The world slowed.
Ayden stood frozen in the aftermath of Lucien's words, heart pounding, soul unraveling.
> "You've died before, Ayden. In a thousand timelines."
He turned to Kael, voice cracking. "Is it true?"
Kael couldn't meet his eyes.
The silence was answer enough.
Zion stepped forward, but Kael raised a hand. "No. He deserves to hear it from me."
---
The Truth Revealed
Kael's voice trembled.
"Yes… it's true. You've died before. Over and over. Each time, I found your soul again. Sometimes as a child. Sometimes already grown. But always—you."
Ayden's throat tightened. "Why?"
"Because I couldn't let you go," she whispered. "Even when the stars told me to stop. Even when Heaven threatened to burn me out of existence."
Her eyes shimmered, golden tears streaming.
"I fell for you not once… but through every lifetime."
Ayden staggered back. "So I was never supposed to live. You cheated fate."
Kael nodded.
"And Elira?" he asked. "She wasn't the only one, was she?"
Kael's silence was like a thunderclap.
Zion added quietly, "She's not just a fallen star. She's the universe's most dangerous rebel."
---
Elira's Fractured Soul
Elira watched the exchange from the shattered greenhouse, her presence flickering like unstable light.
Her form was beginning to blur—caught between worlds.
"I don't want to disappear," she whispered to Ayden, when he finally found her again.
"You won't," he said fiercely. "I'll find a way to save you. Both of you."
Elira's silver eyes darkened. "You don't understand, Ayden. The light inside you? It's not Kael's anymore."
He blinked. "What?"
"It's mine," she said, voice shaking. "When she rewrote my fate to save you, she bound the last of my time—my soul—into your heart."
Ayden's sigil flared.
That's why it pulsed around her.
That's why he saw her in dreams.
> He carried her life inside him.
---
The Tether
Zion pulled Kael aside. "If he chooses Elira, your time in this realm ends."
Kael nodded. "I know."
"But if he chooses you…"
"Elira fades completely," Kael finished. "Unmade. Forever."
Zion's voice was soft. "You could force the choice."
Kael's jaw clenched. "No. I won't take from him what was stolen from her."
Zion hesitated. "Then prepare yourself… to disappear."
---
Ayden's Breaking Point
That night, Ayden stood at the lake—where he first saw Kael fall from the sky.
The stars above shimmered with expectation.
In one hand, he held Kael's locket—the one she kept from every lifetime they shared.
In the other, a feather Elira had dropped, barely real, barely whole.
The sigil on his chest burned.
> Two lives.
Two souls.
One tether.
A voice inside him whispered:
> Choose.