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The first time Lyra bled stars was in a memory she hadn't lived yet.
It came in fragments that night, threaded between dreams and whispers. She stood on a battlefield of shattered moons, her hands aglow with runes only Kael knew how to read. Her body was broken, her voice almost gone, but still, she screamed his name across the void.
And somewhere in that ruined sky, he answered.
"One more lifetime. Just one more..."
She woke up with starlight dripping down her wrists.
Real blood—no. Not quite. It shimmered silver and faded within seconds, leaving behind a pattern across her skin that pulsed like a heartbeat. A mark.
She stared at it, breath hitching. The symbol looked ancient, half-forgotten—curved lines encircling what resembled an eclipse. It wasn't pain she felt—it was pressure, like something pressing inward from a place that didn't belong in this world.
By the time the morning light crept in, the mark had vanished. But she could still feel it. Like a second pulse.
Kael was waiting near the lake that afternoon, beneath the weeping trees. The place had become a kind of unspoken meeting ground for them—a space out of time. Lyra rushed toward him, breathless.
"It happened again," she said, holding out her wrist. "The mark. It showed up after a dream."
Kael's gaze sharpened. "Describe it."
She sketched the shape in the dirt with a stick, her fingers trembling. When she looked up, Kael's expression had turned grave.
"That's the sigil of the Eclipse Bond," he murmured.
"What does that mean?"
He took a breath, brushing a hand through his dark hair. "It means we've passed the threshold. You and I… we're now permanently tethered across timelines. Not even the Keepers can fully sever it."
Lyra blinked. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"It should be. But it's also a beacon. Every time we grow closer, the bond awakens—and so do they."
A sudden cold wind swept across the lake, sending ripples over the glassy surface. Lyra's skin broke into goosebumps.
"You said we had until the eclipse."
Kael nodded. "Twenty-seven days now. We have that much time to awaken the last memory seal… or they'll trap us in another cycle. One where we never find each other."
Lyra stared at her reflection in the lake. "How many times have we been reset?"
"I stopped counting after twelve," Kael said quietly. "But in every one, you're always the key. You remember first. You draw me back."
Lyra turned to him, something old and sad welling in her chest. "Have I… died before?"
His silence was all the answer she needed.
She sat beside him on the grass. "Tell me."
Kael hesitated, then lay back, staring at the sky. "You've died saving me. You've died because of me. And once… I held your body for hours after the Rift tore us apart."
A tear slipped from Lyra's eye. "I don't remember that."
"Some memories are buried deepest. Especially the ones that hurt."
She looked down at her hand—the one that had held Kael's in dreams, in wars, in lifetimes untold. "And yet… I keep finding you."
Kael's voice was a whisper. "That's what scares them most."
The wind shifted again, carrying a strange scent—like burning roses and something metallic. Kael tensed, sitting up sharply.
"They're close."
Lyra's heart jumped. "Here?"
Kael nodded, scanning the trees. "We should move."
But before they could stand, the lake surface rippled unnaturally. A figure began to rise from the water—elegant, ghostlike. A woman with white eyes and no reflection.
Lyra froze. "Who—?"
Kael stepped in front of her. "A Harrowshade."
The creature's voice was like silk dipped in poison. "You're waking up too fast, Lyra. That wasn't part of the cycle."
"I'm not afraid of you," Lyra said, surprising herself.
"You should be," the Harrowshade whispered. "We don't kill lovers. We erase them."
It lunged.
But Kael was faster.
He raised his palm, and a burst of blinding light erupted. The Harrowshade shrieked, smoke trailing from its vanishing form. Within seconds, it was gone—dissolved into the wind.
Lyra stared at Kael, eyes wide. "That wasn't normal."
"No," he said, trembling slightly. "I'm not supposed to have powers here yet. Something's accelerating."
Lyra whispered, "Then it's not just me waking up."
Kael met her gaze. "This timeline is breaking its own rules."
They walked in silence for a while, adrenaline still buzzing through their veins. Lyra clutched the memory anchor Kael had given her, her fingers tracing its smooth edges.
"Kael?"
"Yeah?"
"If we don't make it this time—if they take you—what happens to me?"
He stopped walking and turned to her. "You'll remember, eventually. Even if I'm gone, you'll always find traces of me. In songs. In mirrors. In the dreams you can't explain."
Lyra closed the distance between them, placing a hand over his heart.
"I don't want traces. I want you. In this life. With me."
Kael's eyes burned gold for a moment. He leaned down, his forehead touching hers. "Then we hold on. No matter what comes."
And the stars above them blinked—like they, too, were watching.
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