Seraphina's POV
"I'm not doing it."
Caelan stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "Seraphina, the Architect said—"
"The Architect is LYING!" I pulled away from him, pacing the chamber. "Don't you feel it? Through our bond? Something's wrong with everything he said!"
Caelan went still. Then his eyes widened. "You're right. I feel it too. Like... a wrongness."
"Exactly!" I spun to face him. "We're Inverse Souls now. We can sense truth from lies. And that thing was lying through its teeth!"
Lyra stepped forward. "But what if you're wrong? What if refusing means destroying all reality?"
"Then we find another way!" I grabbed Caelan's hand. "We have until sunrise. Let's use that time to figure out what's really going on."
Through the window, reality continued cracking. Other worlds bled through—cities made of crystal, forests of living fire, oceans floating in the sky.
"Where do we even start?" Caelan asked.
"With the Oracle." I pulled him toward the door. "She told us how to complete the bond. Maybe she knows more than she said."
We ran through the palace, dodging panicking nobles and servants. Outside, the sky was a nightmare of colliding worlds.
"How do we find her?" Caelan asked.
"Oracle Kairos!" I shouted to the chaos. "I know you can hear me! We need you!"
Nothing happened.
"Please!" I begged. "If you really exist outside time, you know we're in trouble! Help us!"
Silver light flashed, and the Oracle appeared.
"You actually figured it out," she said, sounding impressed. "Faster than I expected."
"You knew the Architect was lying!" I accused.
"Of course I knew. I exist outside time, child. I know everything that has happened and will happen." She smiled sadly. "But I couldn't tell you. You had to discover it yourself."
"Why?" Caelan demanded.
"Because the Architect isn't just lying about the solution. It's lying about everything." The Oracle tapped her staff. "It didn't create the barriers. It didn't separate the realms. It didn't imprison the Forgotten."
"Then who did?" I asked.
"The First Starborn. Three thousand years ago." The Oracle's white eyes seemed to look through time itself. "She saw a great evil coming—something that would devour all of existence. So she split reality into separate realms, creating barriers to slow it down. The Forgotten aren't prisoners. They're guardians. Protectors placed between layers to watch for the evil's return."
My mind reeled. "Then what is the Architect?"
"The evil itself." The Oracle's voice went cold. "It's been trapped outside reality for three thousand years, waiting for someone to break the barriers. Waiting for a Starborn powerful enough to merge the realms."
"Me," I whispered. "It's been waiting for me."
"Yes. And now it's finally free. It took the form of an 'Architect' to trick you into giving up your power willingly. Because that's the only way it can absorb a Starborn's essence—through willing sacrifice."
Horror washed over me. "If I'd agreed—"
"You would have given it enough power to consume all of reality. Every realm. Every world. Everything." The Oracle looked at Caelan. "But your bond saved you. Inverse Souls can sense truth. The Architect didn't count on that."
"So how do we stop it?" Caelan asked.
"The same way the First Starborn stopped it before. You separate the realms again. Rebuild the barriers." The Oracle paused. "But there's a cost."
"Of course there is," I said bitterly. "What is it this time?"
"To rebuild barriers that strong, you need a power source. Something that can anchor reality across all dimensions." She looked at our joined hands. "You need a completed Soul Bind. But not just any bond. One where both souls are willing to become the anchor. Forever."
"What does that mean?" Caelan asked carefully.
"It means you both become like me. Existing outside normal time and space. Aware of everything but unable to interact with it. Watching over the barriers for eternity, making sure they never fall again." The Oracle's expression was pained. "It means giving up your lives, your bodies, your ability to touch or speak or feel anything but each other."
The weight of her words crushed me.
"But we'd be together?" I asked quietly.
"Yes. Conscious. Aware. Just... separate from existence."
I looked at Caelan. Through our bond, I felt his instant answer.
He'd do it. For me. For everyone.
"There has to be another way," I said desperately.
"There is," a new voice said.
We all spun around.
A woman stood in the doorway. She looked exactly like me—same silver-blonde hair, same violet eyes. But she was transparent, glowing with silver light.
"Who are you?" I breathed.
"I'm the First Starborn." She smiled. "Or rather, I'm what's left of her. I've been waiting three thousand years for you, Seraphina. My successor."
"You're dead," Lyra whispered.
"My body is dead. But my soul is still here, woven into the barriers I created." The First Starborn moved closer. "I've watched you since you were born. Watched your mother steal your power. Watched you suffer. And I'm so proud of who you've become."
Tears stung my eyes. "Can you help us?"
"I can do better than help. I can take your place." She held up her hand, showing a mark identical to our Soul Bind. "I had an Inverse Soul too. He died protecting the barriers. But the bond between us still exists, even in death. If I have a living Starborn's power, I can use our old bond to rebuild everything."
Hope flared in my chest. "You mean—"
"I mean I can fix this. But I need your power, Seraphina. All of it." She looked sad. "You'll survive. But you'll be human. No magic. No Starborn abilities. Just... mortal."
"And Caelan?" I asked.
"The Soul Bind will remain. You'll still be connected. He'll still be immortal. But you'll age normally. Live a human lifespan. Die while he continues on forever." The First Starborn's gaze was gentle. "You'll have maybe sixty years together before death separates you."
Through our bond, I felt Caelan's anguish.
Sixty years. Then he'd be alone again.
"Is there any option where we both survive with our powers?" I asked desperately.
"No." The Oracle's voice was final. "Reality demands balance. To fix what you broke, something must be given up. Either you both give up everything and become anchors. Or you give up your power and become mortal."
I looked at Caelan. At the man I loved. The man I'd known for three days but felt like I'd known forever.
"What do you want?" I asked him softly.
He pulled me close. "I want sixty years of your laugh. Your smile. Your terrible morning mood." His voice cracked. "I want to watch you grow old. Even if it means watching you die. Because sixty years with you is worth five hundred years without you."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." He kissed my forehead. "Make the deal. Give up your power. Live."
I turned to the First Starborn. "I accept. Take my power. Fix everything."
She smiled. "Thank you. For finishing what I started."
She reached out and touched my chest.
Pain exploded through me—different from before. Not breaking or building. Just... emptying.
I felt my Starborn power drain away like water through my fingers. Felt myself becoming ordinary. Human. Powerless.
But through it all, I felt Caelan holding me. His love through our bond, steady and sure.
When the First Starborn pulled her hand back, she blazed with silver light—my power now hers.
"I'll rebuild the barriers properly this time. Separate but connected. And I'll make sure nothing like the Architect can break through again." She looked at me. "Live well, Seraphina. You've earned it."
She vanished in a flash of light.
The cracking realms began to heal. Other worlds pulled back, separating. Reality knitted itself back together.
Within minutes, it was done.
I collapsed against Caelan, exhausted. "Is it over?"
"It's over," he confirmed.
But then Lyra gasped. "No. Look at Seraphina's mark!"
I raised my wrist weakly.
The Soul Bind mark was fading. Disappearing.
"What's happening?" Caelan demanded, panic in his voice.
The Oracle appeared one last time, her face grim. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you. When the First Starborn took your power, she took the part of you that formed the bond. The Starborn essence. Without it..."
"The bond breaks," I finished, horror washing over me.
"No!" Caelan grabbed my wrist like he could hold the mark in place. "No, we just completed it! We just—"
But the mark continued fading.
"You have maybe an hour," the Oracle said quietly. "Then the bond breaks completely. You'll feel nothing from each other. Just... strangers."
She disappeared, leaving us in devastating silence.
I looked at Caelan. At the man I loved. The man I was about to lose.
"We saved everyone," I whispered.
"But we lost each other," he finished.
And somewhere in the healed realms, in a place between dimensions, something laughed.
Because the First Starborn had lied too.
She'd taken Seraphina's power, yes.
But she'd also taken something else.
Something Seraphina would only discover when it was too late to get it back.
Her memories.
In one hour, Seraphina wouldn't just lose her bond with Caelan.
She'd forget him completely.
Forget everything.
And wake up thinking she was still the powerless princess in her father's palace.
Back where she started.
As if none of it had ever happened.