CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR :Echoes Of The Rift

Xadriel

The earth beneath Solgrave trembled.

Not with rage.

With remembrance.

He could feel it in his veins now — the presence of the Rift wasn't just some distant danger. It was alive. A wound that never closed. And now, with Elionys — the Warden — walking among them, the wound had started whispering again.

"I hear them," Meridian said quietly, pacing along the curved walls of the chamber. "The other versions of us… the ones who didn't make it."

Elianah looked up. "You mean…?"

"They're not dead," he said. "Just… trapped. In time. In memory. In the rift's current."

The mirrors lining the chamber began to vibrate — not shaking, but resonating, each reflecting not the room, but fragments of other lives.

One mirror showed Elianah and Xadriel as enemies, blades locked mid-battle.

Another revealed them as children—her offering him a flower beneath twin suns.

Yet another… as strangers passing on a rainy street, glancing back, not knowing why.

All the lives they loved each other in.

All now colliding.

Selene stepped forward and raised her hands. "This is the echo surge," she warned. "The Rift is pulling your past into the present. It wants you to forget who you are now."

Xadriel's chest burned. His memories warred within him — battlefields, coronations, betrayals. So many versions of him had let her down. So many had died trying to hold her.

"Stay anchored," Elianah whispered to him, gripping his hand.

But it wasn't her voice.

It was Elionys.

The Warden stood directly behind Elianah now, the twin souls aligned like moon and shadow. Her presence hummed like static.

"I was the first to break," Elionys said, "but not the last. The Rift feeds on confusion. If we give it doubt, it grows stronger."

Soren stepped into the center of the chamber, the book of bone open in his hand. "There is a way," he said. "We perform the Memory Knot. A ritual that braids all timelines into one. You will remember every version of yourselves — without losing this one."

Xadriel looked toward Elianah. Her eyes were wide but resolute. "Then let's do it."

They formed a circle. Soren began the chant.

Lines of gold etched themselves through the floor, connecting them. The mirrors shattered all at once — and instead of breaking into shards, they melted into streams of light that poured into their chests.

Elianah gasped.

A thousand versions of herself screamed and sang at once. Her hands glowed. Her veins lit up with ancient power.

She saw her past.

As a queen.

As a warrior.

As a girl betrayed.

As a girl who forgave.

As a soul who never stopped waiting.

And in every life — him.

Xadriel.

By her side.

Or breaking her heart.

Or dying in her arms.

And still — always him.

The ritual ended with a blinding pulse.

And suddenly, the room was still.

Elianah looked at her hands. "I remember everything."

Xadriel stepped forward, his voice hoarse. "So do I."

Selene's eyes shone with tears. "Then you're ready."

Meridian, pale as frost, touched his chest. "The Rift knows we've remembered. It won't wait much longer."

Soren closed the bone-book slowly. "The final battle will not be fought with weapons."

Elionys nodded. "It will be fought with choice. And the question will be simple."

She turned toward Elianah.

"Will you end the cycle… or continue it?"