Darkness.
Cold. Endless. Silent.
Lianna floated in it — or perhaps she was it. There was no body to move, no breath to count, no heartbeat to trust. Only the faint echo of a name that kept rippling through the void like a memory refusing to die.
Kairen.
The sound was soft, but every time she thought it would fade, it returned — clearer, sharper, closer.
Then, a flicker. A heartbeat of light.
She gasped. Air rushed into her lungs for the first time in what felt like centuries. Her eyes flew open — but the world around her wasn't the same forest, nor the Shadow Realm.
She stood in a place between everything — a gray horizon stretching forever, clouds swirling beneath her feet, stars dripping like tears from a shattered sky.
The Mirror fragments floated in slow motion around her, each piece reflecting a different moment — Kairen's smirk, Alaric's hand reaching out, the Keeper's shadow. And in one piece, a little girl with golden eyes smiled back — her own younger self.
Lianna turned slowly, her voice trembling. "Where… am I?"
A voice answered from behind her. Deep. Familiar.
"The space between endings."
She spun around — and froze.
A man stood before her, tall and cloaked in moonlight, silver threads running through his hair. His eyes glowed faintly gold — not immortal fire, not human warmth, but something in between.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
The man smiled faintly. "You knew me once. When you were still Amara."
Her breath caught. "Then… you're—"
"The Keeper."
But his form was not the monstrous shadow she had fought. He looked… human. Weary. His voice held sorrow instead of arrogance.
Lianna took a step back. "I destroyed you."
He shook his head slowly. "You destroyed what I had become. Not what I was."
He gestured, and one of the Mirror fragments floated toward her. Inside it, she saw a vision — the ancient world, before the war of realms. Amara stood beside him, the Mirror whole and bright between them.
"You and I built the Mirror," he said softly. "To guard what the gods feared — the bond between life and death."
Lianna's eyes widened. "You mean…"
He nodded. "The bond you share with the Immortal King."
Her heart clenched. "Kairen."
The Keeper's expression darkened. "That bond broke the balance once. It tore the worlds apart, and each time you return, the cycle repeats — love resurrected, and then destroyed again."
Lianna clenched her fists. "Then tell me how to stop it."
He hesitated, then extended his hand toward the fragments swirling around them. "The Mirror remembers everything — even what you've forgotten. But it demands a price to rewrite what is written."
"What price?" she asked quietly.
"Memory." His gaze met hers. "Yours."
She froze.
He continued, "If you wish to free him — truly free him — the world must forget. The Mirror can erase the threads that bind your souls through time, but you will forget him. Forever."
Her lips parted, trembling. "Forget him?"
He nodded slowly. "No dreams. No ache. No trace. The curse will end, and both of you will live… but not together."
Lianna stared at him, her throat tightening. "So that's the cost of peace."
The Keeper's eyes softened. "It always is."
She turned away, tears burning down her cheeks as she stared at the floating shards of her own memories — the way Kairen had smiled when he first saw her, the warmth of his hand, the sound of his voice when he whispered her name.
And then, his last words — You still owe me one dance.
Her knees weakened. "I can't…"
The Keeper stepped closer. "You can. Because you have before."
Lianna turned sharply. "Then tell me — did it ever work? Did I ever forget him?"
The Keeper's face fell. "You always remembered."
Her heart cracked. "Then maybe that's not a curse," she whispered.
The air around them shimmered — the Mirror fragments trembling like fragile stars.
From far away, a voice called her name — faint, desperate.
"Lianna… come back…"
Her breath hitched. "That's him."
The Keeper's gaze hardened. "The choice is yours. Save him and break the cycle — or follow your heart and doom the world again."
Lianna's tears sparkled as they fell. She lifted her gaze toward the voice that kept calling through the light.
"I'll make my choice," she whispered.
The Mirror shards pulsed — and one by one, began to spin faster, forming a blinding circle around her.
She took a deep breath — and stepped into it.
The light swallowed her whole.
---
The light didn't fade this time. It bent. It folded around her, warm yet blinding, whispering memories that weren't just hers — voices, faces, entire lifetimes — all crashing into one endless storm.
Lianna stumbled forward as the glow broke into shapes — threads of gold and silver weaving around her wrists, chest, and heart. Her pulse throbbed like a drumbeat, each echo stronger than the last.
"Kairen…" she whispered.
Then she saw him.
He was kneeling on the ground, his hand buried in the soil, his face pale as moonlight. The air around him shimmered with raw magic — so much power that even the earth trembled beneath it. His wings were torn, his veins glowing with the same curse-light that had devoured so many before him.
He looked like death wearing a crown.
Lianna ran toward him, her heart slamming against her ribs. "Kairen!"
His head snapped up — and when his eyes met hers, everything else fell silent.
He rose slowly, his movements strained but steady. "You came back," he breathed, his voice a mix of disbelief and pain.
She nodded, tears blurring her sight. "I promised, didn't I?"
He smiled faintly, the corner of his mouth twitching as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You always keep your promises, Amara."
The name struck her — soft but heavy with lifetimes of meaning. She closed the space between them and pressed her hand against his chest. His heart was still beating, weak but alive.
"You were dying," she whispered. "You still are."
He caught her wrist. "So are you."
They stared at each other — the Mirror's hum vibrating in the distance like a heartbeat of the world itself.
Then, a voice thundered through the air — not from above or below, but from within.
> "One life for one balance. The Mirror cannot be whole while two souls refuse to break."
The Keeper's words echoed again, this time through the wind, through her thoughts.
Lianna looked up — the sky was splitting. The veil between worlds was thinning, streaks of gold and blue tearing apart like fabric set aflame.
Kairen's grip tightened. "You shouldn't have come."
"You think I'd let you die alone again?" she said, defiant even as her knees trembled.
He cupped her cheek, his touch trembling. "Every time you return, you risk more. Every time, you suffer more."
She smiled through her tears. "Maybe I'm just too stubborn to stop."
A sudden shockwave burst through the air — a scream of magic and memory. The Mirror shards from the void began to gather above them, spinning into a ring of blinding light. The ground fractured beneath their feet.
Kairen looked up, realization dawning in his eyes. "The Mirror's resetting the world."
"And we're standing right at the heart of it," Lianna whispered.
He turned to her, voice trembling. "If it resets, we'll forget each other."
"I know."
He shook his head, his voice breaking. "I can't lose you again."
Lianna smiled — a fragile, aching smile that carried centuries of love. "Then remember me here." She placed his hand over her heart. "Just this once, in this life."
Kairen's eyes burned, his power flickering like wildfire. "You were never meant to be forgotten."
"Neither were you."
The sky erupted. The Mirror burst into a cascade of light — shards raining down like stars, each piece touching them with a whisper of memory, a piece of another lifetime. Amara and Kairen. Lianna and Kairen. The countless names, countless moments, countless ends — all merging into one blinding now.
The voice of the Keeper echoed one last time:
> "Then let the world remember their love, even if they forget each other."
Light surged between them — too bright to bear. Lianna felt her consciousness unravel, her name slipping from her tongue like sand.
Before everything faded, Kairen leaned in, brushing his lips against her forehead.
"I'll find you again."
Her tears fell, caught in the light — the last trace of her before the world went white.
---
…Time reset.
A spring breeze rustled through the streets of a quiet town.
The sound of laughter, of life, of ordinary days.
Lianna — no, a girl named Lina — sat by a café window, sketching without thinking. Her pencil moved on its own, shaping a face she didn't know, yet her heart quickened as the features formed — silver hair, golden eyes, a faint smile that felt like home.
The café bell chimed.
A tall man entered, his eyes searching the room like he had been here a thousand times before. He ordered coffee, glanced toward her table — and froze.
She looked up at the same moment.
Their gazes met.
No words. Just silence. A strange, familiar silence that filled the air with something neither could explain.
Lina blinked, her hand trembling. "Do I... know you?"
The man smiled faintly — almost sadly. "Maybe not yet."
And somewhere, deep inside her chest, a forgotten heartbeat stirred again.
---
Do you believe that love can truly transcend time — even if both souls forget?