When Leira opened her eyes, there was no sky.
Just light. Endless, shifting light that moved like it was alive. It wasn't warm, yet it wasn't cold either. It simply existed; silent, steady, watching her. She tried to breathe, and the air tasted like memory. Every inhale felt like a forgotten thought trying to come back.
She stood on a surface that looked like glass, though when she stepped forward, it rippled beneath her feet like water disturbed by a breeze. Beneath it, shapes drifted slowly, cities, faces, moments, passing like reflections in a deep river she could never reach.
Her head throbbed. She pressed a hand to her temple. "Where… am I?"
A voice answered, soft but close enough to make her heart leap. "Between what was and what will be."
She turned. Kael stood a few feet away, the glow of the realm bending around him like he belonged to it. His edges shimmered, faintly transparent, as if he were more light than flesh.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.
"Neither should you," he said. "When you fell, the veil pulled part of me with you. I think… it remembers what I was."
"You fell through the veil," he said quietly. "Few mortals survive the crossing."
Leira frowned, still dizzy. "So…am I dead?"
Kael's gaze lowered, his expression unreadable. "No, you're not. This world still remembers you. It knows your name, even if you no longer do."
He walked closer, and with each step the air thickened, pulsing with a soft hum. The light around them seemed to breathe. Whispers drifted through the space, soft, rhythmic, in a language older than anything she had ever heard. The words brushed against her skin, gentle yet heavy, and she felt them in her bones.
"What are they saying?" she asked.
"They are the Keepers," Kael replied. "Guardians of the veil. They remember everything that has ever been forgotten."
As if summoned by his words, the light gathered into shapes. Figures cloaked in gold and white emerged from the haze, their faces hidden behind veils of radiance, their eyes burning like molten suns.
Leira's breath caught. "Are they alive?"
Kael nodded slowly. "Alive. And eternal."
One of the Keepers stepped forward. Its voice rang through the endless light, deep and layered, as if a hundred voices spoke at once. "The oath has been broken. The veil bleeds. The balance is undone."
Leira felt the air tremble, vibrating through her chest. "What oath?"
Kael's hand tightened at his side. "The Keeper's Oath," he said softly. "The vow I made when I swore to guard the boundary between worlds."
The Keeper turned its gaze to him. "And you failed, Kael of the First Flame. You loved what was forbidden. You defied eternity."
Leira's heart pounded. "He didn't…"
Her words were drowned out as the Keeper's voice rose. "And now the soul you bound to yourself has awakened. The blood moon rises again, and with it, the memory of rebellion."
Leira looked from the Keeper to Kael, realization dawning like cold light. "They mean me."
Kael didn't answer. He didn't have to.
The light around them flickered violently. The other Keepers began to chant, their voices weaving into something both beautiful and terrifying. The ground beneath Leira's feet shimmered like glass about to crack.
"What are they doing?" she whispered.
"Judgment," Kael said, stepping closer until only a breath separated them. "They will test your heart. If they find the same desire that once doomed you, they will erase you from every realm."
Leira's throat tightened. "No. I'm not the same person I was."
Kael's eyes met hers, filled with sorrow and something deeper. "Neither was she, before she chose me."
The first Keeper raised a hand, and the light surged forward. A wave of energy hit Leira's chest, stealing her breath. The world shattered like glass.
Suddenly she was standing in another time.
Flashes of memory came in violent bursts; cities burning under a crimson sky, her voice shouting words that shook the air, Kael's hand reaching for hers as the heavens tore open. She saw herself standing before the same golden figures, eyes blazing with defiance, swearing an oath to never love again. And then, breaking it.
When she came back to herself, she was on her knees, the glass beneath her slick with tears. Her body trembled, her breath shallow.
"I remember," she whispered. "I was one of you."
Kael knelt beside her, his voice a low ache. "You were their chosen. Their weapon. You walked away when you chose love over duty."
The Keepers' voices thundered in unison. "Then let love be her trial once more."
The glass beneath her split open, revealing two paths of light. One glowed red; warm, alive, pulsing with the same fire as Kael's eyes. The other shone pure white; calm, cold, untouched.
Kael reached for her hand, but invisible force held him back. He struggled against it, the veins in his arms glowing with strain.
Leira looked at him, fear and longing twisting inside her. "What happens if I choose wrong?"
Kael's voice broke. "You lose everything… again."
The red path flickered invitingly, its warmth wrapping around her like a memory. She could feel Kael in it, his laughter, his touch, the way his voice had once anchored her when the world fell apart. The white path, in contrast, offered peace. No pain, no loss, no longing. Just stillness.
"Do I have to choose alone?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Yes," Kael whispered. "You always have."
The Keepers' chanting grew louder. The light pressed closer, humming through her skin, urging her toward a decision.
She took a step toward the red path, then stopped. "If I choose love again… does it destroy the veil?"
Kael's lips parted, but no sound came. The silence was answer enough.
Leira closed her eyes. In that silence, she remembered the faces of those who'd fallen the last time she chose wrong; the city that burned, the countless souls that vanished because she couldn't let go.
And yet, standing here, seeing Kael fight against eternity just to reach her, she knew that love was the only reason she had ever lived at all.
She looked back at him. "Maybe this time, I'll make it right."
Kael's expression broke open, torn between fear and hope. "Leira…"
But before he could finish, she stepped forward.
The red light swallowed her whole.
For an instant, warmth flooded her body, gentle and alive. Then everything exploded into white.
She fell through light and sound, through time and silence. She felt her body dissolve into a thousand fragments of memory. Laughter, pain, promise, betrayal, all spinning around her like fireflies in a storm.
Then came the quiet.
Her feet touched solid ground again. She was standing in a place that felt real, stone underfoot, wind brushing against her skin. She looked down and saw the mark of a crimson flame burning faintly on her wrist.
Kael stood a few paces away, breathing hard, eyes wide with disbelief.
"You came back," he said softly.
Leira nodded, still trembling. "I chose you."
The air between them shimmered, the world slowly reforming around their words. The Keepers' voices faded into echoes, but one final whisper lingered in the distance:
"Then let the new oath be written in fire."
Leira met Kael's eyes. There was exhaustion there, and grief, but also a quiet relief, like two souls who had finally stopped running.
She reached for him, fingers brushing his hand. "If the Keepers come for us again?"
Kael's lips curved in a faint, tired smile. "Then we remind them what it means to be human — to love, even when it costs everything."
The light dimmed. The realm of glass and memory dissolved into darkness.
And from the void, a whisper followed her. One that did not belong to the Keepers.