CHAPTER 11 - The One Who Watches
It was already late at night when Keira finally returned to the room prepared for her in the Evermont Residence.
The room was spacious, with tall windows overlooking the back garden. Thin curtains moved gently in the night breeze. Moonlight slipped softly inside, making the entire room look almost like a painting.
Everyone had already left.
Cassian had returned to his study.
Daniel had gone to the guest room in the east wing.
And Kael was probably still standing guard somewhere outside.
For the first time since arriving at Evermont, Keira was truly alone.
She stood in the middle of the room, looking around.
A large bed. An old wooden wardrobe. A dressing table with a tall mirror.
None of it felt like it belonged to her.
She let out a quiet breath.
Then she said,
"Nevil."
Silence answered her.
Keira did not move.
"I know you're watching me… or listening to me… wherever you are."
She walked a few steps toward the window.
"So stop pretending."
The night wind blew again.
The curtains shifted slowly.
No other sound followed.
Keira crossed her arms.
"Don't tell me you suddenly decided to give me privacy."
Still no answer.
The silence lingered for several seconds.
Until finally a voice appeared.
Calm. Deep. Almost like a whisper forming directly inside her mind.
"Your observation is quite sharp."
Keira did not look surprised.
"Of course."
The shadows in the corner of the room seemed to shift slightly.
Slowly, Nevil Noctaris stepped out from the darkness.
As if he had always been there.
Watching.
He leaned lightly against the stone wall, his expression as calm as ever.
"You called for me," he said.
Keira looked at him.
"Because I have a question."
Nevil said nothing.
But his gaze suggested he already knew where this conversation was going.
Keira stepped a little closer.
"And it's bothering me."
Nevil leaned casually near the window.
"What is it?"
"If the flow of time in both worlds is different…" Keira said slowly.
She crossed her arms.
"Then if I stay here too long, when I return to my world… everyone might have already forgotten me."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"And Keenan would be alone there."
Nevil did not answer immediately.
Several seconds passed before he spoke.
"No."
Keira frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"I have already adjusted the flow of time."
Silence fell.
Keira stared at him sharply.
"You did what?"
Nevil answered as if it were nothing remarkable.
"I slowed the flow of time in the modern world."
Daniel would definitely call that insane.
Keira simply stared at him.
"How slow?"
"Slow enough," Nevil replied.
He looked back at her.
"In your world… time is barely moving."
The air in the room felt different.
"So…" Keira said slowly.
"Keenan…"
Nevil gave a small nod.
"He is still in the same place."
Keira released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
But she still wasn't completely calm.
"How long will that effect last?"
Nevil looked toward the window.
"As long as I maintain it."
Keira frowned.
"And if you stop?"
Nevil turned back to her.
His gaze remained calm, but there was something heavy within it.
"Then time in your world will catch up to everything that was delayed."
Silence filled the room for a moment.
Keira looked at Nevil without blinking.
"There's one more thing."
Nevil tilted his head slightly.
"What is it?"
"If time was turned back," Keira said slowly,
"why didn't I return as Aelirra?"
She gestured to herself.
"Why am I still Keira?"
Nevil did not answer immediately.
The night wind drifted softly through the window.
"Because this is not the first time time has been turned back."
Keira frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Alaric has tried twice."
The atmosphere in the room shifted.
"The first attempt," Nevil continued,
"he only managed to turn time back to one month after Aelirra's death."
Keira understood instantly.
"That was already too late."
Nevil nodded.
"Aelirra still died."
A brief silence followed.
"In the second attempt, he used all of his mana," Nevil continued.
"This time, time returned to one day after Aelirra's death."
Nevil took a few steps closer.
"When he failed again, Alaric begged me to bring Aelirra back to life."
Keira held her breath.
"But you refused."
Nevil answered without hesitation.
"I cannot revive someone whose soul has already begun a new life."
He looked at Keira.
"When time was turned back for the second time… Aelirra's soul had already lived twenty-seven years as Keira."
Keira remained silent.
"In the laws of the soul," Nevil continued,
"that means the next life has already begun."
He paused briefly.
"The only thing I could do was help him open a dimensional time corridor… so he could bring Aelirra, who had already reincarnated as Keira."
Silence fell again.
Keira processed everything.
"Keenan."
The name left her lips quietly.
"Like you told me when we first met, the reason Keenan fell into a coma…"
She paused.
"…is because at the point in time Alaric called me…"
Another pause.
"…Keenan was still alive."
Keira frowned.
"Right?"
"Yes," Nevil said.
"Because when time returned to one day after Aelirra's death, Keenan's soul was still supposed to be in Valtherion."
The air in the room felt colder.
"So when time was pulled back…"
He looked at Keira.
"…his soul was summoned back to that point in time as well."
Keira swallowed.
"And his body in our world…"
Nevil finished the sentence.
"…lost its soul."
Keira closed her eyes briefly.
"A coma."
"Yes."
Silence filled the room once more.
But this time, Keira felt something different within that silence.
A small sense of relief.
And quiet emotion.