The sanctuary had never felt so small.
And yet, the Hall of the Original Thread was enormous.
But ever since Eryan appeared, the air had become heavier, denser, almost suffocating. As if the walls themselves were waiting for something to explode.
And Kael… was that explosion waiting to happen.
He had barely moved since Lyra said those words.
It's you I choose.
That sentence was still burning in his chest like an ember that refused to die. It soothed something inside him, yes. But not completely.
Because standing in front of them was still a man from her past.
A man who knew a version of Lyra he had never seen.
A man who could help her.
And Kael deeply hated needing him.
Lyra, meanwhile, stood in the middle of all of it, her heart still unsettled.
She could still feel that strange vibration inside her soul. The more Eryan spoke, the more something inside her wanted to open… and the more it frightened her.
Because she didn't know what she was about to recover.
A memory?
An old wound?
Or a truth powerful enough to break everything?
Aelys slowly lifted one hand, drawing their attention to the center of the room. The broken stone circle was still floating, its cracks filled with vivid light. The suspended threads above them trembled as if they had heard some ancient call.
— The Knot of the First Oath can only be opened once per cycle, she said in a grave voice. Once inside, you will not only see memories. You will relive emotional fragments sealed within the Source.
Lyra felt her throat tighten.
— Relive…?
Eryan gave a slow nod.
— What you loved. What you lost. What you refused to forget.
Kael clenched his jaw.
He didn't like that description at all.
Not even a little.
— And me? he asked coldly. What will I see?
Eryan turned slightly toward him.
— What your soul fears losing the most.
That answer landed heavily between them.
Kael said nothing.
But deep down, he already knew.
Lyra.
He didn't even need to think about it.
The mere thought of her being torn away from him, changed, erased from this life or from what they had become together, was enough to awaken a cold fury inside him.
Aelys stepped closer to the circle.
— If you enter, you must remain connected. The Knot will try to separate everything it can. Your memories, your desires, your fears… everything will be tested.
Then her gaze settled on Kael with particular intensity.
— And if your heart lets jealousy take over, you may destroy the very thing you are trying to protect.
Lyra turned her head slightly toward him.
Kael didn't answer right away.
Then he finally muttered, without taking his eyes off the circle:
— Then I'll control my jealousy.
Eryan almost looked like he wanted to smile.
— You can try.
Kael slowly turned his head toward him.
The silence that followed was icy.
Then Kael replied in a voice so calm it became more threatening than shouting ever could:
— If you keep talking like you know me, I'm going to stop trying.
Lyra inhaled sharply.
— Kael…
But strangely, instead of being upset, she felt an odd warmth rise to her cheeks.
Because yes… he was impossible.
But he was also so painfully obvious.
So honestly jealous that she didn't know whether she should stop him… or smile.
Eryan simply raised his hands in surrender.
— I have no intention of fighting you.
— That's unfortunate, Kael replied.
Aelys let out a soft sigh.
— This is neither the place nor the time.
She stretched out both arms, and the central circle began rotating slowly. Rings of light unfolded around it, carving ancient symbols into the air that looked like stars being born.
The entire room vibrated.
Then the center of the circle opened.
Not like a door.
But like an upside-down surface of water suspended in the void.
A white and golden light pulsed behind it—deep, shifting, endless.
Lyra felt her soul react instantly.
Her heart tightened.
Her fingers trembled.
Kael noticed immediately.
Without thinking, he grabbed her hand.
Firmly.
Warmly.
As if that simple gesture alone could keep her from slipping away somewhere he couldn't follow.
Lyra looked up at him.
And in Kael's eyes, there was no more mockery.
No more coldness.
Only that raw intensity she was beginning to recognize.
That fear he would never confess easily.
— You are not going in there without me, he said.
His voice was low.
Absolute.
Lyra gently squeezed his hand.
— I know.
But Eryan spoke behind them.
— She'll have to follow me too.
Silence dropped instantly.
Then Kael turned so slowly it somehow felt more dangerous than if he had moved fast.
— Repeat that.
Eryan didn't back away.
— Some of her memories are sealed behind my own essence. If I'm not present inside the Knot, they will remain locked.
Kael stared at him like he had just made the worst mistake of his life.
Then he let out a very short laugh.
Very dry.
— Of course.
Lyra immediately saw his jaw tighten.
Oh no.
Oh yes.
Kael was becoming really, really jealous now.
And this time, he wasn't even pretending to hide it.
— So if I understand correctly, he said with fake calm, you need to enter a place where she'll relive emotionally intense memories… some of which involve you.
— Yes, Eryan answered.
Kael gave a slow nod.
— Fascinating.
Lyra pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
She probably should not have found that nearly so… attractive.
But there was something about the way he was clearly handling this terribly while still never letting go of her that made her heart beat a little too fast.
— Kael, she murmured softly.
He turned toward her.
And his expression softened instantly.
Only for her.
Only slightly.
— What?
She hesitated for a second.
Then, almost innocently, she asked:
— You're very jealous right now, aren't you?
Kael went completely still.
Then he narrowed his eyes just slightly.
— You want the honest answer?
Lyra could already feel her heartbeat speeding up.
— Yes.
He stepped closer to her.
Close enough that his voice was almost a murmur against the air between them.
— I already hate every memory where you might look at him differently than the way you look at me.
Lyra's breath caught sharply.
Kael didn't stop.
His dark eyes remained locked on hers.
— So yes, Lyra.
His hand slowly slid up to her wrist, then down into her fingers, gently trapping them in his own.
— I'm jealous on a level that is probably deeply unreasonable.
Heat rushed to Lyra's cheeks.
Even Aelys discreetly looked away.
As for Eryan…
He remained silent.
But something in his expression had darkened.
As if he was only now realizing that what existed between them was not simply a repetition of the past.
It was something else.
Something more human.
More fierce.
More alive.
And perhaps much harder to break.
Aelys snapped her fingers softly.
— Go. Now.
The circle pulsed more intensely.
Fragments of light began peeling away from the suspended threads, as if the sanctuary would not give them much more time.
Eryan stepped toward the opening first.
Kael watched him pass with an expression that very clearly said:
I am only tolerating you because I have no other choice.
Then he turned back to Lyra.
His face had gone serious again.
Intense.
Almost too beautiful in all that tension.
— Stay close to me, he said.
— Always.
That one word seemed to hit him more deeply than he let show.
He gave a single nod.
Then, without releasing her hand, he entered the Knot of the First Oath with her.
The world disappeared.
There was no falling, no blinding light, no immediate pain.
Only a strange sensation.
As if time itself was dissolving around them.
As if their bodies were nothing more than memories floating in an ancient sea.
Then the ground returned beneath their feet.
Lyra blinked.
And her breath caught.
They stood inside an impossible landscape.
A white sky with no sun stretched endlessly above them. The ground looked like liquid glass, reflecting thousands of shifting images. Around them rose floating arches, broken temple fragments suspended in the void, and everywhere… luminous threads drifted through the air like living constellations.
But that was not the most disturbing part.
The most disturbing part…
Was the voices.
Hundreds of voices whispering all around them.
Laughter.
Crying.
Promises.
Farewells.
Kael immediately tightened his grip on Lyra's hand.
— Stay with me, he repeated more quietly.
Lyra nodded.
But her gaze was already being pulled elsewhere.
In the distance, between two shattered arches, a figure appeared.
A young woman.
Her long hair drifted in the white wind.
Her glowing dress brushed over the glass floor.
And when she slowly turned her face…
Lyra felt her heart stop.
It was her.
Or rather…
A much older version of herself.
A purer one.
A brighter one.
Almost divine.
— No… she whispered.
Eryan, standing a little farther away now, lowered his head slightly.
— That is your first echo.
Kael instantly hated the look that ancient version of Lyra had in her eyes.
As if she was waiting for someone.
As if she was searching for someone.
And when a second figure appeared behind her…
Kael immediately felt his whole body go rigid.
A man.
Tall.
Dressed in white and silver.
Black hair.
Gray eyes.
Eryan.
Silence exploded inside Kael.
Not around him.
Inside him.
Lyra stared at the scene, frozen.
The older version of herself was smiling.
A soft smile.
An intimate one.
A smile that did not belong to this life.
Past-Eryan stopped in front of her.
Then slowly lifted his hand… and brushed his fingers against her cheek.
Kael let out a short sound.
A laugh without humor.
Without control.
— Of course.
Lyra turned sharply toward him.
— Kael—
But he wasn't listening anymore.
Because he was staring at the memory in front of him with that dangerously calm expression he wore whenever he was holding back something much more violent.
— Kael, they're just memories, Eryan murmured behind them.
Wrong thing to say.
Very wrong thing to say.
Kael turned so suddenly even the air seemed to tighten.
— I know exactly what they are, he replied in a cold voice.
Then he sharply gestured toward the scene.
— And that does absolutely nothing to improve this.
Lyra felt a strange, nervous warmth rise inside her chest.
Because he was genuinely upset over… a memory.
Over a past version.
Over something she herself did not even fully understand yet.
And despite all the tension of the situation…
A part of her almost wanted to laugh nervously.
Or hug him.
Or kiss him just to make him stop looking at the memory like he was about to attack the past itself.
But the memory continued.
Past-Lyra closed her eyes beneath Eryan's touch.
Then she whispered something.
The words were too far away to hear.
Kael didn't need them.
He already hated the way she tilted her head slightly toward him.
— Fine, he muttered.
Lyra frowned.
— Fine what?
Kael finally looked at her.
And what she saw in his eyes nearly stole her breath.
Because he was no longer just jealous.
He was truly affected.
Truly hurt.
Truly vulnerable.
— If we have to watch this, he said in a deeper voice, then you're also going to watch everything I felt in every life where I lost you.
Silence fell.
Then before Lyra or Eryan could respond—
The glass beneath their feet cracked.
A massive wave of black light tore through the Knot.
The floating arches began to shake.
The whispering voices turned into screams.
Aelys had been right.
The Knot was testing their emotions.
And Kael's jealousy…
Now touching something far deeper than a simple wounded heart…
Had just opened a second door.
A much more dangerous one.
A door that would reveal not only Lyra's past…
But also Kael's hidden wounds.
And this time, no one would be ready for what they were about to see.