"To resurrect someone you love, you must carry not only their soul... but also the truth they never told you."
— Whispered by the Windroot Trees of Yusellea
Yusellea's sky was forever twilight, filled with drifting stardust and glowing petals. Deep within the elven capital lay the Gate of Blooming Echoes, a sentient forest grown around memory seeds.
Saryen, standing between Aether and the gate, extended her hand.
"You want her Core Memory? You'll have to live it. All of it. Her joy. Her fear. Her truth."
"Then let me," Aether said, stepping forward.
"You may not like what you see."
"I don't care. If it's Aira's... I want to carry it."
Saryen nodded, tears unfallen.
"Very well. May the gate accept you."
The forest shimmered. Vines parted. The petals floated down, circling Aether like glowing butterflies.
[Initiating Soul Dive: Memory Thread – Subject: Aira Larethriel]
Aether blinked.
He was no longer himself.
He was seeing through Aira's eyes.
A small elven girl ran through a glowing garden, laughing.
"Mama! Look! I caught a star-bug!"
Her mother's face — soft, radiant — knelt down.
"You'll be a priestess one day, Aira. A guardian of light."
Aira nodded, glowing.
"I want to protect everyone. I want to love everything."
The scene shifted.
Now a teen, Aira stood before a temple altar.
Her voice trembled.
"They say I have the blood of seers. That I can see the future."
A vision struck her — war, death, flame.
She cried.
"Why must I see these things? Why must I know they'll all die?"
A priestess placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Because you are a Lightbearer. And Lightbearers must walk through darkness."
Now older, Aira knelt before an elven council.
"You want me to marry Lord Falor? I don't even love him."
"It is a binding pact with the Celestial Federation. It's for peace."
She clenched her fists.
"But I love someone else..."
The council silenced her.
"Elves do not choose love. We serve harmony."
Tears fell. Her heart broke.
She ran to a grove — and there, waiting, was a boy with silver hair and bruised hands.
"Aether…"
She embraced him, sobbing.
"They want to bind me to another. They say I don't get to love you."
"Then run with me," Aether whispered.
"Would you really?"
"Anywhere."
She kissed him, desperate, trembling.
"Then promise me, Aether... even if I die… don't let the world decide for you."
In the vision, war came.
Aira stood beside Aether, casting spells, bleeding.
When he fell... she screamed.
"No… no… don't die…!"
The memory twisted.
"Take my soul if needed," Aira had said to the gods.
"But send him back."
Her final act wasn't defeat.
It was sacrifice.
She didn't die in vain.
She gave her soul up — so Aether could regress in time.
That was the cost.
Aether fell out of the memory, collapsed on his knees in front of the blooming tree where her Core Memory rested, glowing softly.
Saryen stood nearby, watching.
"Now you know. She paid the price for your second chance."
Aether's voice was low, trembling.
"She lied to protect me."
"She always did."
He reached out, gently touching the bloom.
It bloomed brighter, and the petals fell like tears.
[Core Memory Acquired – Aira Larethriel: Full Soul Stabilized]
[Resurrection Now Possible]
Aether cradled the soul-light in his hands, whispering:
"Wait for me... I'm coming."