Threads of the Forgotten

Lucien wandered deeper into the void woods, each step echoing through a silence too ancient to be broken. The petrified trees bent inward, creating a corridor of shadows that whispered old truths with every creak and groan. He could still feel the burning of Seraphina's sigils under his skin, a branding of a past that refused to be forgotten.

But now he knew. He wasn’t her prisoner—he was her obsession.

A faint light pulsed in the distance, drawing him like a moth to a dying flame. It flickered through the trees in slow, haunting rhythm, matching the thrum of his heartbeat. As he neared, the light solidified into a structure—a cathedral carved from shadow and bone, veined with veins of starlight that moved like blood.

He pushed open the heavy door. It groaned like a dying beast.

Inside, the air was thick with memories. Not his—but belonging to the many who had walked this path before. Rows of pews faced a massive altar, where another figure stood. Tall, draped in robes darker than night, its face hidden behind a silver mask etched with flame and smoke.

"Welcome, Lost Flame," it said, voice like distant thunder. "You have come farther than most."

Lucien’s fists curled. "I’m not lost."

The figure tilted its head. "Then why do you seek what lies at the center of forgetting?"

Lucien stepped forward. "Because I need to remember what was taken. To destroy what was made of me."

The figure raised its hand, and a black book appeared between them, floating, trembling. The cover bore Seraphina’s name, carved with her own blood.

"This is your origin," it said. "And her downfall."

Lucien reached out, fingers grazing the cover—

—and was thrown back into memory.

He stood in Seraphina’s sanctum, but it was whole—alive. She was there, laughing. Younger. Full of wonder. The sky above the sanctuary shimmered with runes, and she floated above the altar, drawing magic from the air like breath itself.

She turned, eyes wide with joy, and saw him.

"Lucien," she said, running to him. "You’re here."

He stepped back. "This is a memory."

"No," she said, holding his face. "This is when you loved me. When we chose each other."

He pulled away. "You chose to bind me."

Pain flickered across her face. "I had to. They were going to take you. You were dying. You don’t remember what you were."

The walls crumbled around them. Shadows surged.

Lucien turned to find the cloaked figure from before.

"Time’s up, prince," it said. "You’ve tasted her truth. Now taste her betrayal."

The memory shattered.

Lucien awoke in the cathedral once more, the book still before him.

"What was I?" he whispered.

The figure moved aside, revealing a mural carved into the altar’s base—Lucien in chains, surrounded by fire. Above him, Seraphina, casting a spell of binding. Below him, a symbol—half flame, half shadow.

"You were a guardian," the figure said. "Of balance. Of the line between light and dark. When Seraphina bound you, she broke that balance."

Lucien staggered back.

"So I’m the reason the void is waking?"

"You are the crack in the mirror. The first echo of the end."

He turned. "Then I’ll fix it. I’ll end her."

"No," the figure said. "You must understand her. Or the cycle will repeat."

Lucien left the cathedral, the book now in his hands.

Back in the mortal world, Seraphina watched the void encroach on her sanctum. Her twin, Miriel, stood at the edge, weaving counter-spells that barely held the darkness at bay.

"He saw it," Seraphina said. "He knows."

Miriel nodded. "And he must choose. But you can no longer force him."

Seraphina looked down at her hands. They trembled.

"Then I will make him remember why he chose me."

She stepped into the flame.

Lucien stood at the edge of the void, book open, the memories unraveling within. Names. Faces. A war older than empires.

And at the heart of it—Seraphina, not as a villain, but as a girl afraid to lose the only person who’d ever made her feel real.

He understood now.

But understanding didn’t undo the pain.

A portal opened before him, showing the sanctum collapsing, the flame devouring the last of the mortal wards.

He stepped through.

Seraphina stood waiting.

Their eyes met.

She said nothing. Neither did he.

They raised their hands at the same time—

—and the world exploded in fire and sha