Temple of the Sky Flame — Eastern Mountains of Goryeo
Snow fell quietly on the sacred peaks. The wind carried with it whispers — not of the present, but of things yet to come.
Inside the temple, carved directly into the mountain rock, Tae-jun stood alone, eyes closed, hands resting on a stone altar covered in glowing runes. He had climbed for three days and three nights to reach this place. A sanctuary no emperor had set foot in for two hundred years.
"I need answers," he said to the silence.
The walls trembled. The torches flared blue.
An old voice rose from the shadows.
"Then ask, son of kings… and be ready to pay the price."
The spirit of the first ruler of Goryeo appeared in the form of light and mist.
"What is this bond I feel?" Tae-jun asked. "Why do I dream of a woman I have never met — yet know more deeply than my own blood?"
"Because your soul remembers. And so does hers."
The emperor's breath caught.
"You are not the first to cross paths with her. But you might be the last."
⸻
Kemetwa — Chamber of Echoes
Nalya awoke in her sacred chamber, her body soaked in sweat. The drummers had stopped. Outside, the city had gone eerily silent.
She sat before the Mirror of Origin — a massive disc of obsidian polished until it reflected the very soul.
And there she saw it again.
That woman.
That… other self.
The flicker of traffic lights. The hum of electricity. High heels on pavement. And a strange metal device lighting up in her hands.
"What is this? Who am I?" Nalya whispered.
"You are more than one life," a voice replied. "You are a line unbroken."
She turned. A figure had appeared — neither man nor woman. Draped in feathers, face hidden behind a mask of bone and gold.
"You are being called across time," the being said. "Your story is not finished. Not here. Not now."
"And Tae-jun?"
"His path mirrors yours. You are the storm that echoes through centuries."
⸻
Shrine of the Forgotten
Kaeshar watched it unfold — the fracture in time expanding like a wound in the sky.
"The past slips," he muttered, panicked. "The future bleeds into now."
He summoned his spirits, screaming:
"Stop them! Seal the rift! Or everything shall be undone!"
But the spirits recoiled.
Even they feared what was coming.
⸻
Spirit Realm — The Edge of Time
Tae-jun and Nalya stood on opposite sides of a luminous rift. The veil between them shimmered like water lit by stars.
Neither could touch.
But both could feel.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
"I think I was meant to find you," he answered.
She reached out.
So did he.
The space between them pulsed.
"Not yet," said the wind.
"But soon."