POV: Elara Virelle (1st person)
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Some people believe in fate.
Others believe in time.
But what happens when both are broken?
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[Scene: Morning – Virelle Cottage, Elara's Room]
When I woke up the next morning, the world felt... thinner.
The air was quiet — not peaceful, but expectant. The kind of silence before a symphony, before the scream. Like the universe was holding its breath.
I sat up slowly. My bones ached like I'd lived a thousand lives in one night. And maybe, in a way, I had.
The dream. The moonlight. Kael.
The memory hadn't faded like most dreams do. It sharpened. It grew stronger. His voice still echoed through me — not in my ears, but in the very soul of my bones.
> "You were once the light that kept me alive."
What did that even mean?
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[Flashback: Childhood Memory – Age 6]
My grandmother once told me a bedtime story. One she never repeated.
She said, "Elara, the moon isn't just a rock in the sky. It's a mirror. A door. And sometimes… a prison."
At six, I laughed.
Now, I wasn't laughing.
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[Scene: Town University – Astronomy Hall]
"You look like hell," said Kira, my classmate and accidental best friend. She leaned over the astronomy workstation where we were supposed to be charting comet positions.
I shrugged. "Didn't sleep."
Kira rolled her eyes. "Still moon-obsessed?"
She meant it as a joke, but the word obsessed didn't feel like an insult anymore. It felt like an anchor. A truth I'd swallowed too long.
I gave her a tired smile. "Yeah. Something like that."
She didn't press. Maybe she was used to my silences. Or maybe she could sense that this one wasn't just silence — it was shielding.
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[Scene: The Library – Elara Alone, Late Afternoon]
I returned to the Library of Old Cinders that evening, long after the staff had left.
I needed to see the map again.
The Lunaris atlas sat where I'd hidden it — behind a stack of fake encyclopedias no one had touched in years. I pulled it out with reverent hands, fingers trembling. The book practically hummed beneath my touch.
When I opened it, something had changed.
A new path had appeared — a glowing line from Earth to a single lunar tower labeled: The Observatory of Forgotten Light.
And beside it, a handwritten phrase had appeared in the corner:
> "You knew me before your first breath.
I loved you before my last."
— K.
My chest tightened. I couldn't explain the feeling, only that it was deeper than deja vu.
It was... belonging.
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[Scene: Midnight Dream – The Moon Realm]
I didn't fall asleep.
I was taken.
The moment my eyes shut, the world shifted. I stood again in the moonlit ruins — but this time, I wasn't alone.
Kael stood before me, no longer a ghost in shadow. His silver cloak drifted behind him like smoke. He looked... solid. Real.
"I'm remembering more," I whispered.
Kael stepped closer. "Because your soul is waking. Memory is just the key. The door has always been open."
"Why me?" I asked, voice cracking. "Why am I the one dreaming of this? Of you?"
His eyes softened. "Because you're not dreaming, Elara. You're returning."
I shook my head. "Returning to what?"
Kael took my hand. Our fingers interlocked like stars fitting into constellations.
"To the life we were denied. To the bond we were forbidden to keep."
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[Scene: Dream Sequence – Past Memory Fragments]
Suddenly, everything shattered.
A rush of visions poured into me like a tidal wave:
A glowing wedding under two moons...
A silver crown falling to the ground...
A cry in the dark...
A blade of light piercing Kael's chest...
Me — but not me — screaming his name...
And then:
A voice of thunder, ancient and cruel:
> "A mortal shall not bind with a Lunar soul. Let the curse fall, and let love die."
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[Scene: Moon Realm – Present in Dream]
I stumbled back, breath stolen. "That was… me? That was us?"
Kael's face was unreadable. "That was our first life. You were the Queen of the Earthbound — I was heir to Lunaris. We defied the Old Code. We paid the price."
"And now?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "Now... the moons are aligning again. The Gate between our worlds is opening. We can finish what we began... if we are willing to break the rules again."
"What rules?"
He looked straight at me. "All of them."
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[Scene: Earth – Morning]
I woke with tears on my cheeks, dirt beneath my fingernails, and a silver ring I did not go to bed wearing — carved with lunar glyphs glowing faintly.
I wasn't just remembering.
I was returning.
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✅ End of Chapter 2
Next Chapter: "The Lunar Gatekeeper"