Some truths aren't forgotten.
They're buried.
Because remembering them could destroy what's left of your heart.
The wind felt different that night.
Heavier. Like it carried the scent of secrets ready to bleed.
Anaya stood at the edge of the lake behind the university grounds, where Caelum had once shown her stars from another world.
He was already waiting.
As always.
But this time… he looked afraid.
Not of her.
Of what she was about to remember.
"You said there were five threads," she began. "Two are mine now. The third… is inside you."
Caelum didn't move.
He simply nodded.
"You kept it from me for seventeen lives."
His voice was quiet. "Because it's the one that always breaks you."
She stepped closer. "But I've remembered death. Fire. Abandonment. What could be worse than that?"
His answer came slow.
"Hope."
Silence.
The kind that makes even time hesitate.
Then he turned to her fully.
"Before you were cursed," he said, "before you were hunted… you and I made a promise."
"A soul vow?"
He shook his head. "Worse. A choice."
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a pendant.
Her pendant.
But this time… the gem in its center wasn't glowing.
It was cracked.
"I carry the last moment," he said. "The moment you asked me to kill you."
Memory Fragment – 10th Life
A temple burning.
Ashes falling like snow.
Anaya—older, stronger, bleeding starlight.
Caelum held her in his arms, begging her not to say it.
"They've seen too much," she said, voice cracking. "They'll find you if I live."
"I can save you."
"No," she whispered. "You can set me free."
He shook his head. "Don't ask me that. Not again."
"Promise me."
And with trembling lips… he did.
He kissed her once.
And then…
He let her fall into the fire.
Present
Anaya staggered back, as if the memory hit her physically.
"You killed me."
His face twisted in agony. "You begged me to."
Tears rose. "You said you loved me."
"I did," he whispered. "So much that I honored a promise no one should ever make."
The pain tore through her like lightning.
She wanted to hate him.
She wanted to scream, to run.
But deeper than all of that—
She remembered why she asked him to do it.
Because they would've turned her into something else.
Because if he hadn't ended it… she would have become the curse.
She sank to the ground.
The pendant slipped from his hand—cracked gem glowing now, flickering.
She touched it.
And the third thread burst forward—
Blue. Like sorrow.
But it didn't enter her skin.
It wrapped around both of them.
A bond.
Unbroken.
Undeniable.
Her mark shifted again.
Now it wasn't just a crescent moon and a rising sun.
It became a constellation—unfinished, waiting for the final pieces.
Anaya looked up at him, tears glistening.
"I remember now. I remember why I asked you to do it. Why I had to die."
Caelum knelt beside her, voice raw. "And do you hate me?"
She touched his face gently.
"No," she said. "Because you were the only one strong enough to keep your promise."
They leaned into each other.
Not for warmth.
For truth.
And for the first time in seventeen lives… they didn't need words.
Their silence was enough.
Far Above – Beyond the Veil
Three golden threads now glowed in the Web of Souls.
A shadowy figure watched them with hollow eyes.
"She's almost whole," it hissed.
Another voice replied from the dark:
"Then prepare the Final Hunter. The Soulkeeper must not reach her name."