CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:The Ones Who Remembered

Elianah

Dawn crept over the horizon like a whispered promise — fragile, yet relentless.

They had stayed in the attic all night, poring over the Grimoire, piecing together fragments of forgotten pasts and half-glimpsed futures. But the more they read, the clearer one truth became: they were not the only ones who remembered.

The enemy had also woken.

Elianah traced the glowing symbol on her wrist — a mark no longer just hers, but a beacon.

"Xadriel," she said, voice steady but urgent, "the prophecy… it doesn't just speak of us. It speaks of them — the shadow binders, the ones who lost themselves to the darkness long ago."

Xadriel nodded grimly. "I've felt their presence. In the dreams, in the spaces between moments. They're coming."

Suddenly, a loud knock shattered the fragile calm.

They exchanged a sharp glance — no one had a right to be there this early.

Elianah moved to the door and cracked it open.

Standing in the hallway was a young woman with sharp eyes and a cloak that seemed woven from midnight itself.

"I'm Selene," she said, her voice low but commanding. "I've been sent by the Circle of the Remembered. We know who you are."

Xadriel stepped forward protectively.

"The Circle?" he asked.

Selene nodded. "Guardians of the soul-bound across time. We've been watching the rise of the shadows. You two are the key — but you can't fight this alone."

Elianah swallowed hard, feeling the weight of the moment crush the breath from her lungs.

"Then what do we do?" she asked.

Selene smiled — but it was a smile touched with sorrow.

"We prepare. We unite. Because the war we fought in past lives is only just beginning. And this time, the stakes are higher than ever."

She stepped inside, the air shifting as if a storm had entered the room.

Elianah looked at Xadriel.

The battle was no longer just theirs.

It was a war for every soul, every lifetime.

And they were the last hope.