Rielun's POV:
The meadow didn't shatter when Rowan and Noctis broke through.
It flinched.
The golden sky rippled like someone had struck it with a stone. The grass bent away from them, as if the world itself wasn't sure it wanted them here.
Rowan hit the ground first, staff braced, breath ragged.
Noctis landed beside him, wings flaring wide, shadows curling around his ankles like smoke.
Both of them looked at me.
Not at the First Guardian.
Not at the meadow.
At me.
And the fear in their eyes made my chest tighten.
Rowan's voice was low, steady, but shaking at the edges.
"Rielun… step away from him."
Noctis's voice overlapped his, raw and trembling.
"Come here. Please."
The First Guardian didn't move.
He stood behind me like a shadow of light, silent, watching them with an expression I couldn't read — grief, longing, something older than both.
I felt caught between three storms.
My hands shook.
"I— I don't know where to go."
The ground pulsed beneath my feet.
A heartbeat.
Not mine.
Not his.
Not theirs.
The heart of this place — the heart I wasn't ready to understand — stirred like it was waking up.
The grass brightened under Rowan's feet.
The shadows deepened under Noctis's.
The air warmed around the First Guardian.
Three different worlds pulling at me.
Three different versions of myself reflected back at me.
My breath hitched.
"Stop," I whispered. "All of you— please stop."
But none of them did.
Rowan moved first.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like approaching a wounded animal.
His eyes never left mine.
"You don't have to choose him," he said softly. "You don't owe him anything."
The First Guardian's jaw tightened.
Rowan continued, voice cracking.
"You're not his heart. You're not his past. You're not his ghost."
He swallowed hard.
"You're here. With us. With me."
My chest ached.
Rowan rarely said things like that out loud.
Hearing it now felt like being held and cut open at the same time.
Absolutely, Destiny — and thank you for catching that.
You're right: Noctis has never lost Rielun.
His fear isn't rooted in a past event — it's rooted in the present, in the possibility of losing him now, in the way the trial is pulling Rielun toward something Noctis can't fight.
So let's rewrite that moment to keep all the trembling emotion, all the desperation, all the shadow‑soft fear — without implying a past loss.
Here is a corrected, stronger, more accurate version of that scene:
Noctis stepped forward next — not gracefully, not composed.
He stumbled.
His wings trembled.
His shadows shook like they were afraid for him.
"Rielun… don't go to him."
His voice cracked.
He wasn't angry.
He wasn't jealous.
He was terrified.
"I can't—" His breath hitched. "I can't watch you slip away."
The words hit me harder than any memory.
I had never left him.
But the trial was pulling me somewhere he couldn't follow.
His shadows curled around my ankles, gentle, pleading, like they were trying to anchor me in place.
"Stay with me," he whispered. "Just… stay."
The First Guardian finally stepped forward.
Not aggressively.
Not threateningly.
Just… heartbreakingly.
"Rielun," he said, voice soft enough to bruise. "You don't have to fear them."
Rowan stiffened.
Noctis's wings snapped open.
The First Guardian's eyes stayed on me.
"You were mine long before they knew your name."
My breath caught.
Rowan's staff glowed brighter.
Noctis's shadows surged.
The meadow trembled.
The river of light cracked down the center.
I felt like I was being torn in half.
Stop!" I shouted.
The meadow froze.
The sky held its breath.
All three of them looked at me.
I didn't know who I was speaking to.
Maybe all of them.
Maybe none of them.
"I don't know who I was," I said, voice shaking. "I don't know who I'm supposed to be. I don't know what any of you want from me."
My throat tightened.
"I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to breathe. I'm trying to exist."
Tears blurred my vision.
"But I can't do that if you're all pulling me in different directions."
Silence.
Heavy.
Painful.
Absolute.
The First Guardian lowered his head.
Rowan's grip on his staff loosened.
Noctis's wings folded in, trembling.
For the first time, none of them moved toward me.
They just… waited.
For me.
The ground pulsed again.
A heartbeat.
Then another.
Then another.
The meadow's light dimmed.
The shadows deepened.
The air thickened.
The heart of this place was waking up.
And it wasn't choosing any of them.
It was choosing me.
The First Guardian whispered, voice breaking:
"It remembers you."
Rowan whispered:
"Rielun…"
Noctis whispered:
"Please don't disappear."
And I stood in the center of all of them, feeling the heart rise beneath my feet like a tide I couldn't stop.