FADE IN:
The ruins of Eldermire stand at twilight. Wind stirs the tall grass. Stone arches and shattered walls whisper old magic. At the heart of the ruin stands Eve—her cloak threadbare, her gaze fixed on the silver pendant in her hand. Its soft blue light pulses faintly, engraved with a tree, branches like roads waiting to be taken.
Adam steps from the shadows, his voice low.
"You're really going to do it."
Eve doesn't look at him. "Don't try to stop me."
"You know I will."
Their eyes meet—tension crackling. Her voice trembles with pain.
"She doesn't deserve to die, Adam. Not like that."
"She didn't. But twisting time won't fix it. You could lose more than her."
"Then I'll lose it all."
She lifts the pendant. The glow brightens.
"And what about me?" Adam asks.
"What about you?"
That wounds him. He steps forward.
"You're not the only one haunted by the past. But this—this is a wound you don't heal by cutting deeper."
"Don't you dare tell me how to grieve."
The ground trembles. The pendant answers her fury with a flicker of runes along the floor.
"I'm not," he says. "I just—dammit, Eve—I understand."
He opens his hands to her.
"If I could bring her back for you, I would. But if you go through that rift… I don't think I'll ever see you again."
She hesitates. Her fingers drift across the Seal in a quiet motion—Tochini.
She whispers, "If I'm not in motion, I'm going to do that."
A long silence.
"Then this is goodbye."
She holds the pendant close.
"They called it the Seal. Said it binds a single fate. One change. One price."
Adam's voice breaks. "Then let it be mine."
She closes her eyes and begins the incantation.
"No," he says.
Suddenly—
FLASHBACK.
A cottage. Sunlight warming the space. Eve and her younger sister laugh in the kitchen. Her sister stirs a pot, grinning.
"When I'm older, I want to be just like you."
"Oh, stars help you then."
Laughter.
"I mean it. Strong, fearless… bossy."
"I'll take it," Eve smiles.
A crash outside. Screams.
The joy vanishes.
Smoke. Chaos. Creatures attacking the village. Eve pulls her sister behind her.
Later—silence. Blood. Eve alone. Weeping. The pendant dimly glows in her trembling hand.
BACK TO THE RUINS.
Eve's voice shakes. "Then this is goodbye."
She begins again. Adam steps forward—grabs the pendant.
"No! ADAM!"
"I'm sorry."
Light explodes. Eve is thrown back.
When the smoke clears—Adam is gone. The pendant too.
Eve lies stunned.
Then—
Night, years earlier. Gloamhaven village alive with laughter and music. Adam steps from the forest, awestruck.
He sees her. Younger Eve. Radiant. Spinning with her little sister.
"One day we'll see the ruins. Promise me?"
"Only if you carry me!"
They run off.
Adam watches, silent. Tears in his eyes. He's not here to change the past—only to remember.
The Seal glows faintly at his side.
BACK TO THE RUINS.
Eve sits alone. The wind whispers.
Footsteps.
She looks up—her sister stands there. Older. Alive.
She speaks softly. "You dropped this."
She hands back the Seal. The tree glows.
Eve reaches out, touches her sister's face.
Real. Warm. Alive.
Tears spill. Eve smiles through them.
"Adam..."
She looks toward the trees. No one. Just wind.
The pendant glows brighter.
Images flash—Adam's smile, his sacrifice, the Seal.
Eve breathes in sharply. Clutches the Seal.
"I remember."
A pause.
"I won't forget."
FADE TO BLACK.
Locked in. Eve's gesture—Tochini—and her line now land like a quiet heartbeat before everything changes.