The forest whispered.
Not with wind or birdsong, but with magic.
Liora stood in the middle of the circle, the moonlight pouring over her like a veil spun from silver threads. Her bare feet touched the cold, mossy ground, her breath visible in the crisp midnight air. The runes Kaelith had drawn around her with crushed moonstone and salt glowed faintly, as if remembering an ancient language long forgotten.
She could feel it now—magic in her blood, crawling under her skin, humming behind her ears. She wasn't just cursed.
She was bound.
Across from her, Kaelith's eyes glowed like twin embers, watching her with a storm behind his calm. "You have to trust me, Liora," he said softly, kneeling at the edge of the circle. "Whatever happens tonight… don't run."
Liora swallowed hard. "I'm not afraid."
He gave a humorless smile. "You should be."
The spell had already begun the moment she stepped into the circle. A warm, invisible force pressed against her chest, then rippled outward, wrapping her limbs, tugging at something deep in her spirit.
A sharp jolt ran through her spine. Her knees buckled.
Kaelith caught her just before she fell. "It's starting."
A golden arc of light pulsed from the center of the runes, rising like a dome around them. The earth trembled faintly, and above them, the moon—bloated and brilliant—shifted hue, casting everything in a strange violet tint.
She could barely breathe. "Kaelith, what's happening?"
"The curse is unraveling... or trying to."
And then came the scream.
Not hers.
A voice not of this world sliced through the air. The sound made the hairs on Liora's neck rise. From the shadows between trees, figures emerged—cloaked, spectral, and faceless. Wraiths of the forgotten. Guardians of the curse.
Kaelith rose in front of her, spreading his arms like a shield. "I summoned them. They must bear witness. Without them, the spell won't hold."
Liora gritted her teeth, every part of her telling her to run. But she remembered what he said.
Don't run.
She stood.
And then, her mother's voice.
Not the whisper of memory—but real, living. "Liora," it called, soft and trembling, from beyond the trees.
Her heart stopped.
"No," Kaelith said, voice suddenly harsh. "It's not her. It's the curse manipulating your mind."
But it sounded so real. So true.
"Come to me, baby," the voice called again. "You've been gone so long."
Liora trembled. Tears filled her eyes. "Kaelith..."
"Don't break the circle."
She looked at him. His face—so determined, so fierce—was pale now, as if he bore the pain of the spell himself. He knelt again and placed his hand against her chest, right above her heart.
A surge of warmth bloomed there.
Liora gasped.
"Trust me," he whispered. "You're not alone in this anymore."
And that was when she saw it—behind the pain, behind the magic, Kaelith's soul was pouring into her. He was sharing his power, his essence, binding himself to her.
Suddenly, the wraiths screeched.
The light erupted upward like a tower of fire, and Liora screamed, her entire body lifted from the ground. Her limbs convulsed as the curse fought back—violently, viciously.
Kaelith roared something in the old tongue.
And then—
Silence.
Her body dropped back down into his arms, limp, but alive.
The wraiths were gone.
The forest was still.
The light faded.
And for a long moment, they were just two souls in the dark.
Liora's eyes fluttered open.
Kaelith stared down at her, a single tear tracing his cheek. "You're still here."
She tried to smile. "That was worse than finals week."
He laughed—a shaky, honest sound. "You broke part of it. The first knot."
She blinked slowly, pain thudding in her temples. "There are… more?"
"Yes," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. "But now… we're bonded."
Liora stiffened. "What do you mean bonded?"
"You didn't just break the curse. You absorbed some of its power. My power. Our fates are now linked."
Her heart fluttered wildly. "Kaelith, what did you do?"
"I made sure you'd never be alone again."
Her breath caught. It sounded like a vow. Like love, laced in a spell.
But even as her heart ached with wonder, she felt something stir behind them.
A whisper.
A shadow.
The air grew colder.
And Kaelith's expression changed.
"No," he said, standing and spinning toward the trees. "That's not possible. The spell was supposed to bind them—"
Liora sat up, confused. "What is it?"
Kaelith turned slowly toward her, face pale.
"There's a third force in play. One I didn't summon."
Before she could ask more, a wave of black fog erupted from the forest edge. It spiraled toward them, fast and choking.
Kaelith threw out his hand. A golden shield formed—but it cracked on impact.
The fog solidified into a cloaked figure, its face shrouded, its voice cold.
"You think you can steal what was never yours, Kaelith of the Veil?"
Liora's blood froze.
The being looked at her. "And you, girl... do you know what lies in your veins?"
She opened her mouth—but nothing came out.
Kaelith stepped in front of her again. "You don't belong here. She's under my protection."
The figure chuckled, low and menacing. "Then you shall suffer her fate."
The figure vanished in a burst of smoke.
Kaelith dropped to one knee, clutching his side. Blood leaked through his shirt.
"Kaelith!"
"I'm… fine," he gasped.
But he wasn't.
Liora helped him down gently. "What was that thing?"
He met her gaze, pain and fear swirling in his eyes.
"That," he said, "was the Keeper of the Broken Oath."
And Liora suddenly realized something.
This wasn't just a curse.
This was war.