The world was wind.
Aria's scream was stolen as she and Damian were pulled through the spiral of black light, tumbling weightless, battered by thunder and shards of lightning. The storm wasn't air — it was alive. Whispers clawed at her ears, voices from every lifetime, every death, every betrayal.
You failed him once. You'll fail him again.
He will die because of you.
Your love is a curse.
Aria fought to keep her grip on Damian's hand. His gray eyes locked on hers, fierce even as blood streaked his face. He mouthed one word she barely heard over the storm's roar.
"Always."
And then they slammed into solid ground.
Aria's body ached as she gasped for breath, coughing on dust. She pushed herself up — and froze.
They stood in a vast hollow chamber, its walls alive with stormlight. Lightning coursed through veins carved into obsidian stone, illuminating runes older than language itself. The ceiling was a swirling vortex of black clouds, spinning endlessly but never spilling rain.
At the center stood the Forgotten One.
No longer just a shadow.
His form was clearer now, a man-shaped figure draped in torn robes that bled smoke. His face flickered between shapes — sometimes familiar, sometimes monstrous — but his eyes remained the same: bottomless pools of despair.
"Welcome," he said, voice echoing like thunder in a cavern. "To the place where all storms are born. The heart of the curse."
Damian staggered up beside Aria, sword in hand, his stance protective though he was pale from blood loss. "You won't have her."
The Forgotten One tilted his head, his half-familiar face curving into something like a smile. "I already do."
Aria's runes burned, silver-gold fire racing across her skin. She gasped and clutched her arm, realizing they were reacting not to the storm — but to him.
He spread his arms wide, lightning dancing between his fingers. "Do you not see it yet, Evelina's child? I am not your enemy. I am your mirror."
The chamber quaked with his words.
Aria's heart thundered. "You're lying."
"Am I?" His voice softened, almost gentle. "Do you know why the gods cursed your love? Why your souls are chained to endless death and rebirth?"
Aria froze. She'd asked herself this question every night since the curse revealed itself. Damian's hand tightened around hers.
The Forgotten One's eyes glowed brighter. "It wasn't punishment. It was theft."
Aria's breath caught.
Damian growled, his voice sharp. "Don't listen—"
But the Forgotten One raised a hand, and the storm silenced him.
"They stole what was mine. My bond. My love." He stepped closer, lightning cracking with each stride. "And they gave it to you."
Aria's chest constricted. For the briefest heartbeat, she saw it — a vision seared into her mind. A man standing beneath the gods' light, reaching for someone, only for her hand to slip away. The gods tearing threads of fate, weaving them into another pair. Her and Damian.
She staggered back. "No…"
The Forgotten One's voice was low, almost tender. "You are living the love that should have been mine. And every life you and your shadow cling to each other, I am bound deeper to the storm. Tell me, Aria—" his hand reached out, trembling with rage and longing, "—how long will you steal what was never yours?"
Aria's body shook, torn between fear and pity. For the first time, she saw not just a monster — but a man broken by eternity.
Damian's blade flared, his voice cutting sharp. "Don't you dare touch her."
The Forgotten One's eyes flicked to him. And then, he smiled.
"Of course. The thief himself."
With a snap of his hand, the storm lashed out. Lightning spears tore through the chamber, slamming into Damian. He cried out, his sword flying from his grasp as he was hurled across the obsidian floor.
"Damian!" Aria screamed, rushing to him. His body convulsed, smoke rising from burned flesh, but he forced his eyes open, still fighting to rise.
The Forgotten One's shadow loomed over them.
"Choose, Aria." His voice was soft now, intimate. "End this cycle and return what was stolen… or watch him die here, as he has died a thousand times before."
Aria's heart pounded so hard she thought it might break. Her runes blazed, but her power faltered beneath the storm's suffocating weight. She cradled Damian's face, tears spilling onto his skin.
"No…" she whispered. "Not again."
Damian's trembling hand found hers, his voice hoarse but steady. "Don't listen to him. Whatever he was… whatever he lost… it doesn't matter. You're mine, Aria. Just as I am yours. Always."
Her tears fell harder.
The Forgotten One's voice dropped to a growl. "Then you choose the curse."
The chamber walls split with cracks of stormlight. The ground shook violently as chains of black lightning erupted, coiling toward Aria and Damian like serpents.
Aria stood, her body trembling but her eyes fierce. She stepped in front of Damian, spreading her arms wide.
"If I'm cursed for loving him," she shouted over the storm, "then I'll carry that curse a thousand lifetimes more!"
Her runes erupted in a blinding surge, silver and gold burning brighter than the storm itself. The chains recoiled, screeching like living things. The Forgotten One's face twisted in rage as he raised both hands, summoning the full fury of the heart of the storm.
The chamber became chaos — lightning, thunder, shadow, and light colliding in an explosion of power.
And in that moment, Aria realized the truth.
The curse wasn't just binding them. It was alive. Watching. Waiting. Feeding.
And it had chosen sides.
The chamber shook with every breath of the storm. Lightning licked the walls, thunder tore the ground apart, and the Forgotten One towered over them, his eyes alight with centuries of grief and fury.
Aria's silver-gold runes burned so bright her skin felt aflame, yet she stood firm, shielding Damian with her body.
"You will not take him from me," she said, her voice trembling but unyielding.
The Forgotten One's expression twisted. "You still don't understand. He is not yours to keep. He was never yours."
He spread his arms wide, and the storm obeyed. Chains of black lightning shot out from the walls, striking the floor around Aria and Damian. The ground split, swallowing them into a circle of stormlight.
"Then watch, Aria," he whispered. "Watch what the gods denied me."
The storm swelled, and suddenly the chamber dissolved. Aria gasped as visions flared all around her, projected into the tempest itself.
A battlefield of ages past. Two figures standing defiant against the gods. A man whose runes glowed the same silver-gold as hers, reaching for the woman beside him. The gods tore them apart, their threads of fate severed. The man screamed—his light ripped away, woven into another pair.
Her and Damian.
Aria staggered, clutching her head. "No… no, this isn't real—"
The Forgotten One's voice rumbled from every corner. "It is real. You live my stolen bond. Every kiss, every promise, every death you share with him—they belonged to me."
Damian forced himself to stand despite the burns searing his body. He spat blood, eyes blazing. "If the gods cursed you, it wasn't for love—it was for what you became."
The storm howled as the Forgotten One's form solidified further, his face twisting, almost human now. "What I became? I was faithful! I endured centuries of emptiness while you lived my life! Tell me, thief—do you deserve her more than I?"
Damian raised his sword, his hand steady though his knees shook. "I don't deserve her. I choose her. Every life, every time. That's the difference."
The Forgotten One roared, unleashing a tidal wave of lightning that surged across the chamber. Damian braced, but Aria leapt forward, slamming her palms into the storm.
Her runes flared, the fused light splitting the lightning in two. The wave shattered against her shield, sparks raining like falling stars.
The Forgotten One's eyes widened. "Impossible…"
Aria's voice rang out, carried on the storm itself. "This bond doesn't belong to you—or the gods. It's ours. No curse, no storm, no eternity will change that!"
The chamber erupted in light. Her runes spread beyond her skin, weaving into wings of silver and gold that arched behind her. Damian's sword ignited with the same fire as her light poured into him.
Together, they struck.
Aria unleashed a torrent of radiant energy, slamming into the storm's heart. Damian drove his sword through the Forgotten One's chest, their combined power burning like a sun in the darkness.
The Forgotten One screamed, his voice shaking the walls, his shadow splitting apart under their assault.
For a moment—just a moment—it seemed they had won.
But as the storm collapsed inward, the Forgotten One's broken form leaned close to Aria, his eyes glowing faintly.
"You still don't see," he whispered, voice cracking. "The curse was never about me. It was never about the gods. It was the bond itself. Love that defies death is a wound the world cannot heal."
And with those words, his body shattered into shards of stormlight, dissolving into the vortex above.
The chamber groaned. Cracks split through the obsidian floor, light pouring from the depths. The storm raged uncontrollably, its master gone, its heart breaking apart.
Damian grabbed Aria's hand, pulling her close as the world collapsed around them. "We have to get out—now!"
But the vortex above widened, the storm's maw opening like a beast. It dragged at them with a force stronger than anything before.
Aria screamed, clinging to Damian as they were lifted from the breaking ground. Their runes blazed, their bond holding them together as the storm tried to tear them apart.
And then—out of the collapsing vortex—eyes opened.
Not the Forgotten One's. Something deeper. Older. Endless.
The storm itself had awoken.