The forest was quiet that night — too quiet.
The wind carried no whispers, only the faint hum of power that lingered in the air like the echo of a forgotten hymn.
Sora sat beneath an ancient tree whose bark was blackened by time, eyes closed, breath steady. Yet deep within, something was unraveling.
Every time he sank into meditation, the visions returned — clearer, sharper. A silver-haired woman, her eyes gleaming gold and crimson, calling his name not as Sovereign, but as something older. Something he could no longer remember.
He pressed a hand to his chest. The shadows within him stirred uneasily, like memories protesting their own awakening.
"Why… does her voice sound like remorse?"
A soft rustle — a familiar presence stirred. From the mist emerged the Shade of Lumeris, his most loyal wraith, kneeling before him.
"My Sovereign… your power trembles. The barrier between what you are and what you were begins to thin."
Sora opened his eyes — twin voids reflecting the moonlight.
"And what happens,"
he murmured,
"when it finally breaks?"
"Then,"
Lumeris said, his form flickering,
"the world shall remember you — and perhaps fear was never the word meant for you."
Meanwhile, far beyond the forest's edge, Seraphine stood atop a shattered altar once devoted to the sun.
The carvings beneath her feet told of an ancient war — Light against Shadow, but the faces were eroded, blurred beyond recognition. Only one inscription remained legible:
Two born from one soul — divided by flame, united by fate.
Her fingers traced the words slowly, her lips tightening.
"A prophecy? No… a warning."
She looked up at the same moon Sora did, unaware that their thoughts circled the same question, like stars orbiting a forgotten truth.
>Who were we… before this war began?
And for the first time in years, the light she wielded flickered — not from weakness, but from doubt.
Because in the depths of her heart, a name she should never have known whispered like a fading dream.
"Sora…"
The night answered in silence — but high above, the moon wept silver tears across the world, binding two fates that should never have met again.