The Ocean Remembers

The ocean churned as Siren surfaced, his body still trembling from the vision that had seized him. The waves crashed against him, their force mirroring the storm inside his chest. He had spent centuries drifting in the abyss of time, his memories eroded by the endless tides.

But now—now, he remembered.

Aaria had known she was running out of time.

It wasn't fate that had cruelly snatched her away without warning. She had known. She had looked at him with eyes full of unspoken truths, leaving him behind with a promise because she had no other choice.

Siren's fingers curled into fists as the truth twisted inside him like a blade.

How had he forgotten her? How had he let her become nothing more than a shadow in his mind?

The answer was bitter.

Time.

Six hundred years had washed over him, dulling his pain, numbing his soul. He had let the ocean swallow him, let its silence lull him into forgetting. But now that his memories had returned, they burned—searing, inescapable, undeniable.

The waves roared, rising around him as if responding to the storm within.

Far beyond the shore, the city lights flickered, mere specks in the distance. She was there. Aaria, alive again. Her voice, her presence—everything he had longed for, right in front of him.

But she didn't remember.

That was unacceptable.

Siren lifted his gaze, the silver-blue of his eyes gleaming under the moonlight. The ocean had kept him bound for too long. He would not be a prisoner to time any longer.

He would not wait.

He would not hesitate.

Aaria would remember him.

Even if he had to tear apart fate itself to make it happen.