That night, while the camp rested under a whispering canopy of stars, Aure couldn't sleep.
The warmth of Lian's presence beside him should have anchored him, but something tugged beneath his skin. A thread. A voice. A feeling older than the bond itself.
He rose quietly and stepped out into the clearing, barefoot beneath the moon. The trees watched. The night listened.
Aure knelt and pressed his palm into the soil.
"I'm ready," he whispered.
The sigil in his chest responded faint, like a ripple through still water. Then darkness. Falling.
The world shifted.
He stood now in a corridor of glass and shadow. No doors. No end. Just reflections… of him. All versions, all timelines. Some cruel. Some kind. Some broken. Some crowned in light.
And then, one mirror trembled.
Aure stepped toward it.
It showed a child. Not older than nine. Hair too long. Eyes too bright. Standing beside a tall figure cloaked in ink and smoke the Hollow King.
The child's hand was in his.
"He found me," Aure whispered aloud. "Before I knew who I was."
The memory unfolded in brutal clarity.
"You are not meant for them," the Hollow King told the child. "They will bind you in love and make you soft. But I… I will make you free. You will never belong to anyone."
"But I already do," the child said.
"To who?"
"To a boy who dreams of wolves," he said, smiling sadly. "He holds my name like a sword."
The Hollow King's eyes turned storm-black. "Then we'll break the name."
And he did.
He carved into Aure's memory, slicing threads of love, rewriting fire as fear, devotion as danger. He fed him images of abandonment, lies, betrayal. Every time Lian reached out across space, Aure would recoil not from hate… but programmed mistrust.
The child screamed.
But the spell was bound.
Aure stumbled back from the mirror.
Tears ran freely.
So that was it. The secret. The root.
The bond had not been broken by choice… it had been taken.
A soft wind brushed his cheek.
"You okay?" Lian stood behind him now, barefoot, like always he followed where the bond led.
"I remember…" Aure said, voice trembling. "He stole me before I ever had a chance to know myself."
Lian came forward and held him close. "Then we take whats ours back. Together."
Aure nodded, heart heavy but no longer alone.
In the dream realm, the mirror cracked.
The truth had been found.
And the Hollow King would feel the weight of what he tried to bury.