The rain had stopped by dawn, but the world still felt heavy as if mourning something unseen.
Elias sat by the shattered window, the skyline of the city bathed in pale light.
Aiden slept on the couch behind him, wrapped in a blanket that did little to hide the faint golden glow beneath his skin.
Elias's hand rested on his knee, his gloves still scorched from the night before. His reflection in the glass looked human.
But he knew better.
He hadn't been human for a very long time.
He still remembered the night the heavens fell.
Marble towers collapsing under divine fire.
Blood on his blade.
A voice that had once been his faith whispering: You have chosen love over duty. Then be forgotten.
Chains of light had bound him then burning, searing, rewriting his very soul.
He remembered her scream.
Ariselle's hand reaching for him as the gods tore her from the mortal plane.
Elias Thorn, Knight of the Dawn, they had called him once.
Now and forever, Forsaken.
He had begged them for mercy.
Not for himself but for her.
The only answer he received was silence, and the endless curse that followed:
He would never die.
He would never forget.
And he would wander through time, carrying the memory of the woman he could never save.
A soft sound broke his reverie Aiden stirring in his sleep.
Elias turned, watching as the young man's brow furrowed in a dream. His lips moved faintly, whispering something only the gods could hear.
For a brief moment, Ariselle's aura flickered through him a ghost overlaid upon a fragile body.
He exhaled slowly. "You're still the same," he murmured. "Too brave for your own good."
But when Aiden opened his eyes, there was no Ariselle in them. Only confusion, fear, and a faint defiance that made Elias's chest tighten in ways he hated.
"You didn't sleep," Aiden said weakly.
"I don't need to."
"Because of your curse?"
Elias didn't answer. Instead, he stood and walked toward the kitchen.
"Eat something. Your body's still unstable."
"Don't avoid it," Aiden said quietly. "You said you were cursed. Tell me what that means."
Elias froze, his back to him. For a moment, only the hum of the refrigerator filled the silence. Then, in a voice roughened by centuries, he spoke.
"It means I've died a thousand times and none of them stayed."
"It means I watched the world rebuild itself over and over, while I remained exactly the same."
"And every lifetime, I find you."
Aiden blinked.
"Me?"
"You, Ariselle, the Flame it doesn't matter what name you wear," Elias said. "You always return. Sometimes a noble, sometimes a child, sometimes… this."
He turned, meeting Aiden's gaze. "But I am never allowed to reach you."
"Why?"
"Because my touch burns the threads of fate," Elias said, stepping closer. "Because the gods chained my soul to yours not in love, but in penance."
He raised his hand, removing the glove. The skin beneath was etched with markings ancient runes that glowed faintly red, like wounds that never healed.
"Every time I protect you," he said softly, "I lose a piece of what's left of me."
"Every time I let you die, I live to remember it."
Aiden stared at the markings then at Elias's face. "That's why you're so cold. You're afraid to care."
"I stopped being afraid centuries ago," Elias replied. "Now, I'm just tired."
Aiden stood, swaying slightly, and walked toward him. "If this curse is because of me or her then maybe I can undo it."
Elias's eyes softened, but there was a shadow in his smile.
"You can't undo what's been carved into eternity."
"Then I'll try anyway," Aiden said. "Because I'm not her. I'm not Ariselle. I'm me."
That caught Elias off guard the conviction in Aiden's voice, the fire that mirrored the one he'd once sworn to protect.
"You sound like her," he whispered.
"No," Aiden said. "She sounds like me."
The air between them stilled. A spark of golden light danced between their hands Aiden's warmth meeting Elias's curse. The moment their fingers brushed, the world trembled.
Pain flared through Elias's arm the runes blazing, screaming but he didn't pull away.
Neither did Aiden.
"It hurts," Aiden whispered.
"I know," Elias said, voice breaking. "But I'd rather burn than let go."
The connection snapped light exploding between them, throwing them apart.
Aiden gasped, clutching his chest, while Elias fell to one knee, his hand smoking.
"You fool," Elias rasped, half laughing, half in pain. "You'll destroy us both."
"Maybe," Aiden said, breathless. "But if the gods cursed you for loving her, then maybe they'll have to curse me too."
Elias looked up at him and for the first time in centuries, the knight who defied heaven smiled.
"Then let them try."
Above them, in the vast emptiness of the divine realm, unseen eyes opened.
A thousand voices murmured in unison:
The Flame and the Forsaken have touched again.
The prophecy stirs.
Prepare the Chains of Heaven.
Lightning split the sky and far away, in the reflection of a darkened lake, something ancient began to awaken.