The wind howled through the cliffs as the trio rode hard under the pale moonlight. The Temple of Echoes waited at the edge of the Hollow Peaks—a place spoken of in whispers, lost to maps and legends. The last time Aira had been there, she hadn't left alone. She had left cursed, broken, and bleeding.
She glanced over at Sareth. He hadn't said much since they left, but tension radiated off him like heat. Kael rode on her other side, silent too, though his eyes flicked toward her often, as if checking she hadn't vanished between heartbeats.
"I never wanted to bring you back here," Sareth finally said, breaking the silence. "The last time nearly killed you. And Eiran… he knows what's buried in that place. He'll use it to pull you back to who you were."
Aira's fingers tightened on the reins. "That's what I need. To remember."
Kael's voice was cold. "Not if it means losing yourself again."
"No," Aira said, her voice resolute. "I need to remember it on my own terms. No more being trapped in pieces."
The cliffs gave way to jagged ruins, moss-covered stones emerging from the earth like buried bones. The path ahead narrowed until they could go no further by horse. The three dismounted, and the world grew quiet save for the rustle of leaves and the distant screech of a nightbird.
There it stood ahead—half-forgotten and eerily alive.
The Temple of Echoes.
Its stone spires jutted out like the ribs of a giant creature, ancient and humming faintly with power. Aira shivered as her palm tingled. Her shaman's mark glowed faintly beneath her glove, responding to the temple's call.
As they approached the entrance, Aira's breath caught in her throat. There, etched into the stone arch, was a phrase she hadn't seen in years:
"Only those who dare to relive can truly reclaim."
Sareth drew his blade. "He's here. I can feel it."
Kael stepped protectively in front of Aira. "So what's the plan?"
"I go in alone," she said.
"No," both men said in unison.
She turned to them. "I have to. This temple is tied to my past. If I bring you both inside, it could trigger memories that aren't mine to share. The temple is… sentient. It feeds on connection. If I'm conflicted, it could trap me."
Kael gritted his teeth. "I won't let it take you."
Aira stepped close and placed her palm on his chest. "Then trust me to come back."
She turned to Sareth. "If I don't return in an hour… break the seal and drag me out."
Sareth didn't like it, but nodded.
Aira stepped through the arch, the stone humming louder under her skin as the temple embraced her.
---
Inside, the air thickened instantly, heavy with the scent of incense and old magic. The hall stretched impossibly long, walls covered in memory glyphs glowing faint blue. As she walked, whispers swirled around her, voices from lives once lived, moments half-forgotten.
"You said you'd never leave me…"
"Why did you choose him?"
"You promised to remember."
She reached the central chamber: a circular room with a pedestal at its center. Upon it lay a single silver glove—Eiran's.
And then he stepped out of the shadows.
His eyes were dark, unreadable. "You came."
Aira stood tall. "You led me here."
"I didn't lead," he said. "You followed the echo of your own truth."
She stepped closer. "Why this place?"
Eiran walked around her slowly. "Because this is where it all began. Where you made the choice to love me… and where you betrayed me."
Aira flinched. "I don't remember."
"But your heart does." He reached out and cupped her cheek. "When you touched me, even for a second, you felt it. That fire. That grief. That want."
She closed her eyes as his thumb grazed her skin, and a flicker of memory surged—two bodies tangled in candlelight, a whispered oath, the pain of a blade.
She pulled back. "No. Don't manipulate me with fragments."
"I'm not trying to manipulate you," Eiran said. "I'm trying to wake you up."
"To what?"
"That you are not just Aira. You are Lirien, the last shaman queen. And you sealed away your memories not to protect yourself—but to protect me."
Her knees went weak. "What?"
"You killed me, yes," he said softly. "But only after I begged you to. Because I was cursed. A threat to the world. You saved it by ending me."
Tears filled her eyes. "Then why bring it all back?"
"Because the curse didn't die with me," Eiran whispered. "It's still inside me. Resurrected. Unleashed again. And you're the only one who can stop it."
"How?" Her voice cracked.
"By remembering everything… and making the choice again."
The temple pulsed around them. The pedestal split open, revealing a glowing sphere of memory. Her memory. The truth.
"If you enter it," Eiran said, "you'll relive the last day we had together. Every kiss. Every promise. Every wound. And you'll have to choose—again—whether to kill me or save me."
Aira's heart thundered.
She looked down at the glowing sphere and took a step forward.
But as she reached for it… a loud crack split the air.
The chamber trembled.
Eiran's head snapped around. "Someone's breached the seal!"
Kael.
He had come for her.
Before she could react, the walls around them cracked open—and Kael stormed in, sword drawn, eyes blazing with fury.
"Aira!" he shouted.
Eiran moved to shield her. "She's mine—"
"Don't you dare touch her!"
"Stop it!" Aira cried, stepping between them. "Both of you!"
But the temple had already begun to fracture, power surging out of the sphere like a rising tide.
Aira looked at both men—one from her past, one from her present—and realized:
The hardest choices weren't just about saving lives.
They were about who you chose to live them with.
And time was running out.