"When you bury pain too deep, it doesn't disappear—it waits."
Aarav couldn't move.
Selene's words echoed through him like a storm caught in a bell tower.
"I wasn't the only one split."
His lips parted, but no sound came. Something ancient stirred in his blood—a phantom ache just beneath his skin, like memory scraping bone.
Selene stepped back, her expression unreadable. "There's something you don't remember… because I was never allowed to tell you."
Zahir stepped between them. "Wait, wait—what are we talking about here? Aarav's past? His link to you? The pocket watch? The lunar eclipse?"
Selene's silver eyes dimmed.
"No," she said softly. "We're talking about what Aarav truly is."
🌌 The Threads of the Forgotten
The stars above rippled. The Archive shimmered again, showing another constellation—one Aarav didn't recognize.
It pulsed like a heartbeat. And then—split into two.
Aarav clutched his chest.
"I—I'm remembering something. But it's wrong. It doesn't fit."
The Archivist appeared again, but his voice was no longer calm.
"His soul was altered long before he met you, Selene."
Aarav's breath caught. "What are you saying?"
The Archivist slowly unraveled the final scroll—one never meant to be opened.
"When the child was born beneath the Crimson Eclipse,
The heavens knew he would be both beacon and blade.
To save the future, he was fractured.
Half remained in flesh.
Half in flame."
🔥 Half in Flame
Selene gasped.
"No… it wasn't supposed to awaken. Not until the final trial."
Aarav stumbled back, his body flickering with heat. His eyes shimmered gold for a brief second—then back to brown.
Zahir swore under his breath. "Wait… Aarav's soul was split? But into what? Who has the other half?!"
Selene's voice broke. "Not who. What."
She turned to the stars, hands trembling. "The other half of Aarav's soul… it was sealed in the Lunaris Flame."
A hush fell.
The Lunaris Flame. A myth. A celestial fire said to consume even memories—something the gods feared. It had vanished centuries ago.
Or so they believed.
🕰 The Flame Returns
Aarav collapsed to one knee.
He could feel it now—something inside him clawing at his spine, burning at his lungs. Not pain. Not fear.
Rage.
Ancient and infinite.
"I've felt this before," he muttered. "When I touched the watch. When the stars whispered. When you looked at me and cried, Selene."
Selene nodded slowly. "Because you weren't just chosen. You were forged."
🌓 The Watch Rewinds
The silver pocket watch in Aarav's coat burst open on its own.
Time stuttered.
Visions unfurled—
A cradle wrapped in starlight.
Gods arguing in a storm.
A sleeping child marked with a scar shaped like the moon's eclipse.
A blade descending.
Selene screaming—
And then the child's soul split in two, one part cast into the human world, the other bound in flame to contain a future apocalypse.
The flame… was sentient.
And now?
It was waking up.
💥 Awakening
The ground split.
From the center of the Archive's chamber, fire roared upward—blue and silver flames crackling in unnatural silence.
Zahir grabbed Selene's arm. "Is that it? The Lunaris Flame?"
"No," she whispered. "That's him."
Aarav floated above the flames, eyes blank, body suspended in time.
His voice echoed—but layered, like two versions speaking at once.
"I am the promise broken.
I am the soul you sundered.
I am the truth you feared."
Selene's heart cracked.
"No, Aarav, please—it's not your fault. We had no choice!"
He blinked—eyes burning gold now.
"But now I do."
🩸 The Fragmented Choice
The Archivist raised a protective barrier, but it splintered like glass as Aarav stepped forward.
His aura was no longer human.
No longer the boy who fell in love under a cursed moon.
He looked… like a god caught between mercy and destruction.
Zahir backed away. "What do we do?! What can we do?"
Selene stepped forward slowly.
"I speak to the boy beneath the flame," she said. "The one who held my hand when I was afraid. The one who chose me—not the stars."
Aarav hesitated.
His voice cracked.
"That boy… he's broken."
🌓 The Girl Who Stayed
Selene reached into her chest—and pulled out the last remnant of her celestial essence. The glowing shard she once gave Aarav long ago.
"It's okay to be broken," she whispered. "But you don't have to be alone."
She placed the shard in his hand.
The flames hissed.
Aarav dropped to the ground, clutching his head.
Memories surged.
The library.
The first kiss.
The dream of the blood moon.
His mother's lullaby.
The voice in the flame screaming, "I am not him!"
And suddenly—Aarav knew.
The flame… was alive.
It had grown separate.
And it wanted to be him.
🌒 The Impostor Within
Aarav opened his eyes—and smiled weakly.
"I'm still me."
Selene exhaled in relief.
But the flames didn't fade.
Instead—they rose behind him, forming the outline of a boy.
A mirror image of Aarav.
Same face. Same voice.
But his eyes… were pure gold.
"No," said the reflection. "You're the copy. I'm the original."
Selene froze. Zahir let out a curse.
The Lunaris Flame had evolved.
It wasn't a fragment anymore.
It was a person.
The Archive began to tremble.
The mirrors shattered. The stars above dimmed.
The celestial scripts on the walls burned away, replaced by a single word.
"Divide."
The real Aarav fell to his knees, weakened, drained.
The Flame-Aarav—still burning, still perfect—stepped toward Selene.
And whispered:
"If he dies… I become him completely."
Selene stood protectively in front of the real Aarav.
Her eyes locked on the impostor.
"You'll have to go through me."
The flame smirked.
"Gladly."
And the stars went dark.
To Be Continued...