CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The prophecy Beneath The Skin

Xadriel

She was no longer afraid.

That was the first thing he noticed. Elianah, trembling just hours ago, now stood before him with fire in her eyes and ancient strength in her blood. Something had awakened — and it wasn't just memories.

It was power.

They sat across from each other in the attic of the old estate his family had abandoned years ago. Dust danced in the moonlight, and silence wrapped around them like a blanket pulled too tight. Between them lay the obsidian shard, now glowing faintly with a pulse that matched her heartbeat.

Xadriel reached into his satchel and pulled out the book — the one he wasn't supposed to find.

The Grimoire of Souls Unwritten.

Elianah stared at it as if it recognized her.

"I found it last week," he said. "It was hidden behind the altar in that abandoned chapel behind the woods. The pages… Elianah, they're not blank."

He flipped it open to the page he had bookmarked. Her name was there.

Not Elianah Wolfe, but Elionys of the Flame-Bound Sky.

"Your name," he whispered, pointing to the script written in a language only the soul could understand. "From our first life."

She stared at it, expression unreadable. Then, slowly, she touched the page.

And the book responded.

The ink lit up, rising from the parchment like mist. A symbol formed in the air — the same crescent moon and sword now engraved on her skin — and then words shimmered around it, ancient and heavy.

> "When the crescent bears the sword and the two return, Light and shadow shall collide beneath the skin of the soul. The one who remembers too late shall fall. The one who forgives first shall save them all."

Xadriel's pulse roared in his ears.

"What does it mean?" she whispered.

He met her gaze, and something broke inside him. Guilt. Pain. Fear.

"I think… in one of our lives, I betrayed you."

The silence that followed wasn't loud — it was unbearable.

Her brows drew in. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know which life. But I saw flashes — a battlefield, yes, but also a throne room. I was wearing armor, but not as your protector. I was their weapon. I think I handed you over. I think I watched you die."

Tears welled in his eyes, shame rising like smoke in his throat.

"I need you to know, Elianah, I didn't remember until now. But I remember the pain. The scream. Your scream. I think that's what's been haunting me in every lifetime. Not just the loss — the guilt."

He looked away.

But she didn't leave.

She reached across the book, across centuries of sorrow, and placed her hand on his.

"I forgive you," she said quietly.

His head snapped up.

"Already?"

"You found me again. You're here. You chose to remember." She smiled, softly, brokenly. "And because I don't want to waste this lifetime punishing a man my soul still runs toward."

The bond flared.

Light poured from their hands where they touched — not blinding, but warm. Golden.

And the book turned its own page.

A new prophecy appeared.

One neither of them could read — yet.

But they both knew what it meant.

Their story was beginning again.

Not from scratch — but from the ashes.