Chapter 216: Ashes And Stardust
[Music recommendation: Sophie Hutchings - Living Light (Extended Mix)]
.
Eve stepped forward as the space came alive and felt the soft grass beneath her bare feet. The cool chill of misty air filled her lungs, carrying the scent of forest and rain, surrounded by towering walls of lush green trees.
She spun her head frantically, trying to find him again. The last time she saw him, she remembered how he was being swallowed by darkness, writhing in intense pain.
Remembering where she had found him before, Eve ran barefoot across the slightly damp forest floor and called for him desperately,
"Kai!"
When only silence answered her....she kept running.
She ignored the tearing pain from the hairpin still stuck in her thigh, her breath uneven, chest burning as she searched for the man whose face mirrored the one she loved most in the world. Kai and Ivan were not the same, she knew that....but she could not deny the connection between them, a pull that felt ancient, as if they were one soul scattered across two lives.
It made no sense, yet her feet refused to stop.
She ran through the mist-draped forest, pushing past the ache in her lungs, calling for him again and again, but only the wind answered her.
Why?
She remembered this place.
She remembered the path she took last time.
She remembered finding him here.
Then why couldn’t she now?
Was he gone? Was she too late? Or had she stepped into another realm entirely?
Evelyn slowed as her heart twisted painfully at the uncertainty settling in her bones.
Soon, when her legs could carry her no further, she braced a trembling hand against the rough bark of a tree and rested her forehead against it. Her breaths came in harsh, uneven gasps, and her vision blurred as tears welled up once more.
’Did she lose him...? Like Iva-’
No!
She forced the thought away, shutting it down before it could swallow her whole. She couldn’t think like that. She wouldn’t!
He was so strong, he had always been strong.
He was fighting....she knew he was. He had to be!
And yet her heart hurt so fiercely it felt as though it might split open from the longing, the desperate ache of wanting him safe, whole....alive, just like before.
Fat tears spilled down her cheeks and dropped onto the grass below as Ivan’s face filled her mind again.
"Ivan..." she whispered his name with so much pain.
Her lips quivered, and before she knew it, she howled it again with so much raw intensity, "Ivaaan!"
Her knees buckled beneath her, and she sank to the ground as though grief itself had pulled her down. "I haven’t even told you..." she choked, wiping at her tears with shaking hands, though they kept falling relentlessly.
"I haven’t even told you how I feel about you..."
A sob caught in her throat, "That I-I..."
"So tell him..." An ethereal, gentle voice echoed through the silent forest, making Eve slowly lift her head, and she turned toward the sound...and froze.
Her blue, tear-filled eyes widened as she stared in shock at the breathtaking figure before her.
Golden hair flowed down the woman’s back like a sun-kissed waterfall, shimmering with a light that seemed to breathe. But that wasn’t what caught Evelyn’s breath in her throat.
It was her aura, that soft golden glow surrounding her like living light.
It was her eyes, luminous, like two vessels filled with pure gold.
And most of all, it was her face, identical to Evelyn’s in every single line.
The same eyes.
The same lips.
The same shape of her nose.
It was like staring into a mirror....with the only difference being the colour of her hair.
Dressed in a sleeveless, flowing white gown, with her expression serene, she stared right back at Evelyn with her golden eyes reflecting the very same pain that lived in Eve’s.
Eve braced herself against the tree’s bark and rose unsteadily to her feet. Her breath trembled as words escaped her lips, "You....who are you?"
A soft smile bloomed on the woman’s face as she replied, "We meet again..."
Eve stared at her in stunned silence, and the woman continued in her light and ethereal voice, "Who am I? I think you know exactly who I am, Evelyn."
Eve shook her head in disbelief as she voiced her thoughts, "How....how is it possible?" she whispered.
"I have been waiting for this day...." the woman said softly, "....waiting patiently. So let me tell you a story."
She turned and started to walk forward, her golden hair swaying gently in motion.
Evelyn released her hold on the tree and followed her slowly as the woman spoke:
"Thousands of years ago, when the world was consumed by shadow, its lands painted in blood and its skies echoed with the cries of the damned, it was then that the Gods finally answered humanity’s desperate prayers..."
And Evelyn’s heart began to race, for she recognised the words; they were the very same lines written in the ancient histories she once read.
The woman continued, "From flame and light, the gods forged two divine souls to cleanse the world. The God of Fire created a soul so powerful it could burn all evil to ash. While the Goddess of Light created a soul with divine light magic, one blessed with purifying. A soul destined to bathe the world in light once again."
The woman soon arrived at the willow tree overlooking the vast mountain peaks, suspended above a thick blanket of rolling clouds. Eve’s breath hitched as she knew this place. The same place Ivan had once brought her. The same place where she had last seen Kai in her dreams.
The woman stopped at the cliff’s edge, golden hair drifting like silk in the wind as she gazed over the scenic horizon. Slowly, she turned to face Evelyn, who stood only two steps behind her.
Eve’s heart pounded violently in her chest, each beat as loud as thunder. She held her breath, waiting.....knowing with a certainty deep within her bones that whatever came next would change everything.
The woman’s golden eyes held Eve’s as she continued, "From the purging flames of judgement of the Fire God, Malakai Ignia de Ashen was born. A soul forged in celestial fire, a warrior whose very breath could burn wickedness. He walked the earth like a blazing star, reducing unholy creatures to ash beneath his flames."
"And just like him, another powerful soul was created by the Goddess of Light....a woman named Solaira Lumaeth Starforged. She who shone with the sacred light of the stars. A divine maiden who purified and healed the bleeding lands."
As soon as those names left the woman’s tongue, Evelyn’s heart lurched, and her eyes flared golden, as though a sealed door inside her soul had just been forced open.
Light poured through her veins, and her golden aura spilled outward like a rising sun, illuminating the mist around her. And then, like a relentless waterfall, her memories....long buried began to bloom inside her mind.
Fragments of another life:
A battlefield drenched in blood and flame.
A woman in her golden armour with her golden hair swaying as she wielded the power of light through the shining sword she held in her hand. Beside her...a warrior of fire with those warm molten orange, wielding powerful fire like a storm.
Her past.
Her origin.
Her soul remembered, and memories from a time beyond history poured into her like a flood so vivid and beautiful, as though the stars themselves were retelling her the tale.
"The battle raged for years....years spent tearing out the roots of corruption he had planted so deeply into this land.
Together, Malakai and Solaira fought the Dark Lord and his vast armies, and in the end, they sealed him deep within the land where no light could ever reach him, restoring balance to the world.
However, in the midst of endless war, something happened that no one could have foreseen. An unexpected bond formed between them."
Her voice softened with warmth and sorrow, "A bond of love so powerful it stunned even the heavenly realm.....for such love was forbidden. Once their purpose had been fulfilled, they were meant to return to their creators, to merge back into the divine. They were celestial beings, after all. They were not meant to remain on this mortal plane."
By now, tears shimmered in the woman’s golden eyes, and her voice trembled as she continued, "Malakai and Solaira could not bear the thought of parting. Together, they pleaded with the Gods, begged them to let them remain in this world, to live side by side, to love freely....to one day share a family of their own."
Her voice cracked as she spoke the next words, "But to maintain the balance of the realms, the Gods denied them. In their despair, driven by the agony of separation, they swore they would tear apart the very world they had saved if they were denied the one thing that had become the core of their existence, which was....each other."
She drew a painful breath, though she still stood with ethereal grace, "The Gods did not take their threat of powerful celestial beings lightly, and so, they chose a different approach. They granted the divine pair a rare boon, that they may one day be reborn into this world, to live as mortals and find each other again. To love freely as they once longed to."
A bittersweet smile ghosted her lips, "But as punishment for breaking a heavenly law and defying them, no timeline was given. Their reunion could be centuries or millennia away. And when they returned, they would do so without their memories of who they once were....or who the other had been. Unless fate guided them back, they might never meet at all. Until then, their souls would wander the void between life and death....endlessly waiting for the day the Gods had promised."
Her voice grew softer, aching with memory, "Malakai and Solaira parted with broken hearts, not knowing what fate had prepared for them. Yet they swore to each other across time and death that they would find each other again. No matter where they were reborn. No matter how long it took. And that vow became their eternity."
A shadow crossed her golden gaze, "With them left to drift in the endless void for thousands of years... it was as if fate itself made it harder for them to remember the very reason behind every breath they once took. History erased them. Their names were never written.....never remembered. Leaving them as two perfect strangers in each other’s eyes... and to the world as well."
By now, tears streamed freely down both their cheeks, pain reflected perfectly in two identical faces. For a long moment, Eve could neither breathe nor think, as she could only feel the truth settling over her like fate placed gently upon her shoulders.
When her voice finally emerged, it was like a fragile whisper breaking in the silence, "You... you are me."
