The cavern walls breathed.
At least, that was how it felt to Aria as she stood beneath the red crystal vaults of the underground sanctum. The memory she had seen—the woman with red hair, the doomed man, the blood-soaked vow—it clung to her like mist.
She wasn't just haunted.
She was a haunting.
Valeska watched her from the shadows, her black cloak shifting like smoke. "The memory has awakened the truth. You're not merely a girl with power. You're the echo of something ancient. The cycle repeats, Aria."
Aria's red hair shimmered under the crimson glow as she turned, eyes burning. "Then I'll end the cycle."
Valeska's lips curled. "So did she. And look where it brought her."
---
Kael stormed through a grove of rotting trees, his eyes glowing faintly in the dark. The bond with Aria—damaged, strained—still pulsed faintly.
"She's alive," he murmured.
Lyra jogged behind him, bow strapped to her back. "Yeah? That's the fifth time you've said that today."
He stopped. "She's in danger."
"Of course she's in danger! She ran off to gods-know-where, and you let her."
"I didn't let her—"
"Then why did she go?"
Kael turned, guilt flickering in his eyes. "Because I doubted her."
"Then make it right. Before someone else finds her first."
---
Aria wandered deeper into the sanctum.
Beneath the crystal altar was a door carved into the earth. Valeska called it the Bloodgate.
"It only opens to Moonbound blood," Valeska had said.
When Aria pressed her palm to the sigil, the stone groaned and slid open, revealing a narrow spiral staircase.
She descended, the air thick with old magic and loss.
At the bottom lay a chamber filled with glowing orbs—memories sealed in magic.
Each one flickered as she passed.
One glowed redder than the others.
She reached out—and the vision unfolded.
---
Another life. Another Aria. Or the first.
This version wore armor of silver and crimson. She knelt on a battlefield, covered in ash and blood. Her lover—a man with golden eyes and a dark wolf's form—lay dead beside her.
She screamed, the sound tearing the world.
Then the vision shattered.
Aria gasped, falling to her knees.
This has happened before.
Every lifetime, the Moonbound rose.
And every time, love ended in ruin.
---
Above ground, Kael entered a dying village called Hollowroot. Children with hollow eyes peeked from behind tattered curtains. Elders whispered of a witch in the forest—a woman who spoke to crystals and made the dead walk.
"The Witch of Bloodstone Hollow," they said.
Kael's heart froze.
It was her.
---
In the sanctum, Valeska approached Aria. "Do you understand now? You were never meant to be free. The Moonbound is a curse passed from one vessel to the next."
"No," Aria whispered. "I won't be a vessel. I'll be the end."
Valeska's eyes gleamed. "Then destroy the others. Sever the bond. Burn it all down."
---
Kael and Lyra pushed deeper into the woods. Fog curled around their feet like living things.
Then Kael paused.
He smelled her.
He bolted.
He found her standing at the mouth of a cave, her back to him. Her red hair billowed in the unnatural wind.
"Aria!"
She turned slowly, her face pale.
"You shouldn't have come."
He reached her, breathing hard. "You're hurt. You disappeared—do you have any idea what I've been through?"
"I needed time."
"You could've died!"
She shook her head. "No. Not yet."
He took her hand—and flinched.
A new mark had appeared on her palm. Dark. Jagged.
"What is this?" he whispered.
She pulled away. "It's the price of knowledge."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Who gave it to you?"
Before she could answer, Valeska emerged from the cave.
Kael moved in front of Aria, shielding her. "Who the hell are you?"
Valeska smiled. "The one who's telling her the truth. Something you failed to do."
Kael growled. "You have no idea what she's been through."
"Neither do you."
Aria stepped between them. "Stop. Both of you."
But the damage was done.
Kael's eyes flicked to Aria. "You trust her?"
Aria's voice cracked. "She showed me things you never did."
Kael stepped back. "Then maybe you should stay with her."
She didn't answer.
He turned and walked into the fog.
She didn't stop him.
---
Later, Aria sat on the edge of a cliff, staring at the blood moon as it began to rise once more.
Valeska sat beside her. "You feel it, don't you? The pull."
Aria nodded. "It's starting again."
"And next time, there won't be a Kael to save you."
Aria's fists clenched. "Then I'll save myself."
---
Far away, Kael returned to Hollowroot alone.
He collapsed beside a ruined shrine, rain pouring over him.
In his hand, he held a shard of the Moonbound crystal.
It pulsed.
But the bond was nearly gone.
And he had no idea how to win her back.
To be continued