Nythera's POV
Between Realms
The space between realms is not empty.
It never was.
It is the breath before the first heartbeat, the hush before creation dares speak.
It is mine.
This is where I waited.
Not as a goddess.
Not as some revered, immortal force.
But as a mother.
And tonight...fuck the stars, fuck the balance...I broke every rule I helped create to feel her one more time.
They gathered for me. My Guardians. The only ones left who still remember my name before it was bound in prayer and whispered like a plea. They stood at the Crossway, silent pillars of loyalty and power.
I stood among them, wings drooping, not fire now, just ash and memory, and stared into the quiet pool where she floated. My daughter. My heartbeat. My ruined joy. Her hair fanned out like spilled ink, her light barely flickering.
"She is not awake," Serelion murmured, blade humming with restraint.
"She does not need to be," Veyra replied, her voice like the sea in mourning. "Only her soul."
"Then we begin," Orin said, slamming his staff into the stone and pulling magic from the oldest veins of this world.
I stepped forward.
And the magic answered.
Not like fire. Not like vengeance. But like lullabies and whispered promises. Like the warmth of a rocking cradle, kissed with moonlight.
Her soul lifted.
My knees hit the stone.
And then… her eyes. Not the physical ones, gods no, those would come later, but the eyes of her soul. They opened. And they saw me.
My breath caught.
"Hi, my little star," I whispered, voice cracking under the weight of a thousand years.
She blinked. Confused. Her energy shifted. "Where am I?"
"You're safe," I managed, already crying. "Just for a moment."
"I… I don't know who you are."
Her voice was so small. So innocent. Like the first time she ever spoke. Like the first time she said "Mama" with gold drool on her chin and laughter in her eyes.
Gods, it shattered me.
I cupped her face in my trembling hands, desperate to memorize her all over again.
"That's okay. I do. I've known you since the stars first touched your skin. Since you kicked inside me like you were trying to break the sky. Since you laughed at the moon and cried when the ocean touched your feet."
She stilled.
Somewhere, deep, her bones knew me. But the surface had been scrubbed clean.
"In our first life," I whispered, "you were born beneath the Singing Mountains. The fae crowned you in flowers. Phoenixes circled overhead. I wrapped you in my hair, sang you the old songs. Your father...before he broke, he carved your name into the Moonstone Tree."
Her breath hitched.
I kept going.
"Before they took you. Before they sealed you in time. I gave up everything, every drop of divinity I had left, to thread a tether between us. I knew you'd forget. I knew they'd make you forget. But I couldn't let you vanish."
"I don't remember," she said again, voice thick, broken by guilt she didn't earn.
I kissed her temple. "I know, baby. That's why I pulled you here. Just once. Before the next storm hits. Before you wake in a strange world with a new mate beside you. I had to hold you."
And gods help me… she let me.
She settled in my arms like no time had passed at all. She let me sway with her. Let me hum the lullaby of the First Moon. Let me pretend, even if only for a moment, that I'd never lost her.
"You were born under a blood moon," I whispered, fingers stroking through her spectral hair. "The winds howled. The wolves sang. You screamed so loud the stars flinched. I told them you'd be strong. You would be the storm."
"I'm scared," she admitted. Oh stars, that crushed me.
"I know," I whispered. "But you are never alone."
And then her soul began to flicker.
My time...our time ..was ending.
Panic twisted her features. "What do I do? I don't know how to use any of this. I can't control it...I'm not ready!"
My smile trembled, but my voice stayed soft. "You will be. You'll know when it matters. Follow your heart, little one. That's where I live now."
"I love you," I said, voice breaking into something holy and shattered. "Even if you never remember me... I love you. Across every life. Every world. Every version of you."
"I believe you," she whispered.
And then she held me. Tightly. Her soul clung to mine like it was instinct.
And the moment she shimmered...beginning the descent...I broke all over again.
I kissed her brow. One final time.
"Let her forget," I said, barely getting the words out.
Veyra stepped forward, touched her temple, and erased the memory.
But the warmth stayed.
She would never know why she craved starlight. Why lullabies made her cry. Why the moon felt like home.
But I would.
And gods damn it… it was enough.
Her body reclaimed her.
Her soul vanished.
And I collapsed.
My Guardians caught me.
"She will not remember," Serelion said gently.
"No," I whispered, staring at the now empty pool, "but I will. And I'd burn my wings a thousand times to feel her in my arms again."
My voice fell to ash.
"My daughter lives. That is enough."
And together, we watched her wake… alone in the mirror realm.
But never truly without me.