The air inside the Astral Nexus thickened, humming with a low crystalline vibration that sounded almost like a heartbeat—slow, deliberate, ancient. Aiden felt it resonate into his bones, as though the world itself was waiting for him to speak. Or breathe. Or break.
Yunaria remained beside him, expression unreadable, her silver-gold hair drifting in a non-existent breeze. Her eyes, normally bright enough to warm the dimmest corners, were shadowed now—by fear, by grief, or perhaps by memory.
Memory that he didn't have.
Not yet.
The pedestal before them glowed faintly, a shape forming above it—something neither solid nor light. A symbol made of memory itself. Aiden reached forward without realizing he'd moved, fingers tingling as the construct shimmered.
"Once you touch it," Yunaria whispered, "you will remember something that has been erased. Something tied directly to you."
Aiden swallowed. "And if I'm not ready?"
"Then the memory will crush you."
Her honesty hit him harder than the warning.
He exhaled slowly, a white mist forming—memory vapor, Yunaria had called it. Emotions so dense they manifested physically. And this place… this strange, crystal-lined hall suspended between realities… it felt like it had been built to store memories that naturally tried to devour the unworthy.
Aiden forced a smile.
"I thought you said I'm the Lost King. Shouldn't I be able to handle a memory or two?"
Her lips tightened—pain, not amusement.
"You weren't called the Lost King because you were missing," she said quietly. "You were called the Lost King because… you lost yourself."
She stepped back, giving him room.
Giving him a choice.
Aiden placed his hand on the glowing construct.
The world shattered.
---
Memory Flood #1 — A City of Light and Collapse
He was standing on a balcony made of starlight, overlooking a city impossibly tall and beautifully strange—towers spiraled like silver vines, bridges formed from condensed constellations, and the sky pulsed with auroras shaped like wings.
This was Asthra-Lume, capital of the 12th Era.
His city.
He knew it without being told.
Aiden inhaled sharply—this body wasn't his current one. Taller. Stronger. Wearing armor made of memory-plates glowing with runes. And at the center of his chest was a crown-shaped mark.
A King's Mark.
Aiden sensed another presence and turned. Someone stood beside him—a woman with raven-black hair, crystalline eyes, and a smile that could have melted war itself.
Not Yunaria.
But someone… familiar.
"Aiden," she said warmly, resting her hand on his. "The eras will not fall while you breathe. You promise me that, right?"
He opened his mouth to answer—
—but the sky split open.
A crack tore through the heavens, and an ocean of darkness poured in. Not shadows. Not night.
Something worse.
Oblivion.
Not the hunters.
But the source.
The memory twisted violently, skipping like a broken reel.
---
Memory Flood #2 — The Betrayal That Shouldn't Exist
The scene jumped.
He was kneeling in a throne room made of shattered stars. Blood—light-blue, shimmering—dripped from his hands. Around him lay the fallen: his own council, the Celestial Archivists who had sworn loyalty to him.
All dead.
And in front of him, her.
The raven-haired woman.
Her expression was a mask of heartbreaking sorrow and unbearable resolve.
"I'm sorry, Aiden. I have to do this."
Her hand lifted—a blade made of erased timeline fragments forming in it.
He tried to speak.
Tried to ask why.
Tried to reach her—
The blade plunged into his chest.
Everything went dark.
---
Aiden was hurled back into the present, landing hard on the crystal floor of the Astral Nexus. His heart thundered wildly, pain echoing not just in his chest but in the places memory lived.
He forced himself onto his elbows.
Yunaria rushed to his side, eyes wide with fear.
"Aiden—Aiden, can you hear me? How much did you see?"
He tasted the metallic sting of memory collapse.
"Enough," he said hoarsely. "I saw… a woman. She killed me. But I loved her—I knew I loved her."
Yunaria's jaw clenched.
"That memory wasn't supposed to surface yet," she whispered.
He grabbed her wrist, holding her still.
"What aren't you telling me?"
She met his gaze.
"The woman you saw… she was the Queen of the 12th Era. Your partner. Your equal. The one who ruled beside you."
Aiden froze.
"Then why did she kill me?"
Yunaria's eyes darkened.
"Because you asked her to."
His breath hitched.
"I—what?"
"You made a decision that doomed the eras," Yunaria said, voice trembling. "And the only way to fix it was for someone who loved you enough to end you… so you could resurrect in a timeline where the mistake never happened."
Aiden stared at her, numb.
"I don't understand."
"You will," she said. "But only if you want to."
A beat of silence.
Aiden finally asked the question that had been burning since the memory ended.
"What was her name?"
Yunaria hesitated.
Then, softly:
"Her name was Seraphine Valyria Astraeon."
Aiden felt his heartbeat stutter at the name—familiar yet foreign, distant yet devastatingly close.
"Do I… still love her?" he whispered.
Yunaria lowered her gaze.
"That depends," she said quietly.
"Do you love someone you can't remember?"
Aiden said nothing.
Because he didn't know.
Because part of him was terrified the answer was yes.
And another part of him feared that if he remembered too much… he would never survive the truth of what he once was.
Or what he once destroyed.
---
A soft vibration filled the chamber.
A new symbol appeared on the pedestal.
Another memory.
Darker.
Older.
And meant only for him.
Aiden rose slowly, wiping the last remnants of memory-light from his eyes.
"Again?" he asked, voice rough.
Yunaria nodded.
"This one is worse."
He inhaled deeply.
"Good," Aiden said.
"Then let's see what else the Lost King forgot."
He touched the symbol—
—and the world dissolved again.