Chapter 217: Who Are You?
[Max Richter - And Some Will Fall (Official Visualiser)]
"Yes, Evelyn," the woman replied softly. She stepped forward, closing the space between them, and gently reached out to take Evelyn’s trembling hands in her own.
"I am you, and you are me," she whispered.
"You are Evelyn....and you are also Solaira....the same divine soul crafted by the Goddess of Light herself. And I..." her voice grew tender and sorrowful, "...I am the part of your soul that was sealed away along with your powers. That is why it took so long for us to finally meet again."
Evelyn felt two worlds tilt and collide inside her at once, so overwhelmingly that she feared she might collapse. A torrent of emotion surged through her all at once....love, sacrifice, longing, loneliness, all of it crashing against her heart like a storm as if she was feeling every single single pent-up emotion from her past life and now, and she felt like she might get swallowed by it whole.
She was still reeling from the inordinate rush of emotion when the once-silent realm suddenly began to tremble beneath her feet, jolting her where she stood. Evelyn looked around in alarm as the soft white mist that once veiled the world began to churn violently, dark clouds gathering like a storm swallowing the sky. Then, without warning, lightning split the air, one strike, then another, then a relentless barrage of them came crashing down around her in blinding succession.
Her pulse quickened, and she asked, "W-what is happening?"
The woman lifted her gaze to the darkening sky, her expression turning grave, golden eyes gleaming with pain, "This is not good. They have dared to taint a pure divine soul with pure evil....and if it isn’t stopped, I fear he may never return."
’He may never return.’ The words echoed through her mind like a blow to the heart, and devastation struck all at once.
Evelyn didn’t need to ask who she meant.
Ivan!
And then another revelation came crashing down on her; the maddening pull she felt toward him was because their connection transcended time itself. He was the reason she was born again. He was the reason she existed at all.
Every breath she had ever taken....every step, every heartbeat....was for him. To return to him. To fulfil the vow two souls made beyond life and death.
Tears blurred her vision as raw longing tore her heart wide open. It felt as though every beat of her heart called only one name...Ivan. Her Ivan. Hers alone.
He had suffered just as she did. They were torn apart by gods, yet also set on a path meant to reunite them as she remembered the prophecy.
She squeezed her eyes shut as a flood of emotions came crashing through her once again...the happiness that they had finally found each other despite every challenge fate had hurled their way. Their memories may have been forgotten, but their souls remembered. She had only just found him, and there was no way in hell she was about to lose him again! Not to some deranged, power-hungry queen!
Eve tightened her grip around the hands holding hers, desperation evident in her voice, "No! I cannot let that happen! I’ve only just found him....I cannot lose him, I will not lose him! Tell me....tell me how to save him!"
The woman met Eve’s golden gaze with her own, "Then accept me, Evelyn."
Eve repeated in confusion, "Accept you?"
"Yes," the woman said gently, "remove the belief from your heart that we are separate. We are not. You and I are one." She paused to let it sink in before she continued, "I am the half of your divine power that was sealed away. Only when you tear down the wall between us will you regain all that you are. When you accept me....accept yourself, your memories will return slowly, and you will know exactly what must be done."
More tears spilled from Eve’s eyes as she started to shake her head, "How do I do that?! Please help me! I need you! We need to save him."
Wind began to whip violently around them, the atmosphere shifting from bad to far worse. Lightning struck the realm one after another, crackling across the sky like furious claws. The ground shook harder with each passing second, as though the world itself threatened to split open in rage.
Amidst this, two women stood near the cliff, holding each other’s hands. Their hair billowed in the wild wind while their eyes shone golden. It was then that the woman moved her lips and uttered, "This is going to hurt....a lot. But I know you will pull through....I know you will."
"And for this to work, I need you to answer only one question correctly. Everything depends on it, so think carefully before you answer. Just listen to your heart and answer truthfully."
Evelyn met her eyes evenly and gave her a nod to go ahead.
"I ask you....who are you?" she asked Evelyn.
Evelyn opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly couldn’t utter a word. ’Who am I?’ The simple question echoed in her mind, yet she couldn’t answer, not after the life-altering revelation she had just come to know about herself. To any normal person, it would have been more than enough to make them pass out, but to her....it was an overwhelming reality staring back at her. She hadn’t even been given time to come to terms with everything that had just been revealed, and soon she found herself spiralling into a full-blown identity crisis.
’Who am I? Am I a Lumen princess or a celestial being from a previous life? Am I the daughter of King Solan and Queen Selene, or the divine maiden who fought the Great War?’
She then looked at the woman, and her words echoed in her mind: ’a divine soul crafted by the Goddess of Light herself.’
Eve lifted her gaze to the dark, ominous sky where thunder and lightning continued their macabre dance. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, finally listening to her heart...a heart that, instead of racing, began to calm down under the storm. As calmness washed through her, she asked herself once more, ’Who am I?’
As if discovering the answer deep within, she opened her eyes and finally spoke, "I am a divine soul, a child of the Goddess of Light herself, and I bear the name gifted to me by my divine mother... Solaira Lumaeth Starforged."
The moment she said it, a smile curled on the lips of the woman before her.
"Well done..." she murmured, and then her form shone with such brilliance it was as though a star had descended upon the planes. The woman with bright golden hair whispered, her voice echoing like distant chimes, "Endure..."
Before Eve could react, the woman’s form dispersed into infinite stardust, and the glittering fragments began to swirl around Evelyn, wrapping themselves around her arms and legs.
Eve’s eyes widened, and before she could process what was happening, the air was driven from her lungs as a searing wave of pain shot through her limbs.
A blood-curdling scream tore from her lips, and moments later, she collapsed into unconsciousness when the stardust seeped inside her skin.
The scene around her dissolved back into the Vault of Ages, where she had been embracing the ancient tree. Her limp body slid down its trunk and crumpled to the ground like an empty shell. The earth, which had been trembling violently from the turmoil outside, fell silent the instant Evelyn dropped.
Seconds turned into minutes, yet Evelyn remained motionless inside the Vault of Ages. Outside, the fierce winds that had been raging moments before abruptly stilled. Damien, who had been locked in combat with Valen, sent him crashing into yet another wall, making spider-web cracks form across the stone on impact. As the violent storm fell eerily silent, Damien’s dark red eyes shifted toward the horizon, a creeping unease settling in his chest as he wondered what had changed.
His gaze drifted to the still-open door of the Vault of Ages. A vague fear stirred within him. Was Evelyn struggling to find her answers? Footsteps echoed from the entrance, and soon Edward appeared, staggering into view, blood streaking down from a wound on his head.
Damien raised a brow at him and asked with amusement, "Well, don’t you look lovely. Did you take down so many soldiers all on your own so quickly? Colour me impressed."
Edward let out a short huff. "Not quite. I handled most of them, but I did get some backup, thanks to which I made it here."
"Backup? From whom?" Damien prompted.
"From the imperial guards of His Majesty, King Iskara. I assume they were assigned to protect Evelyn," Edward replied.
Damien clicked his tongue in displeasure. "They’re certainly lacking, considering the state she was in. If Ivan had seen her like that, I’m sure he would have blown their heads off himself."
And as the thought of Ivan crossed his mind, Damien glanced once more at the unnervingly still air and asked, "Hey....what do you think is going on? This calm is making me uneasy."
Edward followed his gaze and replied, "I don’t know. It feels more like the calm before a storm. I was more at ease when everything was shaking than in this silence."
"Me too..." Damien murmured.
