They left the ruined village behind, but it didn't leave them.
The silence that followed Aelira and Kaelen down the slope was too clean—unnaturally perfect, like the world itself was holding its breath. The memory of the sewn-eyed girl gnawed at the edges of Aelira's mind like frost clinging to the spine of a tree.
"She called me Saelwyn," Aelira finally said, breaking the quiet. "That name. I don't know it. But it knows me."
Kaelen's grip on his sword tightened. "It's your past name. From your first life."
"I don't remember being anyone else."
"You weren't supposed to. Not yet."
She frowned. "What does that mean?"
Kaelen didn't respond immediately. Instead, he pointed toward a distant outcrop where dark stone jutted out from the hills like the ribs of a giant beast. "Come. There's a place to rest up ahead. Safe enough."
Aelira followed, tension knitting her shoulders as they crossed into a gully where the winds had no voice. A strange calm settled there, and at the center stood a weathered temple carved into the rock.
A fire flickered at its entrance.
Kaelen's steps slowed. "Someone's here."
Before Aelira could speak, the flame shifted—no longer orange, but blue. Cold. Whispering.
Aelira's breath caught. "That's spellfire."
Kaelen's jaw clenched. "Witchfire. The kind that speaks truths you're not ready to hear."
Despite the warning, Aelira stepped closer. The flame bent toward her, almost curious. Its whispers tickled her ears in voices not her own.
"…you are her shadow…"
"…you bear the curse of the covenant…"
"…his blood binds you still…"
Aelira stumbled back, shaking her head. "Make it stop."
Kaelen extended his hand. The fire flared, hissed, then collapsed into ash.
They stood at the threshold of the temple, both silent. Moss crept over the stone, and ancient runes adorned the archway—runes Aelira somehow recognized, though she couldn't read them.
"This is a sanctuary of the Forgotten Circle," Kaelen said. "One of the last places uncorrupted by the fractured realm."
Inside, stone benches lined the walls. In the center, a basin of water shimmered under a shaft of moonlight that pierced through the broken roof. Aelira approached it slowly, peering into the basin.
Her reflection stared back—until it shifted.
The water rippled, and her eyes turned gold in the image.
She gasped.
Behind her, Kaelen stiffened. "Did you see it?"
"Yes," she whispered. "My eyes… they weren't mine."
"Then the third veil is already upon us."
He stepped closer, brushing her shoulder with his hand. "The veil is thinning faster than I expected. It's reacting to your presence."
"Because of the curse?"
Kaelen nodded. "You were once bound to the High Coven. You betrayed them. And in doing so, you fractured the balance between life and death. The magic of your bloodline carries pieces of that destruction."
Aelira recoiled slightly. "And you? Why are you helping me?"
A shadow passed over his face. "Because I was once your guard. And your executioner."
Her blood froze.
"You… killed me?"
"I was ordered to. I didn't want to. I tried to stop it." His voice broke. "But I failed."
Aelira backed away. Her chest tightened as if the air had thickened into smoke. "Then why bring me back?"
"Because I've spent lifetimes trying to undo what I did. And I believe there's still a future where you can end this curse—for both of us."
She turned from him, the pain in her chest too raw, too old.
Betrayal. Tragedy. And yet… the part of her that wasn't Aelira—the one named Saelwyn—didn't hate him.
She mourned him.
Before she could speak again, the ground trembled.
Kaelen's head whipped toward the temple entrance. "We're not alone."
A low growl echoed from the corridor behind them.
They turned just in time to see a creature slither from the shadows—a twisted amalgam of wolf and serpent, its flesh seamed with glowing sigils. Its eyes burned with green fire.
"Veilborn," Kaelen muttered. "Born of broken magic and stolen memories."
The beast lunged.
Kaelen met it mid-air, sword flashing, steel singing against bone. Aelira grabbed a relic from the altar—a small, runed dagger—and drew a symbol in the air the way instinct guided her.
A blast of silver light erupted, knocking the creature into the far wall.
Kaelen finished it with a swift strike to the throat.
Silence.
The creature dissolved into dust, leaving only the lingering echo of its scream.
Aelira collapsed to her knees, panting. "What was that?"
"Memory twisted by hate. The veil throws them at you to break your mind. The closer we get to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes."
She stared at the ash.
"I don't know if I can do this."
Kaelen knelt beside her. "You don't have to do it alone."
And for the first time since their journey began, Aelira didn't pull away.