The world stopped.

  The entity loomed before them, its form twisting like something caught between existence and decay. Its voice was not sound but a presence, a weight pressing down on Aeris’ mind.

  “You should not exist.”

  The words slithered through her thoughts like ink spreading through water.

  Why did it say that?

  Her hands trembled.

  Then—the Exiled One spoke.

  “…Neither should you.”

  His voice was calm. Controlled.

  But something was different.

  Aeris could see it in the way he stood, the way his grip tightened around his sword.

  This wasn’t the first time he had seen something like this.

  The entity moved.

  Not lunging, not striking—just shifting. Its form blurred at the edges, like a mirage unraveling. Like reality itself wasn’t sure it should be here.

  Then it breathed.

  The wind roared around them, carrying whispers in a language Aeris couldn’t understand—yet somehow, she still felt them clawing at her thoughts.

  Her vision blurred.

  The world around her melted into something else—something older.

  The battlefield. The burning city. The ruins of a place she had never seen before, yet somehow remembered.

  The whispers grew louder.

  They weren’t coming from the entity.

  They were coming from inside her own mind.

  Aeris staggered. Her heartbeat pounded in her skull. She couldn’t breathe—

  Then—a hand grabbed her wrist.

  The world snapped back into focus.

  She gasped, her vision clearing—and found herself staring into the Exiled One’s eyes.

  “…Stay here,” he said.

  Then—he turned toward the entity.

  And he charged.

  The air split apart.

  The Exiled One’s sword sang as it struck.

  The entity didn’t move. It didn’t flinch, didn’t recoil, didn’t even acknowledge the attack—until the blade hit.

  Then—the world screamed.

  A soundless howl vibrated through the air, warping the space around them. The place where the sword met darkness rippled, like reality itself was protesting the act of being wounded.

  The Exiled One pressed forward, his stance firm, his blade carving light into the abyss.

  The entity shuddered.

  Then—it lashed out.

  A tendril of blackness shot toward him—fast, too fast.

  He barely dodged. The ground exploded where he had been standing, the force of the impact sending shockwaves through the cracked earth.

  Aeris stumbled, barely managing to keep her footing.

  Sorin wasn’t so lucky. “Oh, come on—”

  He hit the ground hard.

  Aeris ran to him, heart pounding. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, totally,” Sorin groaned. “Just thought I’d enjoy the dirt up close.”

  She pulled him up. They turned back just in time to see the Exiled One attack again.

  This time, he was faster.

  His blade blurred, cutting through the tendrils as they lashed toward him. Every time the steel met darkness, the entity shuddered as if struck by something far worse than mere metal.

  Aeris clenched her fists.

  The Exiled One was hurting it.

  But not enough.

  The entity was still learning. Adapting.

  And worst of all—

  It was no longer ignoring her.

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  Aeris barely had time to react before the whispers returned.

  Stronger this time.

  The battlefield.

  The burning city.

  A name—almost spoken.

  Something inside her reached for it.

  And this time, she didn’t pull away.

  The whispers wrapped around Aeris’ mind like vines.

  She knew she should fight them. Should resist.

  But something about them felt familiar.

  The battlefield. The burning city.

  The whispers were not from the entity.

  They were from the past.

  Her vision fractured.

  She was no longer standing on the crumbling battlefield. The Exiled One and Sorin were gone. The entity’s presence had vanished.

  Instead—

  She was in a city older than time.

  Its spires rose toward a sky of shattered light. A sky that had been broken.

  People ran through the streets—some screaming, some fighting, some vanishing into nothing as shadows swallowed them whole.

  Aeris’ heart pounded.

  She knew this place.

  She had never been here before, had no memory of ever setting foot in these streets—but she knew it.

  A name formed on her tongue.

  She tried to speak it—

  But a hand clamped over her mouth.

  Aeris whipped around.

  And found herself staring into the eyes of a boy.

  Not a child—he was around her age, maybe older. His face was half-hidden by shadow, but his eyes burned gold.

  Aeris tried to move, tried to speak, but the boy shook his head.

  “Don’t.”

  His voice was steady, calm—but his grip trembled.

  “If you say it, you won’t come back.”

  Aeris’ breath caught in her throat.

  The city shook.

  The sky above them cracked open, revealing an abyss with no end.

  Something crawled through it.

  Something she couldn’t see.

  But she felt it.

  And she had felt it before.

  The boy looked up at the sky, his golden eyes narrowing.

  Then he turned back to her.

  “You have to wake up.”

  And then—

  He shoved her backward.

  Aeris snapped back to reality.

  Her body hit the ground hard, the impact jolting her bones like she had been physically thrown. She gasped, lungs burning, fingers digging into the dirt as she tried to reorient herself.

  The battlefield roared around her.

  Sorin was yelling something—his voice distant, warped.

  The Exiled One’s sword clashed against the entity’s writhing form, carving through the darkness like a blade through mist.

  But something was wrong.

  Aeris’ head throbbed.

  The whispers from the vision hadn’t fully faded.

  They still clung to her mind, like echoes refusing to die.

  Don’t say it.

  The boy’s warning rang in her head.

  But why?

  What was the name she almost spoke? Why did it feel like it had been on the tip of her tongue since the day she was born?

  The ground shook.

  The Exiled One was still fighting—but he was losing ground.

  The entity was learning.

  It had stopped retreating. Stopped recoiling from his blade.

  Now, when his strikes landed, they cut less.

  The world twisted around them, shadows writhing in unnatural shapes.

  Aeris forced herself to move.

  She stumbled to her feet, her heartbeat still uneven, her mind still reeling from what she had seen.

  She didn’t have time to process it.

  Didn’t have time to think.

  The Exiled One needed help.

  She ran.

  And as she did—the entity turned toward her.

  For the first time, it acknowledged her completely.

  And it spoke.

  “You saw it.”

  Aeris’ blood went cold.

  The Exiled One’s head snapped toward her, his eyes widening.

  The entity moved.

  Faster than before.

  Faster than anything should be able to move.

  Aeris barely had time to register the attack before a tendril of pure nothingness lashed toward her.

  She raised her arms, knowing she couldn’t block it—

  A flash of silver.

  A barrier of steel.

  The Exiled One was there.

  His sword clashed against the darkness, intercepting the attack at the last possible second.

  The force sent him skidding back.

  But he didn’t fall.

  And when he looked at Aeris—his expression wasn’t just urgency.

  It was fear.

  “…What did you see?” he demanded.

  Aeris’ breath caught.

  And for the first time—she wasn’t sure if she should answer.

  Aeris hesitated.

  The Exiled One’s gaze held hers, hard and sharp—not out of anger, but because he needed to know. She saw it in the slight tension in his jaw, in the way he held his blade close even as the entity circled again.

  Sorin scrambled to their side, dust and sweat streaked across his face. “What just happened? Why did that thing speak like it knew her?”

  “It did,” the Exiled One said grimly, never taking his eyes off Aeris. “She saw something. Something it didn’t want her to see.”

  “I don’t…” Aeris’s voice faltered. “I don’t know what it was. A city—broken. The sky was torn. People running. Dying. There was… someone. A boy.”

  She gripped her arm tightly, feeling the phantom echo of his hand over her mouth. Don’t say it. If you say it, you won’t come back.

  “I almost remembered something. A name. I think it was mine.”

  The Exiled One’s posture stiffened. “Not Aeris?”

  She shook her head. “No. Something older. Something buried.”

  The entity hissed across the field, tendrils unfurling like wings. It had stopped attacking—for now—but its body pulsated with slow, deliberate fury, like a predator waiting for the right moment.

  The Exiled One finally looked away from Aeris, eyes narrowing at the creature. “It’s waking her up.”

  “Waking me up?” Aeris asked.

  “From forgetting.”

  There was silence for a moment, broken only by the slow tremble of the ground and the deep, humming pulse of the entity’s aura.

  Sorin glanced between them. “Okay, does anyone want to explain what the hell is going on before I start throwing rocks?”

  The Exiled One spoke softly, almost like he was afraid the words themselves would draw the thing closer.

  “You weren’t just having visions. You were remembering. That boy in the vision—he may not be from now. And if he told you not to speak the name, it means he was part of it too. Whatever happened before… the entity is tied to it. Maybe even born from it.”

  Aeris’s breath quickened. “Then… was I there? Before?”

  “You weren’t just there,” the Exiled One said. “You were important.”

  A low tremor coursed through the battlefield.

  The entity surged forward without warning, a ripple of black force charging directly for Aeris.

  “Move!” Sorin shouted, grabbing her and rolling just as the ground exploded behind them.

  The Exiled One dashed in, blade flashing, trying to intercept the second tendril—but it wasn’t attacking him.

  The entity wasn’t trying to kill Aeris.

  It was trying to touch her.

  The third strike almost grazed her hand. For a heartbeat, her fingers brushed against the smoke.

  And the world stopped.

  She stood alone in the broken city again.

  But this time, she wasn’t a visitor.

  She was walking the streets.

  She was part of it.

  People bowed to her as she passed.

  They called her a name she couldn’t hear—but her heart recognized.

  She was wearing white robes with gold embroidery, and on her chest was a symbol—a circle of thorns surrounding a sun.

  She passed a mirrored wall and caught a glimpse of her face—

  It wasn’t Aeris.

  It was her, but older. Or… not older. Wiser.

  There was a voice beside her.

  “You gave everything to keep them safe.”

  She turned.

  It was the boy again.

  Still with gold eyes, still partly shrouded in shadow.

  But this time, he looked tired.

  “You failed,” he said. “But you don’t have to fail again.”

  The city shook.

  The sky split open.

  The darkness poured in—

  Aeris screamed.

  She hit the ground, breath torn from her lungs, body convulsing like she’d been struck by lightning.

  The Exiled One was over her in an instant, pressing one hand to her shoulder, muttering something in a language that didn’t belong in this era.

  Sorin stood guard, teeth gritted, daggers ready.

  Aeris slowly opened her eyes.

  “I remember,” she whispered.

  “Remember what?” the Exiled One asked.

  She met his gaze, tears in her eyes.

  “…My name.”