palace. Below stretched a kingdom drowned in crimson light. Black banners fluttered in the wind, each marked with the sigil of a serpent biting its own tail.
She could feel it — the magic, the pulse of thousands of souls kneeling before her.
She gasped. "This… this is—"
"My empire," Amara finished. "Before they called me a monster."
Liana turned. "You were their queen."
"I was their salvation," Amara corrected. "Until I fell in love."
---
The memory shifted again. The throne room appeared, vast and glittering. A man stood before her — tall, cloaked in shadows, eyes like molten silver. Kael. But not the Kael Liana knew. This one radiated power, cruelty, and longing all at once.
"Kael," Liana whispered, her heart trembling. "He was… yours?"
Amara's expression softened painfully. "He was mine before he was the world's curse."
Images flashed — their hands entwined, a blood pact sealed under a red eclipse, whispers of eternity promised and betrayed.
"He vowed that death could never separate us," Amara said, her tone turning brittle. "And he was right. Every time I died, the curse found a way to bring me back — through another soul, another body, another life."
Liana's chest ached. "So I was just another… vessel?"
Amara shook her head slowly. "No. You were the only one who could hold both our souls without shattering."
"Why?" Liana demanded. "Why me?"
"Because you were born under the same star I died beneath," Amara said. "The universe doesn't forgive symmetry — it repeats it."
---
Liana staggered back. "You're saying I was destined to become you?"
Amara's eyes gleamed like broken glass. "Destiny doesn't care what we want. But choice… that's what makes us human."
She stepped closer. "I was created to destroy. You were born to end that destruction. We're halves of the same soul, Liana — and it's time you chose which half survives."
The mist pulsed around them. The trees began to twist into faces, whispering her name. Liana's breath came in short bursts.
She wanted to scream, but instead she whispered, "I don't want your power."
Amara's voice deepened, echoing. "Then you'll die with mine."
---
A crack split the air between them — reality itself fracturing. Golden and black light spilled out like blood.
Liana fell to her knees, gripping her chest as pain seared through her ribs. Images flooded her mind — Kael standing over her body centuries ago, Han Jian's voice shouting her name, the world burning.
Amara crouched beside her, her voice almost tender. "You can't escape the curse, my dear. But you can rewrite it."
Liana's vision blurred. "How?"
Amara smiled faintly. "By killing the man who started it."
"Kael," Liana breathed.
Amara nodded once. "The curse ends only when his immortal blood spills by the hand of the woman who once loved him."
---
The mist trembled violently.
And far beyond the veil, Kael stirred from meditation. His heart stopped for a beat — as if someone had whispered his death sentence across worlds.
He opened his eyes.
"She's remembering," he said quietly.
Han Jian's head snapped up. "What did you say?"
Kael rose slowly, the mark on his wrist glowing like molten gold. "Amara is telling her everything."
Han Jian frowned. "Then stop her!"
Kael's voice cracked with something between sorrow and rage. "You don't understand. If I interfere, she'll never return as herself. She'll come back as Amara."
Han Jian took a step forward, eyes cold. "Then what do you plan to do? Watch her drown?"
Kael's jaw clenched. "No. I'll remind her why she loved me once — before fate turned us into enemies."
---
Back in the In-Between, Amara extended her hand. "One touch, and the memories will be yours. You'll understand everything — every lie, every betrayal."
Liana hesitated. Her fingers trembled, inches away from Amara's.
"What if I don't want to remember?" she whispered.
"Then you'll live a lie," Amara said simply. "And sooner or later, the truth will tear through you anyway."
Liana's heart raced. The temptation was unbearable — to finally know who she was, what she'd lost, and what had been stolen from her.
Her fingertips brushed Amara's.
A surge of magic erupted — not gentle, but violent, like the sky splitting open.
Screams filled her ears, though she didn't know if they were hers or Amara's.
When the light cleared, the world was no longer a forest.
It was a battlefield.
---
The night was alive with whispers — the kind that only lovers, enemies, and fate itself could hear.
Lianna stood by the lake again, the same one where so many truths had been born and buried. The moonlight dripped over the ripples, painting her reflection in shades of silver and sorrow. She traced her fingers along the water's edge, remembering the weight of Kairen's gaze, the warmth of his touch, and the chaos he always left in his wake.
"Running away again?"
The voice came from behind her — low, teasing, and unmistakably familiar. Her heart stumbled, even before she turned around.
Kairen stood there, his coat swaying in the breeze, his eyes sharp but unreadable. He looked both furious and relieved, a storm barely contained in human form.
"I wasn't running," she replied quietly. "I just needed… air."
He chuckled bitterly. "You always say that when you're really running."
Silence fell between them — heavy, painful, but charged with everything unsaid.
She finally turned to face him. "Why are you here, Kairen?"
"Because I can't not be," he said, taking a step closer. "You think I wanted this? You think I like being torn between saving you and destroying everything else I've ever built?"
Lianna's eyes burned. "Then don't destroy it. Choose peace for once."
He laughed harshly. "Peace doesn't exist for people like me, Lianna. It never did."
The wind carried her scent toward him, soft and warm. His restraint wavered — for a second, his hand rose, as if to touch her cheek, but he dropped it halfway.
"Do you even know what it does to me," he murmured, voice low, "seeing you with him?"
She froze. "You mean Alaric?"
"Who else?" His tone cracked, jealousy burning beneath his calm façade. "You think I didn't see how he looks at you? How you don't look away?"
"It's not what you think."
"Then tell me what it is," he said, his voice trembling now, almost desperate.
She didn't answer right away — because how could she? Her heart was a battlefield with no victor.
Instead, she whispered, "You can't keep doing this, Kairen. You can't appear every time I start breathing again."
He closed the distance in one step, gripping her arms — not to hurt, but to anchor. "Then stop making me need you."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I never asked you to."
"I know." His voice softened, breaking. "That's what makes it worse."
For a moment, neither spoke. The night held its breath.
Then, a faint rustle — someone watching.
Lianna tensed. "We're not alone."
Kairen's eyes snapped up, scanning the darkness beyond the trees. His instincts sharpened, the predator awakening. "Stay behind me."
But it was too late. A blade gleamed in the moonlight.
A figure stepped forward — cloaked, masked, but unmistakably confident.
"Well," the stranger drawled, "isn't this touching?"
Kairen moved like lightning, pulling Lianna behind him. "Who are you?"
The figure tilted his head. "Someone who's grown tired of waiting for you two to destroy each other. I thought I'd speed things along."
And before either of them could react — the man threw something.
A burst of silver light exploded in the air. Lianna screamed as Kairen shielded her, the shockwave hurling them both into the lake.
Cold. Silence. Darkness.
When Lianna surfaced, coughing, she saw Kairen already dragging himself to shore, his hand bleeding from the blast.
She rushed toward him. "You're hurt—"
He caught her wrist, eyes fierce. "No. Don't come closer."
His veins glowed faintly — silver lines creeping under his skin, spreading fast.
Lianna's heart dropped. "That light… what was it?"
"Poison," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Magic meant for… my kind."
Her panic rose. "Then we have to get it out! Tell me how—"
He grabbed her face with trembling hands, forcing a smile that looked more like goodbye. "You can't save me, Lianna."
"Yes, I can!" she shouted, shaking her head violently. "I won't let you—"
"Listen to me," he whispered, leaning close. "If I don't make it… promise me you'll go to Alaric. Tell him… tell him not to start the war."
Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Stop talking like that!"
But his grip was already weakening. The glow in his veins pulsed slower, dimmer.
Lianna's sobs broke through the night, her voice trembling as she held him close.
And somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled — not out of rage, but grief.
The lake rippled once more. The moon looked down, silent witness to a love that refused to die quietly.
---
❓️❓️❓️❓️❓️
If you were in Lianna's place — watching someone you love slowly slip away because of a destiny they can't escape — would you fight fate to save them, or let them go to protect the world?