The morning sun crept over the ruined forest, painting the mist in hues of pale gold. Arka stood beside the shrine's entrance, his blade driven into the ground beside him. The faint hum of Balance energy still lingered in the air, shimmering like distant echoes of stars.
Behind him, the girl stirred awake. Her eyes fluttered open, catching the morning light like molten amber. For a heartbeat, she looked disoriented — then calm recognition softened her expression.
"You stayed," she said quietly.
Arka turned. "You passed out after channeling too much power. Leaving you alone would have been reckless."
A faint smile touched her lips. "You sound like someone who's done this before."
He looked away. "I have. Too many times."
Silence followed. Birds began to sing somewhere far off, their calls timid yet persistent — a fragile reminder that life still existed beyond the ruins.
After a moment, she spoke again. "You said that mark on my hand belonged to Kael. Who was she?"
Arka hesitated. "She was…" He paused, struggling with the weight of the memory. "The Balance's last guardian. My partner. My rival. And—" His voice caught. "—someone I couldn't save."
The girl lowered her gaze, fingers brushing the faint crescent mark on her palm. "And now it's here. On me."
"Yes," Arka said. "But it shouldn't be possible. Kael's soul burned away when the Balance collapsed."
"Then how do you explain this?" she asked, holding up the glowing crystal around her neck. "These memories that aren't mine? The way your name sounds familiar when I've never met you before?"
Arka met her eyes. "Maybe it's not about memory. Maybe it's resonance."
"Resonance?"
"The Balance bound every living being to the world's flow. When two souls were once connected deeply enough, that thread doesn't disappear. It just waits… to be found again."
The girl's breath caught. "So you think I'm Kael's—"
"Echo," Arka interrupted softly. "Not her, but the reflection of what she left behind."
The word hung between them — fragile, uncertain, yet strangely comforting.
Outside, a faint shimmer rippled through the trees. Arka's senses sharpened instantly. He reached for his sword.
"They've found us again," he said.
The girl rose to her feet, her crystal flaring with faint light. "Then let's make sure they don't forget us this time."
The shadows emerged — lean, skeletal forms that twisted the air around them. They moved with more intelligence now, their movements coordinated.
Arka swung his blade in a wide arc, cutting through the first wave. Silver sparks exploded across the ground. The girl lifted her hand, channeling energy through her crystal. Threads of light formed sigils midair, circling her like rings of stars.
Her voice grew firm. "Stellar Bind."
The light pulsed outward, forming chains of pure radiance that wrapped around the nearest creatures. They shrieked as the light burned through their forms, scattering them into mist.
Arka moved with lethal precision beside her, each motion a blur of silver. Together, their power resonated — light meeting steel, star meeting shadow.
When the last creature dissolved, the air settled again, thick with the scent of ozone.
The girl staggered slightly, but Arka caught her arm. Their marks glowed faintly in unison, the same rhythm echoing between them once more.
"Every time we fight together," she murmured, "it feels like something inside me wakes up."
Arka studied her quietly. "Then maybe you're remembering what it means to be part of the Balance."
She smiled faintly. "Or maybe I'm just remembering you."
Arka froze, the words cutting deeper than she realized. The sunlight caught her hair, and for a moment — just a heartbeat — he saw Kael again, standing in her place, smiling that same defiant smile before the fall of the Balance.
He turned away, forcing the memory down. "Rest for now. We move when the light fades."
"And where will we go?"
Arka looked toward the horizon — where faint, floating fragments of starlight shimmered above the ruins. "There's a temple in the north. The last sanctuary of the Balance. If the world still remembers, that's where it will begin."
The girl nodded. "Then we'll go together."
As they walked through the ruins, their shadows stretched long under the sun. Above them, the sky shimmered faintly — as if unseen forces watched from beyond the veil, waiting for the Balance to awaken once more.